作者：Adrian Chan

游戏邦注：本文发稿于2010年8月26日，所涉时间、事件和数据均以当时为准。

Techcrunch刊发了一份SCVNGR使用的社交游戏卡牌。社交游戏近期确实很热门，但我对其游戏机制和社交游戏动态仍感到困惑。在下文列举出的卡牌中，我丝毫未见游戏的社交性。我在47个卡牌下均附上了自己的评论。

尽管我对本文的作者深感歉意，但他的描述完全忽略了铸造社交游戏的社交逻辑因素。反之，卡牌描述却是个人游戏行为，误解了游戏玩法和玩家行为之间的联系。原文看起来就像巴甫洛夫学说范文，将行为直接归咎于小部分游戏设计元素，并毫无必要地将其放大成繁杂、紊乱（游戏邦注：作者认为尽管卡牌以字母顺序有序排列，但观点混乱）、反社交化、毫无逻辑性且缺乏判断力的“特色”。

事实上，此类披露卡牌的文章会让人怀疑那些为我们设计社交工具的人，怀疑他们是否真有能力利用在线共享行为和社交互动的精细之处。这些卡牌很清晰地显示出公司社交思考力的不足，也有力证明了那些似乎已接管许多游戏化社交平台的产品的优劣（游戏邦注：这里作者指社交游戏）。随着游戏化成为新兴的社交工具开发准则，现在人们都憧憬着这种状态。令人欣喜的是，近期Foursquare透露小贴士和推荐等功能将在新版本中更为突出。如果这些成为事实，或许我们以后登录Foursquare会有确切的目的。

在这份文件中，何处体现存在感、声誉和可靠性？形形色色的用户有着不同的想法和动机，使用社交工具的风格和习惯也各不相同，卡牌可曾考虑到这些？如何让人意识到社交工具嵌入真实的社交行为中？换句话说，何处显示出过去曾让我们感觉良好的以用户为中心的体验？为何我们如此投入设计之中，甚至开始认为用户行为是对产品功能的直接反应？以下便是SCVNGR的秘密游戏机制卡牌，随后附上我的评论。

1、成就

定义：用虚拟或实体方式体现出某件事情已经完成，通常可视为奖励。

示例：徽章、等级、奖励、分数，任何可以作为奖励的东西。

评论：成就是用户与奖励的联系之一。事实上，成就和奖励原本就是同义词，因为奖励就代表着成就。

关键在于如何联系用户和奖励。必须注意的是，这不仅包括归类于成就的联系，还包含奖励对用户的意义。还必须注意到，这些奖励对用户的意义可能具有社交性。它们反映出用户对其社交位置、状态、地位和身份的感觉，这些都能发挥作用，但其意义不局限于产生成就。事实上，接收礼物、同辈认可以及其他行为带来的效能并不直接来源于成就，而是间接来源于社群的认同。

用户可能对其表示认可：某个用户是个赢家、统治者、专家或最棒的人。

用户可能感觉自己拥有某种东西：奖励代表一种品质，代表个人做出的贡献，是社交状态的标志和身份的象征等。

用户可能认可奖励所代表的群体：用户会产生身份感和归属感。

用户可能想要或期盼得到：用户与奖励间产生联系，因为后者代表着用户想要得到以及想要为人所认同的东西。奢侈商品对个人来说是种社交状态，让他们觉得自己很“富裕”，即便事实并非如此。

成就可以准确描述某种活动与反应间的联系，但也只能描述出这一种。其缺乏社交合作层面和社交互动（游戏邦注：指两个或两个以上玩家间），无法让用户产生打败对手的动机，未曾区分个人游戏和群体游戏之间的奖励。成就过分依赖线性体验和由此直接产生的个人行为，然而社交游戏中多数乐趣和动机来源于社交感知和动态社交行为。

2、动态约定

定义：为了取得成功，玩家必须在某个预定时间回到游戏完成某些动作。动态约定通常与内部奖励计划和动态规避有很深的关联。

示例：在《Cafe World》和《Farmville》中，如果你在某个预定时间回到游戏可以获得某些奖励，否则你会失去某些东西。

评论：这并非动态行为，而是片断式框架的基本形式。简单来说，这表明在框架式行为中，某些动作可能被分割成多个部分或片断。这里提到的“时间”可以再进行细分，包括特定的时间点（游戏邦注：如周五下午）和间隔时间（游戏邦注：如步骤1、2和3之间的时间）。所有游戏都是构建和组织起的经验框架，有着限制行为、让玩家参与、塑造想象、真实以及玩家期待结果的规则。

这里并没有社交动态，也没有行为动态，所以没有可供解释或审视的动机。动态约定只是用户对暂时或连续事件的必要反应而已。所有的游戏都需要花时间，游戏中所有的事件都会根据设计和制定的规则按顺序发生。

3、规避

定义：并非通过奖励吸引玩家，而是避免某些损失，从而保持玩家活跃度。

示例：每隔30秒压一下杠杆以免使自己受到惊吓。

评论：对于通过游戏奖励和惩罚来使玩家产生行为的说法，我感到不悦。玩家行为因用户的兴趣而得到维持，这种兴趣属于用户自身。在社交游戏中，其他用户的活跃度可能会对某些用户产生吸引力，因为他们会获得更多的游戏奖励。其他因素或许可以解释为何玩家玩游戏以及带着何种程度的兴趣，规避毫无规则可言，也解释不了任何东西。

4、行为反差

定义：预期改变如何导致行为急剧改变的理论。

示例：猴子按动杠杆会得到生菜。它觉得很高兴于是继续按动杠杆，第二次得到的是葡萄。猴子更为高兴，第三次按动杠杆得到的又是生菜。于是它不像第一次那样高兴，猴子生气地把生菜抛向实验者。在某些实验中，实验者将另一只猴子绑在笼子中，使它碰不到生菜或杠杆。葡萄奖励移除后，第一只猴子会攻击第二只猴子，虽然第二只猴子显然与奖励的移除毫不相干。也就是说，这种愤怒是毫无理性的。

评论：这又是一组同义词，行为是心理状态的反映，行为就是期望。期望改变行为的说法根本不能算是个规则，这是显而易见的，就像在说人们在改变主意时会做出新选择。

5、行为惯性

定义：习惯成自然。

示例：Jesse Schell曾经说过：“我已经花了10个小时来玩《Farmville》，我是个聪明人，不会将10个小时的时间花在毫无用处的东西上。所以这款游戏肯定有用，我会继续玩下去。”

评论：又是个老生常谈的规则。人们持续做他们已经做过的事情，这里面丝毫没有游戏规则可供发掘。说成“习惯”可能还更好，至少会让人考虑下游戏习惯、社交习惯和娱乐、日常行为、成瘾和消遣等问题。至少这些是分化型行为和用户中心行为。

6、产生乐趣

定义：这种说法称游戏比休息更有助于推动我们努力工作。从本质上来说，努力工作，投入富有意义而能产生积极回报的事情，可以让我们自身变得更加完美。

示例：Jane McGonical曾在演讲中说过，为何《魔兽世界》玩家在每天工作之后还会每周平均花22个小时来玩游戏（游戏邦注：几乎可以看作是兼职）。他们乐意在游戏中努力，而且有可能比在现实生活中更加努力，因为游戏世界能给他们带来乐趣。

评论：谁说努力工作会让我们臻于完美？人们不会因娱乐活动而分心吗？娱乐活动不会对我们形成非生产性的吸引力吗？总之这种说法对我来说毫无意义，而且更糟糕的是，这种说法让工作和娱乐相互矛盾。

7、渐进式信息理论

定义：这个理论是指在游戏叙事过程中，每次只向玩家透露小部分信息以使其充分理解。

示例：首先只展示基本动作，随着关卡发展解锁更多内容。这使SCVNGR的游戏简单且循序渐进，避免用户负荷过量信息。

评论：这种理论纯属荒谬，而且忽略了所有我们从叙事和故事理论中学到的东西。除此之外，该理论还与学习理论和学习模式产生冲突，将所有游戏时间整合至“信息片段”中。向玩家展示的升级、获得奖励分数、获得新团队地位或正遭受攻击的信息，都只在当时的背景下才有意义。信息的意义由背景决定，而并非信息本身，而且背景还决定了信息对维持游戏参与度的作用多寡。游戏中提供的信息就是个游戏事件。

8、链式计划

定义：将奖励同一系列偶然事件联系起来。玩家会将这些作为个人遇到的偶然事件来处理，并把事件中每个解锁步骤视为个人奖励。

示例：杀死10个半兽人进入龙穴，每半个小时出现一只龙。

评论：这项规则陈述繁琐（游戏邦注：“链式”和“计划都暗指系列行为或事件），似乎在讲述玩家理解游戏进程。我觉得从孩提时代我们就明白了这方面的内容。所有游戏都以系列活动来吸引用户，这些活动中有各种动作和事件。这便是游戏的本质，已为众人所理解。游戏玩家或许会想了解发生的事情，也可能喜欢游戏中让他们感到惊奇的事件。在社交游戏中，其他人的参与丰富了游戏体验，当这些用户间的交流是游戏内容的组成部分时，这一点表现得尤为明显。而这种交流并不能被视为计划内容。

9、共同发现

定义：这个游戏动态指整个社区联合起来共同解决某个谜题、问题或者挑战。极具病毒性而且非常有趣。

示例：DARPA气球挑战赛，家庭小作坊挑战麦当劳的垄断。

评论：社会学层面而非发现概念，方能最佳解释用户在联合挑战中的参与度。对一些用户来说，发现可以是暴力规则、动作、悬念或对他人的协助。

10、多人游戏

定义：可在多种平台上玩的游戏。

示例：玩家可通过iPhone、Facebook和XBox等平台玩的游戏。

评论：没有什么特别的评论，除了这个名称很不恰当，因为“多人”意味着用户合作来玩游戏。不管从何种层面上来考虑，这都是种产品功能，而不是动态。

11、事件

定义：某些玩家必须解决才能获得奖励的问题。

示例：10个半兽人挡住去路。

评论：所有未完成的行为都是事件，最好能将其加以区分。事件可能包含连续事件（用户的应对行为）、邻近事件（下个发生的事件）、远距事件（随后会发生的事件）和社交事件（改变对所有玩家的影响）等。

12、倒计时

定义：在此类动态中，玩家只能在规定的时间内做完某件事情。这会产生某种活动变迁，导致活动频度急剧上升直至时间耗尽为止，这是种强迫性终止。

示例：《宝石迷阵：闪电战》给玩家30分钟时间来获得尽可能多的分数，还有奖励时间和限时关卡等。

评论：这是种时间限制。玩家行为频度急速提升是种用户体验和活动激烈程度间的假象关系。我认为并非所有人对时间限制的体验完全相同。事实上，某些玩家可能会逃避此类游戏，因为最终压力会使人慌乱，而有些玩家可能很喜欢这种感觉。这依然不属于动态，只是种游戏设计选择是否将游戏时间限制在预设的时间框架内。

13、跨情景积分榜

定义：相同排名机制用于不同游戏场景（游戏邦注：不对等或彼此无关联的场景）中。通常玩家认为这些排名并不公平，因为所有玩家获胜的机会并不平等。

示例：尽管玩家有多种选择，但只有登上榜首的人才算是赢家。正因为获胜途径仅此一条，玩家会觉得游戏场景间不公平，并为此感到懊恼。

评论：概括短语拙劣但描述准确。或许这种对社交不平衡性的察觉和经验可视为动态，即有意制造的不公平性。然而，它更像是报告问题而不属于一种动态，也就是能否合理地向玩家汇报其游戏状态。问题在于游戏设计或报告能否产生优势效果。优势本身也可视为一种奖励形式（游戏邦注：例如在许多体育资格赛中，某些选手的起跑位置有一定优势）。

14、非奖励因素

定义：利用惩罚或情景变化来引诱玩家变换行为的游戏元素。

示例：生命值减少，亚马逊结账处移除所有链接以促使消费者购买，加速陷阱。

评论：游戏机制中会用到非奖励因素，但这与惩罚并不相同。比非奖励因素更为有效的是明确告诉玩家做法正确与否的规则。这些规则应该适用于个人玩法体验、游戏设计和玩家社群。足球比赛中的红牌保护球员免于受伤，非奖励因素改善球员和球迷对球赛的整体体验。

15、无尽的游戏

定义：没有确切结局的游戏，多适用于可更新内容的休闲游戏或将其优良状态视为奖励的游戏。

示例：《Farmville》（保持稳定状态便是胜利），《SCVNGR》（随着社区内容更新，挑战不断产生）

评论：我更倾向于用“开放”来描述没有明确结局的游戏框架。无尽让人感到乏味，这种动态有可能损害用户体验，从而使“无尽”成为有趣的个人习惯而已。

16、嫉妒

定义：想得到别人所拥有东西的欲望。为实现这个动态，需要让玩家能顺利查看别人拥有的东西。

示例：我朋友有这个道具，我也想要！

评论：嫉妒在此处并未细分，嫉妒是种玩家与玩家间的关系。所需的是能够体现物品价值的价值系统，这样我们才会嫉妒别人拥有的财富、外观、权利和能力。我不期望得到政治上的权利，因而政治家不会让我产生嫉妒心理。

17、时代意义

定义：如果玩家认为自己在做的事情已宏大到超出自身价值，他们会有很高的积极性。

示例：Jane McGonigal曾在演讲中表示，《魔兽世界》不断发展的故事线路和包含每个玩家在内的“时代意义”激励玩家在游戏之外参与其中，在全世界营造出第二大维基百科，帮助人们成就个人探索，并汇集成时代意义。

评论：我喜欢这种表述方法，我也非常尊敬McGonigal。但这种动态可以进一步细分。没有所谓的“时代意义”，玩家有可能因为更高级的召唤而受到激励，或因群体心理或抽象原则等。

这种所谓的意义之所以有意义，是因为它是玩家发自内心，或者对某种情况作出的本能反应。时代这个崇高宏伟的概念，常召唤个人通过行动超越自我，激发人们自我产生更强大的力量。

18、终止

定义：终止用来表示不再提供奖励的做法。这有可能导致玩家愤怒，因为他们觉得自己被出卖了，无法再获取期待的奖励。这种动态时常会引发消极行为势头。

示例：杀死10个半兽人，但却没有获得升级。

评论：我认为就是这种动态使得玩家离开游戏。玩家离开显而易见，但希望我们能比此处的描述比巴甫洛夫理论处理得更为老练。有些人会再次尝试游戏，有些人建新账户和用户名，而且玩的更为努力。我觉得他们的行为可以用Lazarus动态来描述，也可称为复活动态，但与复活节彩蛋并无关联。

19、固定时间奖励计划

定义：在固定时间之后提供奖励，比如30分钟。这可能导致奖励之后吸引力降低，但奖励之前玩家行为会逐渐增加，随后又是低潮。

示例：《Farmville》中30分钟后长出作物。

评论：其实可以将其称为时间性奖励，并提炼出将节奏解释为玩家对游戏时间间隔的直接行为反应的那一部分内容。

20、固定比例奖励计划

定义：在固定尝试次数后提供奖励。这种动态刚开始的吸引力很低，因为首次行动几乎不会获得奖励。但随着奖励临近，行动次数会逐渐增多。

示例：击沉20艘船后升级，访问5个地点后获得徽章。

评论：这个动态让我怀疑这些游戏机制的创作者是否具有强迫症。

21、免费午餐

定义：在此动态中，玩家觉得自己因他人已经完成的工作而免费获得某些东西。重点在于要让玩家察觉到工作已经完成（游戏邦注：而且不是由玩家自己来做），以避免破坏场景中的信任感。必须让玩家感觉到他们获得这些东西是“幸运之举”。

示例：团购奖励，由于有100个人已经达成交易，你可以免费获得东西。你知道工作已经完成，也就是已经有100个人花钱购买物品，但你自己却无需做这件事情。

评论：这个动态可进一步阐述。某些偶发事件可以当成免费的午餐，但是礼物、互惠互利以及合作实现的目标（游戏邦注：通常在此类行为中，玩家的工作并不相同，收获也不同）也可以。这个动态似乎有意鉴定努力和良心之间的关系，但果真如此的话，游戏开发者就得将社交因素考虑入列。

22、一次有趣，一直有趣

定义：这个概念指动作即使重复也不会令人感到厌烦。这通常与简单动作有关联，而且动作产生的乐趣也有所限制。

示例：SCVNGR中的每次签到背后以及签到和默认挑战中都潜藏着这种理论。

评论：我还是认为这是一种强迫症表现，但这种动态所偏重的简单动作特点，又让我怀疑它是否属于注意力不足过动症（游戏邦注：简称ADD，常见症状包括注意力涣散，活动量过多，自制能力弱）。

23、间隔奖励计划

定义：经过一段时间间隔后提供奖励，分为定量和变量两种形式。

示例：等待N分钟，收取租金。

评论：我开始觉得作者在时间体验上有一定问题。但似乎他/她确实弄清楚什么时候会发布奖励。这很不错。因为这类游戏明显缺乏内容和其他用户。

24、博彩

定义：在这个游戏动态中，赢家单纯由机会决定。这大大提升了用户的参与度。动态的公平性时常受人质疑，然而赢家通常会永无止尽地玩下去，输家会迅速放弃游戏，尽管这两者机遇的随机性存在差别。

示例：各种形式的赌博和刮彩票

评论：这种动态在变量和定量之外添加了第三种元素，就是惊喜。很高兴看到玩家被分成赢家和输家两类，也就是会持续玩游戏和退出游戏的人群。我必须承认公平性是会受人质疑。没有东西是完全公平的。你不停地玩游戏，情况开始逐渐呈现规律性，但玩到兴头上时却发现自己迎来当头一棒，输得一败涂地。

25、忠诚

定义：这是种用户对游戏产生的积极感觉，类似于主人翁感。如果提供一个可视化的表现形式，将有助于增强这种忠诚度。

示例：对《魔兽世界》的忠诚，在实际地理位置中获得一个身份（例如市长头衔）

评论：忠实与所有权之间的关系，就像背叛与被驱逐之间的联系一样站不住脚。如果一个图像或图标就能提高忠诚度，那么它必定代表某种事物；如果该事物具有存在形式，那就说明它已被玩家所获取；如果它已是玩家的囊中之物，那就不叫忠诚，而是因个人英明选择而在一系列游戏过程中完成目标的一种成就感。在我看来，“成瘾”一词可能比忠诚更为贴切。

26、游戏中的游戏

定义：潜藏在另一个游戏中的游戏。这类游戏通常需要玩家发现，能够吸引2%左右的游戏玩家。但这种做法很危险，如果设置得过于明显则会让玩家感到困扰，但却可以成功取悦那些发现这些游戏的玩家。

示例：《魔兽世界》中隐藏的问题和成就，需要你在进行其他探索时做某些特别的行为才会发现。

评论：这里说个相关例子，电视中的运动员在参加比赛，他们拥有团队所需的技能。对于观看节目的粉丝来说，他们听评论员的话语，而这些评论员以自己的方式来理解赛事。约98%的人通过这种方式来观看比赛。任何框架都可以嵌入其他框架中。重构框架是让社交游戏充满乐趣的原因，玩家既可以享受游戏，与朋友一起玩便是带有社交含义的游戏内游戏。

27、微型排行榜

定义：在微型圈子内对所有玩家进行排行。

示例：比如在某个酒吧签到次数最多的人可以获得免费赠品。

评论：微型没什么必要，但我喜欢那种圈子的想法。

28、修改器

定义：一项可影响其他动作的道具。玩家通常需要完成系列挑战或核心功能后方可获得修改器。

示例：X2修改器可以让你的下次行动得分翻倍。

评论：这并非一种动态，而是游戏规则。

29、游戏中的道德价值

定义：有意给予玩家奖励会降低任务的实际道德价值。给玩家提供过多奖励会让任务失去乐趣。

示例：如果你每次刷牙都可以获得积分的话，你刷牙的目的将不再是为了牙齿健康，而是为了积分。如果积分没有了，你的牙齿会变得十分糟糕。

评论：当玩家玩游戏不再为了娱乐，而是为了结果，那么就会产生某些困惑。这二者都值得考虑在内。

30、所有权

定义：将某些东西据为己有的行为。

示例：占领地盘，控制一个位置，或者通过好友显示自己的受欢迎程度。

评论：明白我的意思了吗？用一个圈套忽悠所有人，这也正是华尔街惯用的招术。

31、骄傲

定义：获得成功之后的拥有感和快感。

示例：我有十枚徽章，尽管有许多和它们长得很像，但这些是属于我的。

评论：完全忽略了与骄傲相互联系的社交认同。或许社交认同可通过奖励和表现来协调，可以通过大家看得到的社交表现和奖励，而非互动方式来获得社交认同。

32、隐私

定义：某些信息是私人的，不能公开。这可能让用户行动变得积极（通过分享我可以强化自己的动作）或消极（我不想分享这些东西所以不愿采取行动）。

示例：把每天的体重发布到Twitter上（如果你打算减肥，这是个好办法）。或者把所有的活动地址发到网上（但这种行为会使自己深受其扰，所以要避免这种做法）。

评论：这并非游戏动态，而是种限制系统。是否显示玩家及其游戏行为，是一种产品设计选择。用户个人及其社交投入，就可以解释它对玩家体验和行为的影响。无论属于哪种情况，分享个人隐私并不利于促进玩家采取相关行动，这是反社交化的行为。

33、循序渐进

定义：通过完成一系列任务逐渐展示、衡量成就。

示例：进度条、网游中的经验条

评论：并非动态，只是设计选项而已。

34、奖励比例计划

定义：完成一些动作之后给予奖励。分固定和可变两种形式。

示例：杀死10个半兽人来获得能力上的提升。

评论：我开始认为我们说的不是固定和可变，而是规律和不规律。

35、即时和延时

定义：即时信息不受延迟、延时信息只有经过一定间隔后才发布。

示例：即时积分可以带来即时反应。延时积分则会导致玩家因不确定排行情况而增加动作。

评论：同上述评论。

36、增强剂

定义：完成预期动作之后给予的奖励。

示例：杀死10个半兽人之后可以升一级。

评论：见第31条评论。

37、反应

定义：来自玩家的预期反应。

示例：玩家杀死10个半兽人。

评论：同上。

38、奖励计划

定义：给予奖励（积分、奖品、升级）的时间框架和授予机制。主要部分为：事件、反应和增强剂。

示例：杀死10个半兽人升一级。

评论：同上。

39、实体物品

定义：只要玩家持续满足某些特征就可以获得的实际好处。但是，所有玩家都可以轮流获得这些奖励。

示例：签到游戏里面的市长交易。

评论：尝试区分商品和奖励，以及所有权、骄傲和获得实体商品奖励结构之间的异同点已经让我焦头烂额了。

40、骗局

定义：玩家貌似有多个选择，但实际上只有一个游戏运营者设计好的结果。

示例：彩票、赌博

评论：并非动态机制，而是基本游戏设计。游戏玩家总是有机会做出选择，但游戏玩法、规则和结果由设计师来制定。

41、游戏中的社交元素

定义：人们在一起玩过游戏之后，会更加喜欢对方、相信对方、愿意和对方一起工作。

示例：你会找十分靠谱的人一起玩游戏，因为他们要和你共度时光、遵守相同的规则，完成同样的目标。

评论：游戏是种社交娱乐方式。很高兴看到他们提到这一点，虽然它仅排到第41位。应该注意到的是，萨尔瓦多和洪都拉斯在1969年的一场足球赛后，仍在战场上正面交锋。

42、状态

定义：玩家排名或级别。玩家总是为了升级和排名而战。

示例：比拼在《魔兽世界》中谁先达到20级。

评论：排名还不错，“状态”却毫无必要。

43、紧迫乐观

定义：极端自我激励的心理。希望马上消除障碍，并相信自己有望取得成功。

示例：如果能获得“巨大成功”或可以成为“赢家”，玩家就有行动的动力。

评论：这既不是种动态，也没有准确描述玩家的影响。谨慎乐观才是一种乐观，紧迫则更适合描述需求。总之，这种说法总让人想起它与“垂死挣扎”的相似之处。

44、可变间隔奖励计划

定义：经过大致的连续间隔之后提供的奖励。这种系统可随着时间的发展提高参与度，玩家可在任何时间，但并非固定时间收获奖励。玩家不会因获得这种系统奖励就降低活跃度，也不会在兑奖之前提高活跃度，因为对他们来说，这些都是不确定的结果。

示例：等上约30分钟，会出现一个新的武器。这常让你时不时回头查看情况，但却并没有加快武器出现的速度。多数玩家发现这种情况时总会很沮丧。

评论：与第23条重复，这是对两种时间的融合，即持续时间和时间发生次序时间。

45、可变比例奖励计划

定义：经过大致连续间隔和不定量动作之后给予的奖励。这个系统有助于创造相对乐观的活跃度，但效果比固定奖励计划更为逊色。

示例：击败20艘船可以升一级。访问几个地方可获得一枚徽章。

评论：也是对两种时间的融合，同上。

46、病毒游戏机制

定义：需要多个玩家一起玩的游戏元素，或者多个玩家一起玩效果更好。

示例：如果你在游戏《Farmville》中邀请好友，会获得更大的成功。

评论：完全丧失病毒式传播动态，此动态包含传播系统、交流和部分社交关系圈。

47、虚拟道具

定义：游戏过程中发现或获取的电子奖品、奖励。通常可以交易或赠予。

示例：Facebook中的礼品、徽章等。

评论：同第1条的评论。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

I just killed a social game mechanic

Adrian Chan

Techcrunch this week posted a copy of a social gaming playdeck used by SCVNGR. Social gaming is indeed hot these days. But there’s some confusion around game mechanics and social gaming dynamics. I don’t see any social in the playdeck provided below. So I’ve added my own commentary to each of the deck’s 47 points.

My apologies to its author, but the descriptions completely and entirely miss the socio-logical factors that make social gaming what it is. The deck, instead, describes individual game play and spectacularly misinterprets connections between game play and player behavior. It reads as a Pavlovian exercise in attributing behaviors directly to a small number of game design elements, expanded here unnecessarily into distinctions that are redundant, disorganized (in fact they’re alphabetical), anti-social, illogical, and hopelessly blind.

In fact the disclosure of a deck such as this one might cause one to wonder just who the hell designs our social tools — and whether they are even qualified to execute on the subtleties of social interaction and shared online practices. A deck such as this one demonstrates quite clearly the inadequacies in social thinking and is a testament to the object and reward paradigm that seems to have taken over many game-like social platforms. These are nearing mythical status now as game-ification is installed as the new organizing principle for the design of social tools. A welcome counterpoint to which is the recent revelation from Foursquare that tips and recommendations will feature more prominently in their redesign (at last, we may have a real reason to checkin!).

Where, in this document, is presence? Where is reputation? Where is credibility? Where is there any sensitivity to the many different types of users, whose motives and motivations vary by personality and whose styles and habits of using social tools are distinct? Where is the recognition that social tools are embedded in real social practices? In fact, where’s the user-centric appreciation of experience that has served us so well in the past? At what point did we become so invested in design that began to view user behaviors (and presumably social outcomes) as a direct response to product features? But I digress. I’ll let you be the judge.

From SCVNGR’s Secret Game Mechanics Playdeck, with my commentary added.

1. Achievement

Definition: A virtual or physical representation of having accomplished something. These are often viewed as rewards in and of themselves.

Example: a badge, a level, a reward, points, really anything defined as a reward can be a reward.

My commentary: Achievement is but one of the relations users form to reward representations. In fact, achievement-reward is tautological. It belongs to the very definition of reward that it proves achievement.

At stake is how does the user relate to the representation. Note that these involve relations not captured as achievement, but having meaning for the user nonetheless. Also note that the meaning of these for users may be social: they are a reflection of the user’s sense of his/her social position, status, rank, membership, etc — all of which are validating but which bestow meaning not just for reasons of achievement. In fact some of the highest forms of validation result from receiving gifts, from recognition by peers, and other attributions obtained not from direct achievement but from indirect acknowledgment by community.

The user may identify with it: user is a winner, a mayor, an expert, number 1.

The user may feel s/he possesses it: the representation is a thing, a quality, an attribute of personality, a sign of social status, a symbol of membership, etc.

The user may identify with the group the representation symbolizes: the user now feels a sense of membership and belonging, as in a fan-team insignia relation.

The user may want it or aspire to it: the user relates to a reward because it represents an image of what the user wishes for, including wishes to be perceived as. Luxury goods represent social status to individuals, allowing them to feel “rich” even if they are not.

Achievement is an accurate description of one type of activity-response relation, but only one. It misses the social dimensions of partnered and social play (two or more players). It misses the motivations associated with beating an opponent, and fails to distinguish between the “reward” of beating one’s own game play vs beating the game. It assigns too much of the experience to a linear and direct outcome of individual activity, where in social gaming much of the pleasure and motivation comes from activity mediated by social perceptions and dynamically changing social orders.

2. Appointment Dynamic

Definition: A dynamic in which to succeed, one must return at a predefined time to take some action. Appointment dynamics are often deeply related to interval based reward schedules or avoidance dyanmics.

Example: Cafe World and Farmville where if you return at a set time to do something you get something good, and if you don’t something bad happens.

My commentary: This is not a dynamic, but a basic form of episodic framing. It states, simply, that in framed activities, some actions may be coupled to temporal intervals or to episodic markers. “Time” as mentioned here actually should be subdivided: time as in a specific point in time (friday, noon) and time as in sequence (after steps 1, 2, 3 have been completed). (All games are an experiential frame: they are structured and organized, have rules constraining behavior, enabling participation, and shaping both imagined, real, and expected outcomes.)

There is no social dynamic suggested here. Nor is there a behavioral dynamic, such that there’s no motivation explained or observed. Just a user’s necessary response to a temporal or sequential contingency. All games take time and all game events happen in order as set by game rules and design.

3. Avoidance

Definition: The act of inducing player behavior not by giving a reward, but by not instituting a punishment. Produces consistent level of activity, timed around the schedule.

Example: Press a lever every 30 seconds to not get shocked.

My commentary: I take umbrage at the claim that behavior is induced by the withholding of game rewards and punishments. Player behavior is sustained by user interest and that interest belongs to the user. In social games, activity levels of other users can be as compelling to users as the provision of game rewards. Among many other factors that may explain why a player plays, and with what degree of conscious and subconscious interest. Avoidance is a non-rule and explains nothing.

4. Behavioral Contrast

Definition: The theory defining how behavior can shift greatly based on changed expectations.

Example: A monkey presses a lever and is given lettuce. The monkey is happy and continues to press the lever. Then it gets a grape one time. The monkey is delighted. The next time it presses the lever it gets lettuce again. Rather than being happy, as it was before, it goes ballistic throwing the lettuce at the experimenter. (In some experiments, a second monkey is placed in the cage, but tied to a rope so it can’t access the lettuce or lever. After the grape reward is removed, the first monkey beats up the second monkey even though it obviously had nothing to do with the removal. The anger is truly irrational.)

My commentary: This one is also tautological. Behavior is the manifestation of psychology. Behavior is expectations. To say that behavior changes with changed expectations is making up a rule where there’s nothing but what’s already perfectly obvious. It’s like saying that people make new choices when they change their minds.

5. Behavioral Momentum

Definition: The tendency of players to keep doing what they have been doing.

Example: From Jesse Schell’s awesome Dice talk: “I have spent ten hours playing Farmville. I am a smart person and wouldn’t spend 10 hours on something unless it was useful. Therefore this must be useful, so I can keep doing it.”

My commentary: Again, a platitude of a rule. There’s no game rule in the observation that sometimes people continue to do what they’ve been doing. Habit would be a better term, and would permit one to at least account for game playing habit, social habit and pastime, routine, addiction, and distraction. Those, at least, are behaviorally differentiated and user-centric.

6. Blissful Productivity

Definition: The idea that playing in a game makes you happier working hard, than you would be relaxing. Essentially, we’re optimized as human beings by working hard, and doing meaningful and rewarding work.

Example: From Jane McGonical’s Ted Talk wherein she discusses how World of Warcraft players play on average 22 hours / week (a part time job), often after a full days work. They’re willing to work hard, perhaps harder than in real life, because of their blissful productivity in the game world.

My commentary: Who says we are optimized by working hard? Are we then confused by distraction? How about when we get lost in distraction? And can’t distraction be unproductively compelling? This makes no sense to me at all, and worse, makes a grand claim to human psychology that is at once deeply biased, culturally insensitive, non-specific (to psychological and personality differences), assigns personal motives to game participation, and even manages to establish a contradiction between what is work and what is play.

7. Cascading Information Theory

Definition: The theory that information should be released in the minimum possible snippets to gain the appropriate level of understanding at each point during a game narrative.

Example: showing basic actions first, unlocking more as you progress through levels. Making building on SCVNGR a simple but staged process to avoid information overload.

My commentary: Ridiculous, and ignores everything we have learned from narrative/story theory, besides which it also insults learning theory, learning modes, and conflates all game events to “snippets of information.” Information provided to a game player that s/he has leveled, has been awarded points, has a new team role, is being attacked are each meaningful only in context. Context, not information, frames the meaning of information, and defines what and how much information serves the purpose of sustaining game involvement. Information provided within a game is a game event.

8. Chain Schedules

Definition: the practice of linking a reward to a series of contingencies. Players tend to treat these as simply the individual contingencies. Unlocking one step in the contingency is often viewed as an individual reward by the player.

Example: Kill 10 orcs to get into the dragons cave, every 30 minutes the dragon appears.

My commentary: Besides being redundant (both “chain” and “schedule” imply serialized activity or events), this rule seems to say that players understand game play sequences. I think we got that when we were toddlers. All game play engages users in serialized activity for which there are proximate actions and contingent events. That’s the nature of a game — it’s a fiction understood. Game players may like to know what happens, or may welcome surprises. In social gaming, the involvement of others, especially when their communication is part of the play, adds to the experience. And communication cannot be accounted for by scheduling.

9. Communal Discovery

Definition: The game dynamic wherein an entire community is rallied to work together to solve a riddle, a problem or a challenge. Immensely viral and very fun.

Example: DARPA balloon challenge, the cottage industries that appear around McDonalds monopoly to find “Boardwalk”

My commentary: Episodic involvement of an audience, or part of an audience, is explained best on sociological grounds, not by means of the discovery concept. What is discovery for some is mob rule, action, suspense, or teamwork to others.

10. Companion Gaming

Definition: Games that can be played across multiple platforms

Example: Games that be played on iphone, facebook, xbox with completely seamless cross platform gameplay.

My commentary: No comment but that it’s poorly named, since “companion” suggests partnered play. In either case this is a product feature, not a dynamic.

11. Contingency

Definition: The problem that the player must overcome in the three part paradigm of reward schedules.

Example: 10 orcs block your path

My commentary: All activity that hasn’t finished is contingent. Better would be to differentiate among contingencies. Those would include coupling (of user action to response); proximate contingency (what’s next); distant contingency (what happens later); social contingency (change affecting all players); etc.

12. Countdown

Definition: The dynamic in which players are only given a certain amount of time to do something. This will create an activity graph that causes increased initial activity increasing frenetically until time runs out, which is a forced extinction.

Example: Bejeweled Blitz with 30 seconds to get as many points as you can. Bonus rounds. Timed levels

My commentary: Time constraint. That players behave increasingly frenetically is a supposition suggesting a relation between user experience (frenetic) and activity intensity (speed of activity). I don’t think we all experience time constraints in the same way. Some potential players may in fact avoid games because of the stress-inducing panic that comes at the end; others may live for it. Again, not a dynamic, just a game design choice to involve a clock and to constrain the play to a set time frame.

13. Cross Situational Leader-boards

Definition: This occurs when one ranking mechanism is applied across multiple (unequal and isolated) gaming scenarios. Players often perceive that these ranking scenarios are unfair as not all players were presented with an “equal” opportunity to win.

Example: Players are arbitrarily sent into one of three paths. The winner is determined by the top scorer overall (i.e. across the paths). Since the players can only do one path (and can’t pick), they will perceive inequity in the game scenario and get upset.

My commentary: Awkwardly phrased but accurately observed. Perhaps the perceived or experienced social inequality could be captured in the dynamic as intentional unfairness. Still, this is less a dynamic than a reporting problem: game state or status can be reported equitably to its players, or not. At issue is whether design or reporting creates advantage. Advantage can itself be structured into game play as a form of reward (as in qualifying rounds in many sports that reward players with advantageous starting positions).

14. Disincentives

Definition: a game element that uses a penalty (or altered situation) to induce behavioral shift

Example: losing health points, amazon’s checkout line removing all links to tunnel the buyer to purchase, speeding traps

My commentary: Disincentives are used in game mechanics, but are not the same as punishments. Punishments would be better called “penalties.” What matters more than the disincentive (what happens if you’re bad) is the rule that articulates the right and wrong ways to play. These rules should accommodate individual experience of play as well as game design and also the society of players. Red cards for tackling in soccer protect players from injury as well as disincentivize hacking tackles as well as improve play for soccer players and fans overall. Ask what function the disincentive plays and at what level of game play.

15. Endless Games

Definition: Games that do not have an explicit end. Most applicable to casual games that can refresh their content or games where a static (but positive) state is a reward of its own.

Example: Farmville (static state is its own victory), SCVNGR (challenges constantly are being built by the community to refresh content)

My commentary: I prefer the term “open” to describe frames that are open ended. Endless suggests a tedium. This dynamic risks missing the user experience, wherein “endless” may just be a fun personal habit. (I’m playing again. I like it.)

16. Envy

Definition: The desire to have what others have. In order for this to be effective seeing what other people have (voyeurism) must be employed.

Example: my friend has this item and I want it!

My commentary: Envy is undifferentiated here. Envy is the relation of Subject : Subject (Attribute). Voyeurism is entirely different and not needed here. All that’s needed is a value system that attributes value to the Attribute which gives envy its pitch and tone. In this way we become envious of wealth, looks, power, ability, and what have you. All are different and all are explained as much by what the observer relates to (desires) as by what the perceived possesses. I do not envy political power and a politician does not make me envious. Voyeurism is a distinctly different social relation comprising parts anonymity, privacy, ethical norms, fantasy, and image.

17. Epic Meaning

Definition: players will be highly motivated if they believe they are working to achieve something great, something awe-inspiring, something bigger than themselves.

Example: From Jane McGonical’s Ted Talk where she discusses Warcraft’s ongoing story line and “epic meaning” that involves each individual has motivated players to participate outside the game and create the second largest wiki in the world to help them achieve their individual quests and collectively their epic meanings.

My commentary: I like the term and I have a lot of respect for McGonigal (misspelled above). But this could be differentiated further. There is no epic meaning. There may be situations in which players are highly motivated by a higher cause or calling; or by crowd psychology (action, thrill, spectacle, synchronicity); or by abstract principles (doing right, being good, giving back); and so on.

Meaning may be meaningful because it is spontaneous, or because it responds to a situation. The concept of epic as grand narrative arc normally involves a situation that calls an individual to exceed him/herself in their response as action. But may also be the emergence of higher power within the individual. This is epic as England winning the world cup in 66 or epic as in Gandhi.

18. Extinction

Definition: Extinction is the term used to refer to the action of stopping providing a reward. This tends to create anger in players as they feel betrayed by no longer receiving the reward they have come to expect. It generally induces negative behavioral momentum.

Example: killing 10 orcs no longer gets you a level up

My commentary: Woah. I think this one describes what happens when players quit. That players quit is obvious, but hopefully we’re a bit more sophisticated than the Pavlovian description here suggests. Some try again. Some create new accounts and user name and play even harder next time. I guess they’d have to be described by the Lazarus dynamic. Also known as the Resurrection dynamic, and not to be confused with the Easter Egg.

19. Fixed Interval Reward Schedules

Definition: Fixed interval schedules provide a reward after a fixed amount of time, say 30 minutes. This tends to create a low engagement after a reward, and then gradually increasing activity until a reward is given, followed by another lull in engagement.

Example: Farmville, wait 30 minutes, crops have appeared

My commentary: Why not call them timed rewards and scratch the part that tries to explain rhythm as a directly-induced behavioral response to timed game intervals.

20. Fixed Ratio Reward Schedule

Definition: A fixed ratio schedule provides rewards after a fixed number of actions. This creates cyclical nadirs of engagement (because the first action will not create any reward so incentive is low) and then bursts of activity as the reward gets closer and closer.

Example: kill 20 ships, get a level up, visit five locations, get a badge

My commentary: I’m beginning to wonder if the author of these game mechanics is OCD, ADD, or both.

21. Free Lunch

Definition: A dynamic in which a player feels that they are getting something for free due to someone else having done work. It’s critical that work is perceived to have been done (just not by the player in question) to avoid breaching trust in the scenario. The player must feel that they’ve “lucked” into something.

Example: Groupon. By virtue of 100 other people having bought the deal, you get it for cheap. There is no sketchiness b/c you recognize work has been done (100 people are spending money) but you yourself didn’t have to do it.

My commentary: This one could be differentiated further. There are serendipitous events which may be well described as a free lunch. But there are also gifts. There are also shared benefits. There are targets achieved by means of collaboration (in which work is often not equally shared and results not equally deserved). The dynamic seems to want to identify a relation between effort and conscience, but if this is the case then social factors have to be considered.

22. Fun Once, Fun Always

Definition: The concept that an action in enjoyable to repeat all the time. Generally this has to do with simple actions. There is often also a limitation to the total level of enjoyment of the action.

Example: the theory behind the check-in everywhere and the check-in and the default challenges on SCVNGR.

My commentary: I’m thinking OCD. But the focus on simple actions still has me wondering if it’s ADD. The somewhat poignant remark at the end about a limited total level of enjoyment has me thinking OCD. Possibly a game tester.

23. Interval Reward Schedules

Definition: Interval based reward schedules provide a reward after a certain amount of time. There are two flavors: variable and fixed.

Example: wait N minutes, collect rent

My commentary: I’m beginning to sense a real problem with this author’s experience of time. But it does seem that he or she has figured out when the rewards come. That’s good. Because apparently these games are completely lacking in content and other people.

24. Lottery

Definition: A game dynamic in which the winner is determined solely by chance. This creates a high level of anticipation. The fairness is often suspect, however winners will generally continue to play indefinitely while losers will quickly abandon the game, despite the random nature of the distinction between the two.

Example: many forms of gambling, scratch tickets.

My commentary: Oops I spoke too soon. Add to fixed and variable: surprising. And there are other people now, too. It’s nice to know that their behaviors predictably group them into winners and losers (those being people who play and those who quit). I have to agree that fairness is suspect. Nothing’s fair. You’re playing and playing and it’s regular and timed and then it gets a bit more rhythmic and suddenly BLAMO the lottery rule delivers a punishing blow. Sigh.

25. Loyalty

Definition: The concept of feeling a positive sustained connection to an entity leading to a feeling of partial ownership. Often reinforced with a visual representation.

Example: fealty in WOW, achieving status at physical places (mayorship, being on the wall of favorite customers)

My commentary: Loyalty is not related to ownership any more than betrayal is an attribute of the dispossessed. If loyalty is reinforced with a graphic or icon then something is represented. If something is represented it must have been achieved (rule 1). If it was achieved, there is no loyalty, but only an individual sense of achievement (rule 1) owing probably to extended bouts of serialized game play sustained by varying levels of intense anticipation of fixed and/or variable rewards obtained by the successful selection of contingencies. The word “addict” as substitute for loyalty comes to mind.

26. Meta Game

Definition: a game which exists layered within another game. These generally are discovered rather than explained (lest they cause confusion) and tend to appeal to ~2% of the total game-playing audience. They are dangerous as they can induce confusion (if made too overt) but are powerful as they’re greatly satisfying to those who find them.

Example: hidden questions / achievements within world of warcraft that require you to do special (and hard to discover) activities as you go through other quests

My commentary: It’s the trap door in LOST. He’s down there pushing the button every 108 minutes. Here’s a meta game for you. Sports on tv are played by players whose skill playing the game is required by their teams to play the game which is watched by fans for whom it’s a game and by tv audiences at home, who listen to the game play narrated by commentators who often play games with their analyses. About 98% of the people who enjoy sports get this. Any frame can be embedded in other frames. Re-framing is what makes social games fun to play with friends: the game is played as a game (player against himself/herself and the game) as well as against others as well as having meta social meaning for its being a social pastime.

27. Micro Leader-boards

Definition: The rankings of all individuals in a micro-set. Often great for distributed game dynamics where you want many micro-competitions or desire to induce loyalty.

Example: Be the top scorers at Joe’s bar this week and get a free appetizer

My commentary: Micro is unnecessary but I like the idea of sets.

28. Modifiers

Definition: An item that when used affects other actions. Generally modifiers are earned after having completed a series of challenges or core functions.

Example: A X2 modifier that doubles the points on the next action you take.

My commentary: Not a dynamic but a game rule.

29. Moral Hazard of Game Play

Definition: The risk that by rewarding people manipulatively in a game you remove the actual moral value of the action and replace it with an ersatz game-based reward. The risk that by providing too many incentives to take an action, the incentive of actually enjoying the action taken is lost. The corollary to this is that if the points or rewards are taken away, then the person loses all motivation to take the (initially fun on its own) action.

Example: Paraphrased from Jesse Schell “If I give you points every time you brush your teeth, you’ll stop brushing your teeth b/c it’s good for you and then only do it for the points. If the points stop flowing, your teeth will decay.”

My commentary: Some confusion here manifest in whether players play for the game play, or for the outcomes of game play. Both are always worth taking into account. But I fail to see how this becomes moral hazard.

30. Ownership

Definition: The act of controlling something, having it be *your* property.

Example: Ownership is interesting on a number of levels, from taking over places, to controlling a slot, to simply owning popularity by having a digital representation of many friends.

My commentary: You guys with me on this? *One ring to rule them all*? Yes? I’m glad to see it finally confirmed that Wall St is a game.

31. Pride

Definition: the feeling of ownership and joy at an accomplishment

Example: I have ten badges. I own them. They are mine. There are many like them, but these are mine. Hooray.

My commentary: Three things that are themselves distinct, two of which are already defined here as dynamics (rule 1, rule 30), inversely related to rule 16, possibly as precondition for rule 25? Completely ignores the social recognition conventionally associated with pride. But perhaps that social recognition is mediated by means of rewards and representations. In which case we would have a nice attachment theory of mediated social recognition, achieved not through interaction but through substitutes: socially visible representations and awards.

32. Privacy

Definition: The concept that certain information is private, not for public distribution. This can be a demotivator (I won’t take an action because I don’t want to share this) or a motivator (by sharing this I reinforce my own actions).

Example: Scales the publish your daily weight onto Twitter (these are real and are proven positive motivator for staying on your diet). Or having your location publicly broadcast anytime you do anything (which is invasive and can should be avoided).

My commentary: Not a dynamic, but a system constraint. Visibility of players and play is a product choice. Its influence on player experience and play will be explained by the user’s personal and social investments. In either case, the act of sharing one’s play socially is not for the reinforcement of one’s own actions. That would be anti-social.

33. Progression Dynamic

Definition: a dynamic in which success is granularly displayed and measured through the process of completing itemized tasks.

Example: a progress bar, leveling up from paladin level 1 to paladin level 60

My commentary: not a dynamic but a design choice.

34. Ratio Reward Schedules

Definition: Ratio schedules provide a reward after a number of actions. There are two flavors: variable and fixed.

Example: kill 10 orcs, get a power up.

My commentary: I’m beginning to think that instead of variable and fixed we just say regular/irregular. Either way we’ve got temporality covered here. More than covered. Completely nailed to the floor.

35. Real-time v. Delayed Mechanics

Definition: Realtime information flow is uninhibited by delay. Delayed information is only released after a certain interval.

Example: Realtime scores cause instant reaction (gratification or demotivation). Delayed causes ambiguity which can incent more action due to the lack of certainty of ranking.

My commentary: See prior comment.

36. Reinforcer

Definition: The reward given if the expected action is carried out in the three part paradigm of reward schedules.

Example: receiving a level up after killing 10 orcs.

My commentary: See prior comment on rule 31.

37. Response

Definition: The expected action from the player in the three part paradigm of reward schedules.

Example: the player takes the action to kill 10 orcs

My commentary: Ditto.

38. Reward Schedules

Definition: the timeframe and delivery mechanisms through which rewards (points, prizes, level ups) are delivered. Three main parts exist in a reward schedule; contingency, response and reinforcer.

Example: getting a level up for killing 10 orcs, clearing a row in Tetris, getting fresh crops in Farmville

My commentary: Help me, I’m melting.

39. Rolling Physical Goods

Definition: A physical good (one with real value) that can be won by anyone on an ongoing basis as long as they meet some characteristic. However, that characteristic rolls from player to player.

Example: top scorer deals, mayor deals

My commentary: Complete mental paralysis threatens as I try to distinguish between goods and rewards, and between the pride of ownership and the reward structure of having an actual physical good (real value).

40. Shell Game

Definition: a game in which the player is presented with the illusion of choice but is actually in a situation that guides them to the desired outcome of the operator.

Example: 3 Card Monty, lotteries, gambling

My commentary: Not a dynamic, but basic game design. The game player will always experience choice as choosing. The designer has designed the game’s play, its rules, and outcomes. Illusion doesn’t enter the picture because we’re talking here about playing games.

41. Social Fabric of Games

Definition: the idea that people like one another better after they’ve played games with them, have a higher level of trust and a great willingness to work together.

Example: From Jane McGonicgal’s TED talk where she suggests that it takes a lot of trust to play a game with someone because you need them to spend their time with you, play by the same rules, shoot for the same goals.

My commentary: Games are a social pastime. Glad to see that noted, even if it took 40 preceding rules to get to it. It should be noted that in 1969 El Salvador and Honduras went to war for 106 hours after playing each other in a soccer match. It is known as the soccer war.

42. Status

Definition: The rank or level of a player. Players are often motivated by trying to reach a higher level or status.

Example: white paladin level 20 in WOW.

My commentary: Rank is fine. “Status” is unnecessary and in the day and age of status updates, confusing. Possibly explained by rule 31.

43. Urgent Optimism

Definition: Extreme self motivation. The desire to act immediately to tackle an obstacle combined with the belief that we have a reasonable hope of success.

Example: From Jane McGonical’s TED talk. The idea that in proper games an “epic win” or just “win” is possible and therefore always worth acting for.

My commentary: Neither a dynamic nor an accurate description of human affect. Cautious optimism better modifies optimism. Urgency is useful in characterizing need. Would be difficult to distinguish from “desperately hopeful.”

44. Variable Interval Reward Schedules

Definition: Variable interval reward schedules provide a reward after a roughly consistent amount of time. This tends to create a reasonably high level of activity over time, as the player could receive a reward at any time but never the burst as created under a fixed schedule. This system is also more immune to the nadir right after the receiving of a reward, but also lacks the zenith of activity before a reward in unlocked due to high levels of ambiguity.

Example: Wait roughly 30 minutes, a new weapon appears. Check back as often as you want but that won’t speed it up. Generally players are bad at realizing that.

My commentary: Totally redundant with rule 23, and conflates the two kinds of time: duration and sequential (time it takes for Z to happen, and sequential ordering of X,Y,Z).

45. Variable Ratio Reward Schedule

Definition: A variable ratio reward schedule provides rewards after a roughly consistent but unknown amount of actions. This creates a relatively high consistent rate of activity (as there could always be a reward after the next action) with a slight increase as the expected reward threshold is reached, but never the huge burst of a fixed ratio schedule. It’s also more immune to nadirs in engagement after a reward is acheived.

Example: kill something like 20 ships, get a level up. Visit a couple locations (roughly five) get a badge

My commentary: Again, conflates the two kinds of time. An “unknown amount of actions” simply states that the sequence is unknown. Is a again a game rule.

46. Viral Game Mechanics

Definition: A game element that requires multiple people to play (or that can be played better with multiple people)

Example: Farmville making you more successful in the game if you invite your friends, the social check-in

My commentary: Completely misses viral distribution dynamics, which are part distribution system, part communication, and part social graph.

47. Virtual Items

Definition: Digital prizes, rewards, objects found or taken within the course of a game. Often these can be traded or given away.

Example: Gowalla’s items, Facebook gifts, badges

My commentary: And I think we’re back to rule 1. (Source: Gravity7)