Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
ditioning chamber works. These applications exploit human evolution-
ary needs and create loops of compulsive behavior, such as the need to
collect and gather (clearly exploited and even made into the subtitle of
Pokémon
:
Gotta Catch 'Em All
), or the need to show status (exploited in
World of Warcraft
when you show of your fancy new gear to others, or
vice versa).
In
Farmville
and other so-called social games, the creators must have
been aware of what they were doing. Anytime you receive a power-up,
the game asks you to click to get it. Many games just give you something
if it's a no brainer to take it, but in
Farmville
you have to actually click to
do everything. If that's not operant conditioning, then it's just horrible
UI design.
I would never say that an inanimate object was evil, but I would warn
people about these kinds of applications in the same way I would warn
them about getting involved with gambling or addictive drugs. These
kinds of games are very addictive but not particularly fulfilling, because
they are only exploiting you, not challenging you.
Toys, Sandboxes, and Simulators
Examples:
MS Flight Simulator
,
Sim City
,
Minecraft
,
Garry's Mod
Toys aren't games. For some reason this is a controversial statement in
the digital world, even though any Walmart employee understands that
there's one section for toys and another for games (and even another for
puzzles!).
Minecraft
, for instance, is just a basic interactive system. People tend
to mistake this application for a game because they often add their own
goals when they play. They have turned it into a game, the same way you
can turn
Flight Simulator
or
Garry's Mod
into a game by adding your
own goals. In fact, you can turn anything into a game by adding goals and
rules: this addition is the process of game design. So give yourself a little
credit—if you made up some rules for how you play
Minecraft
, you took
part in the art of game design.
