What motivates people to keep playing a game?
We know that video game players are motivated by different types of gameplay. For example, some players are motivated to play games featuring challenge and competition, while some players might be motivated by games featuring story and strategy.
Once you've designed a game that players will be interested in playing, you want to keep those players engaged in the gameplay. There are other motivational factors that can help accomplish this.
We can use research in psychology to understand what factors motivate people to perform behaviors in general (whether it is playing a game or doing something else). Two of the possible ways to classify these motivational factors include:
External vs. Internal — External motivations originate outside ourselves, while internal motivations come from within ourselves.
Negative vs. Positive — Negative motivations involve avoiding painful experiences, while positive motivations involve seeking out pleasing experiences.
This diagram is a model that combines both of these dimensions of motivations:
EXTERNAL MOTIVATIONS: REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS
Rewards and punishments are external motivations. As we know, rewards are positive, and punishments are negative. They can be very effective at getting people to do things. However, the effectiveness depends on the amount and frequency of the rewards or punishments. Psychologist B.F. Skinner conducted numerous studies on the effectiveness of external motivations on behavior.
Rewards and punishments are commonly used in video games. Rewards and punishments often help players learn how the gameplay works — and are often a core part of the gameplay experience.
Rewards in games might include: receiving points, gaining special abilities, etc.
Punishments in games might include: losing health, losing resources, etc.
Even things like sounds can be used in a game as reward or punishment: an annoying sound might play while an enemy is alive, a pleasing sound might play when the enemy is defeated, etc.
An advantage of using external motivations is they quickly teach and reinforce desired behaviors. People quickly learn the cause-and-effect behind rewards and punishments.
However, the drawback with external motivation is that people will also quickly stop performing a behavior if the rewards or punishments are removed — unless the person has already developed some internal motivation to keep performing the behavior.
In fact, studies have shown that people's internal motivation to perform a behavior can actually become lower after becoming dependent on external motivation.
YOUR TASK
In this assignment, you will explore how external motivations are used in games. The next assignment will focus on internal motivations in games.
Follow the instructions and links in this assignment to playtest two games to compare their use of rewards and punishments.
Discuss your findings as a class.
