Game Mechanics

Definition

The timing and delivery of rewards. Three parts: contingency, response, reinforcer.

Example

A level up for ten orcs. A cleared row in Tetris. Ripe crops in Farmville.

Definition

The problem the player has to overcome. First part of a reward schedule.

Example

Ten orcs block the path.

Definition

The action expected from the player. Second part of a reward schedule.

Example

The player kills the ten orcs.

Definition

The reward delivered once the expected action is done. Third part of a reward schedule.

Example

The level up after the tenth orc.

Definition

Rewards delivered after a period of time. Two variants: fixed and variable.

Example

Wait n minutes, collect rent.

Definition

A reward after a fixed period. Engagement drops right after each reward and climbs again as the next one approaches.

Example

Wait thirty minutes. The crops are ready.

Definition

A reward after a roughly consistent period. Steady activity, no burst and no crash, because a reward could land at any moment.

Example

A new weapon appears about every thirty minutes. Checking more often does not speed it up. Players rarely believe that.

Definition

Rewards delivered after a number of actions. Two variants: fixed and variable.

Example

Kill ten orcs, get a power up.

Definition

A reward after a fixed number of actions. Low engagement at the start of each cycle, a burst as the count closes.

Example

Kill twenty ships, level up. Visit five locations, get a badge.

Definition

A reward after a roughly consistent but unknown number of actions. High steady activity, a slight lift near the expected threshold, little drop after the payoff.

Example

Roughly twenty ships, then a level up. About five locations, then a badge.

Definition

A reward linked to a series of conditions. Players read each unlocked step as a reward of its own.

Example

Kill ten orcs to enter the cave. The dragon appears every thirty minutes.

Definition

Stopping a reward players have learned to expect. It reads as betrayal and creates negative momentum.

Example

Killing ten orcs no longer levels you up.

Definition

Behaviour shifts hard when expectations change, not when conditions change.

Example

A monkey presses a lever for lettuce and is content. One time it gets a grape. Back on lettuce, it throws the lettuce at the experimenter.

Definition

A virtual or physical marker that something was accomplished. Usually treated as a reward in its own right.

Example

Badges, levels, points, trophies. Anything framed as a reward can act as one.

Definition

Success shown in visible increments as itemised tasks complete.

Example

A progress bar. Paladin level 1 to paladin level 60.

Definition

A player's level or rank. Movement up the ladder is its own motivation.

Example

Level twenty paladin.

Definition

An item that changes the effect of other actions. Usually earned after a run of challenges.

Example

A double points token applied to your next action.

Definition

Control over something as property. It works at many levels, from territory to a slot to a visible count of friends.

Example

Taking over a place. Holding a slot. Owning a following.

Definition

Ownership plus the joy of the accomplishment behind it.

Example

I have ten badges. There are many like them. These are mine.

Definition

A sustained positive attachment that starts to feel like part ownership. Usually reinforced by a visible marker.

Example

Fealty in Warcraft. The mayorship. The wall of regulars in a cafe.

Definition

Digital prizes and objects earned inside the game. Often tradable or giftable.

Example

In game items, gifts, badges.

Definition

A real world prize open to whoever currently meets the condition. The holder keeps changing.

Example

The top scorer deal. The mayor deal.

Definition

To succeed you have to return at a set time and act. Closely tied to interval rewards and to avoidance.

Example

Farmville and Cafe World. Return on time and the crop is there. Miss it and it spoils.

Definition

Behaviour driven by removing a penalty rather than granting a reward. Produces steady activity locked to the schedule.

Example

Press the lever every thirty seconds and you are not shocked.

Definition

A fixed window to act. Activity climbs until the clock runs out, which forces extinction.

Example

Bejeweled Blitz, thirty seconds. Bonus rounds. Timed levels.

Definition

Real time information arrives without delay. Delayed information is held back for an interval.

Example

Live scores produce instant reaction, good or bad. Delayed scores create ambiguity, and ambiguity can drive more play.

Definition

Games with no explicit end. Works when content refreshes, or when a stable positive state is its own reward.

Example

Farmville, where the tidy farm is the win. Community built challenges that keep the content moving.

Definition

A whole community mobilises to crack one problem. Highly viral and highly satisfying.

Example

The DARPA balloon challenge. The cottage industry hunting for Boardwalk in McDonald's Monopoly.

Definition

An element that needs other people, or works measurably better with them.

Example

Farmville rewarding you for recruiting friends. The social check in.

Definition

People like and trust each other more after playing together, and work together more willingly afterwards.

Example

Playing with someone takes trust. They spend their time on you, follow the same rules and aim at the same goal.

Definition

The wish to have what others have. It only works if players can see what others hold.

Example

My friend has the item. I do not.

Definition

Rankings inside a small set. Good for distributed play and for building local loyalty.

Example

Top scorer at this bar this week gets a free starter.

Definition

One ranking applied across separate and unequal scenarios. Players read it as unfair because they never had the same shot.

Example

Players are assigned one of three paths and cannot choose. The top score across all paths wins. Everyone feels cheated.

Definition

A game played across several platforms with continuous state.

Example

The same game on phone, console and web, with seamless handover.

Definition

Some information is not for public distribution. It can block action or drive it, depending on who is watching.

Example

A scale that publishes your weight. Invasive, and a proven motivator for staying on a diet.

Definition

People work far harder when they believe they are part of something great.

Example

Warcraft's story line pushed players to build the second largest wiki in the world, outside the game, to serve the quest inside it.

Definition

People are happier doing hard, meaningful work inside a game than relaxing outside it.

Example

World of Warcraft players average twenty two hours a week, often after a full day of work.

Definition

The urge to tackle the obstacle immediately, paired with a real belief that success is possible.

Example

In a well built game a win is always plausible, so acting is always worth it.

Definition

Players keep doing what they have been doing, and justify it after the fact.

Example

I have spent ten hours on Farmville. I am a smart person. I would not spend ten hours on something useless. So this must be useful.

Definition

An action that stays enjoyable on repetition. Usually very simple, and usually capped in how much joy it can deliver.

Example

The check in. Small, repeatable, good every time until it is not.

Definition

A game layered inside another game. Best discovered rather than explained. It reaches maybe two percent of players and rewards them heavily.

Example

Hidden achievements that require odd, undocumented behaviour during normal quests.

Definition

Release information in the smallest useful pieces. Enough to understand the next step, and no more.

Example

Show the basic actions first. Unlock the rest by level. Stage the complexity to avoid overload.

Definition

The winner is decided by chance alone. Creates high anticipation. Winners keep playing, losers leave fast, and nothing separated them.

Example

Scratch cards. Most forms of gambling.

Definition

The player is given the appearance of choice inside a structure that leads to the operator's outcome.

Example

Three card monte. Most lotteries.

Definition

A game element that uses a penalty or an altered situation to shift behaviour.

Example

Losing health points. A checkout flow stripped of exit links. Speed traps.

Definition

The player gains because others did the work. The work has to be visible or trust breaks. The feeling to aim for is luck, not charity.

Example

Groupon. A hundred other people bought in, so the price drops for you.

Definition

Reward an act too heavily and you replace its real value with the reward. Remove the reward and the act stops.

Example

Pay someone points to brush their teeth and they stop brushing for their teeth. Stop the points and the teeth decay.