作者：Tom Francis

近来非游戏玩家的朋友和亲戚多次问我：游戏魅力何在？好问题！那些没问的人似乎都认为游戏是个如杀戮般可怕的活动，或者是某些他们永远无法理解的不可知新药。

这同时也是身处游戏领域人士应思考的好问题。这是和我一样身为游戏评论家人士要能够轻松回答的问题。也是开发者制作前需扪心自问的问题。同时也是玩家在亚马逊给出一颗星评价，称内容“糟糕透顶”前应该思考的问题。

我很遗憾地表示，就媒体角度来看，我们在此依然未有任何进展。我们中有一半人觉得游戏能够分解成“介绍、画面、音效、玩法和可玩性”。一半人觉得它们是无法量化的仙尘技术（游戏邦注：该技术可使硬盘的可靠性和存储密度大幅增加），任何人要获悉其些许参数信息须阅读3000字的冗长说明。

前者把游戏组成要素和整体成就混为一谈。后者完全持放弃态度（游戏邦注：不是说我们能够通过少量参数把握游戏，而是说它们无法通过3000文字呈现）。

游戏不能停留在“玩法”之类的词语，因为这毫无作用：你告诉我某款玩法杰出的游戏，我所知道的只是你喜欢这款游戏。游戏活动是否具有触觉满足感？若有，那就很棒。我们无需知晓为何这些内容令人满足，只需表示“感觉很好”，这更具体，更有效。

这就是我所说的仔细观察分析内容。不停询问“为何如此优秀？”，直到发现你所享有的原始、本能快乐反应。我们还可以继续深入，但这更多涉及神经系统科学，而不再是简单的评论文章。

下面我将陈述6点能够有效制作优质作品的建议。作品无需满足下述所有内容，有时只消一点便足够。但最理想的是能够尽可能满足所有内容。所有我喜欢的游戏都满足下述某方面。

1. 挑战元素

玩家在处理游戏任务时的享受程度。

挑战是游戏向玩家大脑或手指提出的要求，不论你是否享受此抗争过程。就我个人来讲，我不喜欢那些需要极大准确度或反应能力的斗争内容，就像《超级食肉男孩》。但我喜欢同心理问题斗争，就像《时空幻境》中的时光流转。

显然难度是这些内容的一部分——两种极端都使我们很难应对挑战。但同样重要的是，难度是平衡奖励的一种方式。其通过间隔成功产生的快感保持游戏趣味，这样玩家永远不会厌烦内容，或厌烦等待。

《俄罗斯方块》只融入简单挑战——分类这些形状，但却是款节奏紧凑的游戏。在此游戏机制中，富有满足感的成功在初始阶段频繁出现，但玩越久，成功次数越少，难度越大。体验《俄罗斯方块》，每消除一行砖块总是颇有满足感。

2. 感觉元素

个人互动应令人信服，令人愉快。

当你射击虚拟枪支，感觉就是射击声响，枪口闪光，武器模型的反冲，其是否偏离我的目标，目标的反应及互动隐藏内容（游戏邦注：无法直观看到）：子弹重量，硬度，射击位置，呈现感觉及所产生的伤害。

但感觉在非暴力游戏中也同样重要。《宝石迷阵》在此表现突出：虽然宝石未触碰任何东西，但仅从其声音和运动状态来看，我就知道它有多硬。4个宝石碰撞就能生成1个超级宝石，其中绚丽光晕令整个活动非常紧凑，颇具意义——整个游戏活动因生成隆隆声响而得到强化。

若你曾疑惑为何PopCap游戏大获成功，而其借鉴的原始类似游戏却只取得平平成绩，那是因为原始游戏只设置挑战，而PopCap却增添了感觉元素。

3. 自由元素

玩家在有趣游戏结果方面的选择机会。

将玩家放置于无比空旷场地的游戏蕴含许多自由元素（游戏邦注：就词语的普通意义来看），但这不仅仅是最大化的选择机会。自由是指游戏提供多少有趣反应选择。

若结果只是“角色在此空旷场地中稍作移动”，那么就毫无趣味。但在《杀出重围》中，玩家应对开放关卡的方式不同，所产生的情形也不同。前门有正在巡逻的机器人，侧门有很多守卫，后门有进入大楼的钥匙。射击会引来守卫，产生大规模枪战，秘密行动能够控制局面，但玩家需考虑更多长远威胁因素。

选择机会之所以如此富有吸引力还有其他更深层次的原因，其子选项的互动方式远复杂得多。但从根本来说，《杀出重围》的杰出之处在于其给予玩家众多选择，提供玩家众多不同选择内容。

4. 地点元素

玩家希望进入的世界。

有趣的是很多人无法把握游戏精髓之处，却认为旅游是项丰富而激动人心的生活乐趣。二者我都喜欢，原因一样，程度也一样。乘齐柏林飞船达到塔尔与坐飞机抵达津巴布韦同样令人难忘。

《镜之边缘》就是个典型例子，因为地点因素是该游戏唯一表现突出的地方。游戏说明城市环境也能够呈现如外星球一般的有趣而独特的景色。其背景相当引人注目，游戏借助先进技术呈现美轮美奂的场景。游戏地点不时发出亮光，我融入其中的强烈欲望令游戏机制存在的问题变得微不足道。

5. 希望元素

未来发展潜力的诱惑。

你或许会说这不重要，单允诺将出现某有趣或优质内容本身算不上种乐趣，乐趣仅在于期待过程。简直是一派胡言！

从根本来看，允诺将出现更优道具和地位会促使角色扮演游戏富有趣味，远超过挑战和感觉的保质期。但希望也可以是故事发展、新谜题机制或未知能力的预期。

我在《Dawn of War 2: Retribution》投入的多数分时间集中在解锁英雄角色的特定能力之前（游戏邦注：这些能力把它变成一个有条不紊的杀人机器）。但在我尚未拥有这些能力前，它们静坐其中，逐步灰度角色名单，传递无限希望，因而令游戏饶有趣味。

6. 幻想元素

扮演此角色的吸引力。

这和故事不同——我觉得《质量效益 2》的故事非常糟糕，但我喜欢扮演一个到处惹是生非的女太空船长，游荡于银河，袭击机器人。

出于某些原因，“幻想”成为有些可耻的词语，而“逃避主义”却是个更为通用的词语。我认为发现新地点和新构思要比终日面对电视，无所事事健康得多。我玩游戏不是为了逃避生活，而是为了探索新事物。

为什么没有故事？

当然这有点因人而异。对我来说，好故事的趣味在于其促使生命富有趣味（幻想），呈现丰富世界（地点），令我憧憬未来（希望）。游戏若未融入上述某些元素，它就不是款好作品，也就无趣味可言。

其作用何在？

《金枪人》最初版的情节是个好故事，但不是好幻想。玩家参与其中，但角色并不有趣，也未暗示情节之外的世界。

敲定这个列表促使我们能够轻松获悉和解决这些重新编写的问题。我从幻想着手，基于此创建内容。我在其他内容或许表现得不尽如人意，但在此方面则相当突出。

这是否能够让你明白你为何喜欢、讨厌或只喜欢某些游戏？

这能够令我获悉我为何喜欢、讨厌或只喜欢某些游戏。

为什么《正当防卫 2》不是我最喜欢的作品？游戏感觉颇好、地点优美，但其不含有其他游戏所蕴含的希望元素。而且玩家觉得继续体验也不会出现什么有趣新鲜事。

为什么我没有继续玩《魔兽世界》？其场景优美，但缺乏感觉。为什么我没有像大家说的那样深深喜欢上巫师游戏？我讨厌幻想，我不想成为这个角色，进入这个世界，进行此类活动。

为何《Minecraft》如此风靡？从传统挑战角度看来，它几乎一无是处。但其奖励元素非常精致，这是挑战真正涉及的内容。《Minecraft》在挑战、感觉、地点、自由和希望元素方面都表现杰出，所以自然获得广大用户的青睐。（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

What Makes Games Good

By Tom Francis

A few times lately, non-gaming friends and relatives have asked me: what’s the appeal of games? Good question! The people who don’t ask it seem to assume it’s something terrible, like bloodlust, or it’s some unknowable new drug they will never understand.

It’s also a useful one for anyone involved with games to ask. It’s one game critics like me should be able to answer reflexively. It’s one developers should answer before they start making something. And it’s one gamers should probably think about before writing a one-star Amazon review saying ‘lol ass’.

I’m sad to say that on the press side of things, we haven’t really got anywhere. Half of us apparently think games meaningfully break down into “Presentation, Graphics, Sound, Gameplay, and Lasting Appeal”. And the other half believe they’re unquantifiable pixie dust and anyone who wants even the faintest idea of their metrics should have to read 3,000 words of waffle.

The former is confusing a game’s component parts with what the whole achieves. The latter is just giving up. It’s not that games can be captured in a few metrics, it’s that they still can’t in 3,000 words. So instead of abandoning analysis, let’s just be smarter about where analysis stops.

It can’t stop at words like ‘gameplay’, because those aren’t useful: tell me a game has good gameplay, and all I really know is that you like it. Are your actions in it satisfying on some tactile level? If so, great. We don’t really need to know why they’re satisfying, just to say ‘it feels good’ is far more specific and useful than what we had before.

That’s what I mean by being smarter about where analysis stops. Keep asking “Why is that good?” until you hit the primal, instinctive pleasure response you’re having. It’s not impossible to keep going, but it’s more neuroscience than critique past that point.

I’ll try to explain six things that can make a game great, for me. Games don’t need to do all of them well, sometimes one is enough. But the hope is to cover every kind of draw they can have. Every game I like, I like because it does one of these things well.

1. Challenge

How much you enjoy tackling what you’re being asked to do.

Challenge is about what a game asks your brain or fingers to do, and whether it’s something you enjoy struggling with. Personally, I don’t like struggling with anything that requires extreme precision or reactions, like Super Meat Boy. But I love struggling with mental problems, like the time-bending of Braid.

Obviously difficulty is part of it – either extreme makes it hard to engage with the challenge. But just as importantly, difficulty is a way of pacing rewards. It makes games enjoyable by spacing out the dopamine kicks of success, so that you never get bored of getting them, nor of waiting for them.

A game like Tetris has a simple challenge – SORT THESE SHAPES – but a well-paced one. Its mechanics naturally make satisfying successes frequent at first, then rarer and harder the longer you play. There’s never a time in Tetris when clearing a line isn’t satisfying.

2. Feel

Making individual interactions convincing and pleasurable

When you fire a virtual gun, feel is the sound of the shot, the muzzle flash, the recoil of the weapon model, whether it offsets my aim, the reaction of the target, and what all that suggests about the unseen parts of the interaction: the weight of the bullet, its hardness, where it hit, how that felt, what damage has been done.

But feel is just as important in non-violent games. Bejeweled is incredible at it: I know exactly how hard a topaz is despite the fact that it never touches anything, just from its sound and motion. The sound of four gems forming a super-gem, and the glow that gives it, makes the thing feel dense, pregnant – all reinforced by the cathartic boom when it goes off.

If you’re ever wondering why a PopCap game succeeded despite being suspiciously similar to an existing game that was only moderately popular, it’s because the first game got the challenge right and PopCap added the feel.

3. Freedom

The extent to which a game reacts to your choices with interesting results

A game that put you in an infinite empty field would have a lot of freedom in the ordinary sense of the word, but it’s not just about maximising options. Freedom is about how many different options the game has an interesting response to.

If the result is just “Your character moves a bit in that infinite field”, that’s not interesting. In Deus Ex, though, your choices about how to approach a wide-open level all lead to meaningfully different situations. The front door gets you into a dangerous dance with a patrolling bot, the side entrance exposes you to a lot of guards, the rear gets you a key to the building. Shooting attracts guards and results in a big gunfight, stealth keeps things under control but gives you more threats to think about in the long run.

There are more complex reasons why those choices are particularly compelling, and more complex ways that the sub-options within them interact. But basically, a big reason Deus Ex is great is that it gives you a lot of options, and has something different to offer you whichever one you pick.

4. Place

A world you want to be in

It’s funny how many people can’t see the point of games, but see traveling as one of the most enriching and exciting pleasures of life. I love both, often for the same reason and in the same way. Stepping off a zeppelin in Durotar is as clear and fond a memory getting off a plane in Zimbabwe.

Mirror’s Edge is a good case study, because place is the only thing it does perfectly. It shows how an urban environment can be as visually exciting and artistically inventive as a different planet. It had an incredible vision for its setting, and the tech was bent and boosted to show it dazzlingly. The place glows, and my desire to be there outweighs every problem with the game’s mechanics.

5. Promise

The temptation of further possibilities

You could claim this doesn’t count, that the mere promise of something interesting or better is not a pleasure in itself, just the anticipation of one. Nope!

On its most basic level, the promise of ever-better items and stats keeps RPGs interesting way beyond the sell-by date of their challenge and feel. But promise can also be the anticipation of story developments, new puzzle mechanics or unknown abilities.

Most of my time actually playing Dawn of War 2: Retribution was before I unlocked the particular abilities for my heroes that turned them into a perfectly co-ordinated killing machine. But long before I had them, they were making the game exciting just by sitting there, greyed out on the character sheet, promising.

6. Fantasy

The appeal of playing this role

This is different to story – I think Mass Effect 2′s story is outright bad, but I love being a badass lady space captain zooming around the galaxy punching robots and telling people to fuck themselves.

For some reason ‘fantasy’ has become a slightly shameful word, while ‘escapism’ – trying to get away from your life – is accepted as normal. I think discovering new places and ideas is healthier than vegetating in front of some glossy people making out on TV. I don’t play games to escape my life, I play them to explore new ones.

Why isn’t Story on there?

It’s a little personal, of course. But for me, the pleasure of a good story is in making this alternate life interesting (Fantasy), suggesting a rich world (Place), and keeping me wondering about what’s coming next (Promise). If it doesn’t do any of those things – even if it’s Of Mice and Men – it doesn’t make a good game. So it’s not a pleasure in itself.

How does this help?

An early version of Gunpoint’s plot was an attempt at a good story, rather than a good Fantasy. The player was involved, but his role wasn’t a very exciting one, and there was no hint of a world beyond this plot.

Deciding on this list made it dramatically easier to see and solve those problems in a total rewrite. I started with the Fantasy – being a spy for hire – and built everything around that. I’ll get a bunch of other stuff wrong, but that’s one less.

Has it also helped you understand why you love, hate or only like certain games?

It’s also helped me understand why I love, hate, or only like certain games.

Why isn’t Just Cause 2 my favourite game ever? Great Feel, amazing Place, but it doesn’t have Promise like the others do. There’s no sense that anything interestingly different will happen if I keep playing.

Why do I never stick with World of Warcraft? Amazing sense of Place, no Feel. Why don’t I like the Witcher games as much as people tell me I will? I hate the Fantasy, I don’t want to be this guy, in this world, doing this.

And why is Minecraft so popular? Under a traditional notion of challenge, it has none. But it does rarefy its rewards well, and that’s what Challenge is really about. Minecraft is great at Challenge, Feel, Place, Freedom and Promise, so it’s not surprising it appeals to a pretty broad audience.

This list is a first stab at something I’ll keep working on as I write about and try making games. I hate the feeble attitude that games are too complex, too new, or too arty to quantify their appeal in specific or useful ways. Because it’s hurting our ability to understand them, to explain them to people who don’t get them, and to make them better.（Source：pentadact）