Rage-Quit - Learn to Play: Designing Tutorials for Video Games - page 59

4
r age -Q uIt
There are many theories about why people get frustrated, why they
quit, and, in particular, why they react with venom to certain topics
or even games. Ever hear someone flip out and say something like
“Games are for losers.”? That venom has a psychological root, and
in this chapter, we'll find out what it is; more important than that,
we'll figure out how to avoid it. Games User Researchers at numerous
companies around the world are actively preventing rage-quits all the
time, and I am going to share some of those secrets in the form of
well-designed learning. You will learn in this chapter about boredom,
frustration, and flow—what they are, and how to either elicit or avoid
them in games via the tutorial system. There is some heavier psycho-
logical content here, so again, the chapter will end with a cheat sheet
you can look at for definitions of the concepts explained within.
People stop and start activities all the time. These can be long-term
activities, like that stint where you wanted to be a unicyclist, or short-
term activities, like picking up a toy and playing with it a bit before
putting it down. Why you start doing something is a matter of inter-
est, and is beyond the scope of this topic. What is important for people
designing games, and in particular for people designing tutorials, is
why people stop playing games. There are two reasons, and only two,
why people stop doing something (being interrupted or having time
constraints don't count); these are frustration and boredom. If your
players existed in a hypothetical dream space where they had nothing
to do but play your games, ideally they would never put them down.
Frustration and Boredom
Frustration and boredom are the bane of player attention. When play-
ers are either frustrated or bored, they disengage and start an activity
that motivates them. Whether this is playing another game, checking
59