Monday, June 15, 2009

Assessing Game Mechanics

It’s not easy to evaluate game mechanics in a genre as young as MMORPG. I’ve given some thought to this problem recently and I think I have at least a place where we can start discussion of mechanics assessment with some objectivity.

The goal here is to have a way to qualify game mechanics in relation to one another. Once we can qualify effectively, we can begin to try to find ways to determine which game mechanics are best for a game with certain goals in mind. (And perhaps we can develop a system for concisely stating the design of an MMORPG.)

  • Simplicity. A mechanic should be as simple as possible to attain game aims. It’s in the interest of the players that this be the case, because needlessly complex mechanics cause frustration and make the game harder to learn and enjoy than necessary. Mechanics that are too simple are also not particularly desirable because they quickly devolve into meaninglessness, becoming components of grinds.

  • Causality. The causes and effects of a mechanic should be sufficiently clear to the player. They should also be logically consistent within the mechanic and with regards to how the mechanic works with others. If there are counterintuitive causes or effects, they should be made clear to the player. This involves user interface considerations as well as mechanic design.

  • Transparency. Players should receive enough information to make appropriately informed (depending on the game situation) decisions. Information should be available at a similar depth throughout the game, or, if it is to be revealed, revealed in a consistent and sensible fashion.

  • Repetitiveness. Does this mechanic encourage repetitive behavior? If it does, should it? Some degree of repetitiveness is necessary in MMORPGs, but it’s important to know where it occurs and manage it carefully. As a general rule, Mechanics should not force players to do a task many times beyond the point at which the player can be expected to have full mastery of the task (or have gained all or nearly all the utility of performing the task).

1 comment:

motstandet said...

Many of these concepts can be applied to VGs in general. But I'd like to point out a very tight coupling between Simplicity and Repetitiveness.

One of the many mantras in game design is: easy to learn and hard to master. Obviously there would be some repeated gameplay, or there would be virtually no mastery curve. As soon as the player discovered the mechanic, he would understand it completely.

The trick to Repetitivenes in MMOGs is to make the actions worthy enough to do on their own. They don't necessarily have to be an ends in themselves, but if there is no joy in the action, then it becomes a grind.