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到底是什么让《Pokemon Go》如此受欢迎?

发布时间:2016-08-02 11:37:09 Tags:,,,,

作者:David Mullich

每隔两个月,洛杉矶电影学校的关卡设计导师便会带着班级里的学生到Wisdom Tree(好莱坞山上的一个地标)徒步旅行。而这个月她决定将这次的旅程称作Pokemon GoHike,即和对不久前发行的大受欢迎的AR游戏的相呼应。不过她似乎也低估了这款游戏受欢迎的程度,因为在该活动的Facebook页面上有175个人表明他们将会参加,更是有超过1300个人对这一活动充满兴趣。因为担心最终参与者过多,她还是决定取消了这次的公开活动—-所以最终是由我和她的一些学生踏上了这次旅程。我们在山上发现了Pokestop并添加了一些Pokemon到我们的收集中,即虽然顶着7月份的炎炎烈日以及来自洛杉矶北部山上的森林大火的热气,我们还是度过了非常愉快的时间。

Pokestop(from Gamasutra)

Pokestop(from Gamasutra)

当我启程回到日常生活中时,我突然想到最初有那么多人想参加这次的徒步应该就是因为这一活动与《Pokemon Go》的关系吧。而到底是什么原因让这款游戏如此迅速地聚集了这么多人气呢?几乎在我所到之处都能看到人们在不同Pokestops之间穿梭着并尝试着去捕抓所有Pokemon。事实上《Pokemon》作为一个授权内容已经诞生20多年了,不过这次的AR游戏却是全新的内容(游戏邦注:实际上《Pokemon Go》是基于Niantic为早前的AR游戏《Ingess》所创造的代码)。而这款游戏到底有什么特别之处能够吸引所有人的注意呢?

我用于分析这款游戏之所以如此受欢迎的一面镜子便是育碧的创意总监Jason Vandenberghe在2012年的游戏开发者大会上所提出的一个框架“游戏的5个领域”,即将游戏设计中的5大动机元素及其相应目标联系起来。这一框架是基于5大性格特质,也是我们所熟悉的5因素模型(FFM)—-有些心理学家会使用这5大维度去描写人类的性格和心理。

Vandernberghe认为我们可以将这5个领域或“元素”作为带有正面激励因子的范围去描述游戏。如果游戏能够满足5个领域中每一面上的更多激励因子,人们便会更乐于接受全新体验,如此游戏也就会更受欢迎。

首个领域是新颖性,即在游戏中存在或缺少全新,有趣,具有戏剧性或华丽的内容。对于大多数人来说,前往真实场所的AR游戏便是一种新颖的游戏,于此同时游戏的主题又是基于人们所熟悉的IP,这也是这款游戏能够比Niantic之前的游戏《Ingress》更受欢迎的原因。

这两款游戏都需要玩家前往真实世界中的场所(即在游戏中叫做Pokestops),即他们可以通过手机中的摄像机看到。熟悉感将因为惊喜感而获得增强,因为这些场所将创造各种升级道具和设备去帮助玩家捕抓想象中的生物。所以这款游戏也能够同时吸引分别受到新颖范围两端激励的玩家。

下个领域,即挑战便是要求玩家自律的一个游戏部分:即去克服障碍,付出努力,避免危险并收集成就。许多游戏会提供一些较低的挑战去吸引一些休闲游戏玩家:而获取Pokemon以及资源便是一种非常简单的刷任务。如果你所生活或工作的地方离Pokespot很近,你便可以只是坐在桌子前而一整天轻松地去收集各种内容。但是对于那些喜欢挑战的玩家来说,游戏中还有体育场能让玩家去挑战一些更高级别的Pokemon以获取这些训练场地的控制权。尽管通过战斗去控制它们非常简单,但是每个Pokemon都有自己的优劣,所以为了赢得战斗玩家需要不断去了解自己的Pokemon。

刺激也是其中的一个领域,即通过直接刺激或社交互动表现出来。与挑战领域一样,那些追求刺激的玩家可以在体育场中获得满足,不过对于他们来说捕抓与聚集则会是一个较为无聊的过程。

还有一个领域是融洽,即关于玩家如何基于特定方式与其他人或角色相处。这些玩家都是受到游戏中融洽的氛围所激励,即他们需要共同去进化自己的Pokemon,并且玩家通过加入游戏中三个颜色的队伍中的一支或在外出游戏时遇见其他玩家而能够进一步维系起彼此间的社交关系。而那些并不喜欢太融洽氛围的玩家可以前往体育场与其他玩家战斗并从其它团队手上抢夺体育场的控制权。

最终领域威胁是游戏的消极面,即能够唤醒玩家的一些负面情感,如瘾性,忧虑感,愤怒或悲伤。通常情况下游戏都是不具威胁的,它拥有色彩丰富的图像和可爱的Pokemon,但是也需要让玩家有输掉游戏的可能。即在体育场中玩家可能因为输掉对抗而失去自己所收集到的Pokemon,同时玩家也有可能失去对于体育场的控制权。

当我着眼于游戏机制和其它功能时发现,我并不需要多努力去寻找那些可能吸引玩家的内容。如此我便对这款游戏会如此受欢迎毫不惊讶了,毕竟它拥有面向所有人的游戏内容!

而分析这款游戏的吸引力的另一种方式便是着眼于它对于游戏玩家的奖励。在游戏中最强大的奖励便是内在奖励:即源自游戏内部的奖励。因为游戏拥有许多玩家激励因子,所以我们就没必要去分析它是否提供了内在奖励了。

但是我还要指出这款游戏同样也提供给了玩家一些外在奖励。游戏开发者设计这款游戏的目的便是鼓励玩家“走出去”,走出家门去探索世界并通过行走而锻炼身体。游戏通过明确具体的路程而要求玩家为了孵育全新Pokemon就必须行走一定的公里数。我发现通过从一个Pokestop走到另一个Pokestop,我也逐渐开始认识一些自己之前从未注意到的建筑和地标。除此之外还有一个外在奖励便是促进玩家间的社交联系,即我会遇到那些同样来到公园捕抓Pokemon的玩家。

而或许在这里最最重要的因素便是游戏适当的复杂性和深度所创造的用户粘性。大多数游戏设计师的目标是创造“容易学习但难以精通”的游戏。尽管这款游戏并没有游戏说明,但它却非常容易学习,因为游戏机制非常简单且游戏控制也很直白。但是如果你想进一步精通之后的游戏内容,你就需要进一步了解每种Pokemon以及它们对于彼此间的影响,而随着玩家的不断深入游戏也会变得更加复杂。

关于深度,这里并不需要玩家做出太多决策。就像我之前所说的,你可以坐在桌子前花一整天时间从附近的Pokestop收集到Pokemon和资源,而Pokestop每隔几分钟便会重置奖励。至少到目前为止我还未找到去访问各种不同Pokestop的原因。不过我们倒是会去收集各种不同的Pokemon,因为有些Pokemon更适合与那些守卫体育场的Pokemon战斗(虽然我还未找到去占领各种不同的体育场的原因)。所以我暂时还未发觉到这款游戏真正的深度。

而这也让我不禁好奇《Pokemon Go》是否能够长久保持这样的热度。的确这款游戏能够提供给所有第一次游戏的人各种内容,但是一旦他们的好奇退却了,我便不知道它是否还能够激励这些玩家继续留在这里。

本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译,拒绝任何不保留版权的转发,如需转载请联系:游戏邦

What Makes Pokémon Go So Popular?

by David Mullich

Every couple of months, the Los Angeles Film School’s Level Design instructor invites her class for a hike up to The Wisdom Tree, a landmark in the Hollywood Hills. This month she decided to call the event a Pokémon GoHike in recognition of the unbelievably popular augmented reality game released just a few weeks ago. However, even she underestimated its popularity when 175 people indicated on the event’s Facebook page that they would be going, and 1,300 more said that they were interested. Fearing that the trail would have far more hikers than it could accommodate, she decided to cancel the public event — although I and some of her class did the hike on our own. We did find a Pokéstop at the top and added a number of Pokémons to our collections, so a good time was had by all despite the oppressive July heat and a layer of smoke from a raging wildfire in the mountains to the north of Los Angeles.

As I started the trek down back to civilization, I thought about the hundreds of people who originally wanted to go on this hike simply because it was associated with Pokémon Go. What made this game so popular, so quickly? Almost everywhere I go, I see people walking from Pokéspot to Pokéspot, trying to catch them all. Yet Pokémon as a franchise has been around for twenty years, and augmented reality games are not new (in fact Pokémon Go is built upon code the developer, Niantic, created for an earlier augmented reality game, Ingess). What makes this game so special that it is capturing everyone’s attention?

One prism that I used to analyze the game’s popularity is the 5 Domains of Play, a framework that Ubisoft Creative Director Jason Vandenberghe presented at the 2012 Game Developer Conference that draws connections between five major motivational factors and their corresponding goals in game design. This framework is based upon the Big Five personality traits, also known as the five factor model (FFM),that suggests five broad dimensions used by some psychologists to describe the human personality and psyche.

Vandernberghe’s premise was that we can describe play in terms of 5 domains, or “factor,” as a two-sided spectrum with a positive motivation on each end. The more motivational factors a game satisfies on each side of the five domains (for example, some people are open to new experiences, while others prefer the comfort of the familiar, the more popular the game will be.

The first of these domains is Novelty, the presence or lack of new, interesting, dramatic, or beautiful things in the game. For most people, an augmented reality game based on traveling to real locations is a novelty, and yet the game’s theming is based on a familiar intellectual property, Pokémon, which is one reason why this game is so much more popular than Niantic’s earlier game, Ingress.

Both games require players to travel to real-world locations –called Pokéspots in the game — which they can observe through their phone’s camera. Yet the familiar is augmented with the surprising, as these locations generate various power-ups and devices used to capture imaginary creatures that can suddenly pop-up during their travels. So, the game has equal appeal to players who are motivated by both ends of the Novelty spectrum.

The next domain, Challenge, is the part of the game that requires the player to use self-discipline: overcoming obstacles, work, avoiding danger, and collecting achievements. Much of the game provides low challenge, which appeals to casual game players: acquiring Pokémon and resources is an extremely easy grind. If you live or work close enough to a Pokéspot, you can just sit at your desk and collect stuff all day. However, for player’s who enjoy Challenge, there are Gyms, where players must battle high-level Pokémon to seize control of these training areas. While the fight controls themselves are very simple, each of the Pokémon have individual strengths and weaknesses, so fighting does require the development of Pokémon expertise.

Stimulation is the domain that excites, be that through direct thrills or through social interactions. As with the Challenge domain, those seeking Stimulation can do so in the Gym, while hunting and gathering quickly becomes a more mundane process.

Harmony is the domain involving how the player behaves in a particular way toward other people or characters. Those players who are motivated by high harmony are indulged by powering up and evolving their Pokémon, nuturing them if you will, while establishing social bonds with other players by joining one of the three colored teams in the game or simply by meeting other players who are out playing the game. Players who get off on low harmony can do so by defeating Pokémon in Gyms and then seizing control of that Gym away from other teams that own it.

The final domain, Threat, is the negative tone of the game that can evoke negative emotions in the player, such as addiction, anxiety, anger, or sadness. Generally the game is non-threatening, with its colorful graphics and cute Pokémon, and there is now way to lose the game. However, you can lose Pokémon you’ve collected by losing fights in the Gym, as well as losing control of the Gym itself.

As I look at the game mechanics and other features, I don’t have to look hard find ones that appeal to players that are motivated at each end of the five domains. No wonder the game is so popular: it literally has something for everyone!

Another way to analyze the appeal of the game is to look at how it rewards players for playing the game. The most power rewards are intrinsic ones: the rewards that are inherent in the gameplay itself. Because the game satisfy so many player motivation factors, there is no need to further analyze whether the game provides intrinsic rewards.

However, I will point out that the game also provides extrinsic ones. The game’s developers specifically design Pokémon to encourage players to “get up an go”: go out, explore, and exercise through walking. The game explicitly requires players to exercise by indicating the number of kilometers one must walk in order to incubate eggs for hatching new Pokémon. I’ve also found that, by walking Pokéstop to Pokéstop, I’m becoming acquainted with artwork, architecture and landmarks I never notice before, thanks to the real-world snapshots that appear when I reach a Pokéstop. There is also the extrinsic reward of making social connections with people, as I greet another player who also had stopped in the park to capture the wild Pokémon lurking there.

Perhaps most important factor of all is the engagement brought about by the proper level of complexity and depth in a game. The goal of most game designers is to craft a game that is “easy to learn but difficult to master.” Even though it comes without instructions, Pokémon is extremely easy to learn because the mechanics are simple and the controls are intuitive. However, to become proficient in later levels of the game, one really needs to become familiar with the matrix of which Pokémon are effective against others, and so the game does become more complex as you play it.

As for depth, there really aren’t that many decisions to make. As I indicated, you can sit at your desk and collect Pokémon and resources all day long from a nearby Pokéstop, which recharges its rewards every few minutes. If there is a reason for visiting a variety of Pokéstops, I haven’t found it yet. There is a reason for collecting a variety of Pokémon, since some are more effective at fighting the ones guarding Gyms than others, but I’ve yet to find a reason for overtaking a variety of Gyms. If there is any depth to the game, I haven’t discovered it yet.

And this makes me wonder about the game’s long-term popularity. Yes, the game has something to offer everyone when they first start playing it, but the motivations for staying in the game once the initial novelty wears off remains as elusive as Mewtwo for me right now.(source:gamasutra)

 


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