Slitherine

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Providing Value in Game Encounters

Every encounter in your game should be meaningful to your players. Meaning is gained by rewarding or penalizing players psychologically or their side or characters mechanically. This doesn’t mean the impact has to be earth-shattering “I have the power” or ” lost my mojo” kind of thing but it should give something back for their efforts.

Mechanical awards and penalties are easy to come up with as most game systems offer them as part of the game design. These include points toward or against level advancement, addition or attrition of the enemy or gain or loss off loot. It is critical to scale these appropriately to the situation and overall tale. Its okay to give them a Star Destroyer early on if the story is short and sweet or it will have some critical immediate use. It’s not so fun if it’s the start of a long campaign and they’re cruising around using it to pockmark every low-level planet in the Universe.

Psychological awards are a deep subject that many people have dedicated careers, books and millions of dollars exploring. I don’t think you need to be Frasier Crain to succeed in game design though. People like to be in charge of their lives and exciting stories. Nobody likes to be bored even if they are rich, famous or powerful. These two statements should guide you in developing your own awards and the focus should always be on what you are providing not expecting. I used the word, their, in this article for good reason!

Your job as a game designer, scenario editor, writer or game master is to give players the pieces to form group narratives. Game and role-playing enjoyment are directly linked to the draw of collaborative storytelling in that players find it much more enjoyable if feel they are a critical team member crafting an authentic story or plot. This mirrors the same intrinsic values (authenticity, competency in work, connectivity to others) we as humans hold dear and it is carried over into our fantasy lives as Conan, Dead Pool, Patton, H.R. McMaster or Master Chief. Likewise, when we value extrinsic values such as meaningless wealth, fame and power we become bored and unfulfilled. The Picture of Conan on his throne looking bored to tears tells a tale!

Providing and encouraging unique action in an encounter is critically important. I figured this out quickly in the 90’s when I figured out the back and forth control rhythm needed in Sega NHL hockey to score on my roommates at will. The first couple times it felt great and I tortured a Peachbelt star pitcher with it but the resulting rage quits and dorm room battle royal wrestling matches quickly filled the action void the challenge less routine left. It is utterly worthless (sometimes painful!) to give players a repetitive combat or challenge less role play that yields exactly the same as the combat before it. You must come up with unique experiences that allow players to be creative and yield interesting results. You must also encourage it from them by adding unique challenges or twists to each so they don’t hang their hats on routine. They will actually thank you for it!

These are my current conclusions on this but definitely open to a dialog on it. I like people and learning from them.