Games and Video Games - Fundamentals of Game Design - page 24

Risks and Rewards
Risks and rewards as sources of entertainment are most familiar to us from gam-
bling. You risk money by placing a bet, and you are rewarded with more money if
you win the bet. However, risk and reward are key parts of any kind of competitive
gameplay, even if no money is at stake. Whenever you play a competitive game,
you risk losing in the hope that you will get the reward of winning. Risk and
reward also occur on a smaller scale within the game. In a war game, when you
choose a place to begin an attack, you risk the attack's being detected and repulsed,
but if you are successful, you are rewarded by controlling new territory or depleting
the enemy's resources. In Monopoly, you risk money by purchasing a property in the
hope that you will be rewarded with income from rents later on.

Risk is produced by uncertainty. If a player knows exactly what the consequences
of an action will be, then there is no risk. In gambling, the uncertainty is often
produced by chance (which way will the dice fall?), but other features produce
uncertainty as well. A game might have hidden information (where are the enemy's
troops hiding?) revealed only after you take the risk. Even in a game such as chess,
which has no hidden information and no element of chance, not knowing what
your opponent will do produces uncertainty.

NOTE Playing a game
is intrinsically enter-
taining, but adding
risks and rewards to
a game makes it more
exciting.

The risk/reward mechanism makes gameplay more exciting. Gameplay is entertain-
ing all by itself because it lets the player attempt the challenges and perform the
actions, but adding risks and rewards raises the level of tension and makes success
or failure more meaningful.

A game should always reward achievement, whether it was risky or not. The more
difficult the achievement, the bigger the reward should be. Rewards can take vari-
ous forms. Usually they advance the player's interests somehow, either by giving
him something tangible that helps him play (such as money or a key to a locked
area) or something intangible but still valuable, such as a strategic advantage.
However, rewards don't have to affect the gameplay. Games that include a story
reward the player's achievements by advancing the plot of the story by presenting
a little more of it, often in a noninteractive video sequence. Games for children
often reward achievements with flashing lights and ringing sounds.

Players' attitudes toward risk-taking vary. Some take an aggressive, inherently risky
approach, whereas others prefer a defensive approach in which they try to mini-
mize risk. You can design your game to suit one style or the other or try to balance
the game so that neither really has an advantage.

DESIGN RULE Risks Need Rewards

A risk must always be accompanied by a reward. Otherwise the player has no incentive to
take the risk.