Once again, Mr. Miller has it backwards

by electricpirate , Tuesday, April 23, 2013, 10:16 (4015 days ago) @ Cody Miller

I'm going to focus on your main reason for opposing player rewards (and by extension player penalties ), which is that focusing on the future somehow diminishes the experience in the now. RPGs are the most common example of this, they focus nearly entirely on the future, but I think strategy games are a better example. The quote above is Sid Meier's, of Civilization fame. Focusing on the future, and using player investment as a mechanism is when way to drive interesting choices in the now.

Let's take XCom; (either the new or the old, both are excellent). The future is constantly on the players mind, as losing resources and soldiers early on is costly, but recovering technology and resources is key. This leads to lots of interesting decisions, "Hey, do I risk this guy to stun an alien for a live capture, or play it safe." Or, "I can take our 4 aliens with a rocket, but I'll lose important resources if I do." Focus on the future is what Makes XCom such a tense taught experience.

Dark Souls is an action game that does this. By letting the player invest in a character, but making those resources vulnerable (You can lose them by dying) it forces skilled play.

That's just one way to look at it, player rewards have a host of other positive applications. They can be used to open up new gameplay avenues after a player has mastered the basics. Elder Scroll games, COD use the rewards of new mechanics in a steady drip instead of just dumping them on the character. Alternatively, people love the saratonin rush of a nice drop in an MMORPG or ARG.

As normal, you are dead wrong here. An excessive focus on moment to moment gameplay is just as detrimental as infinite treadmill reward systems. How many shallow blockbuster Uncharted style linear adventures or character action games do we need? Why should every game have buckets of regenerating health, and save systems that restart you at a checkpoint? The view that only moment to moment gameplay matters impedes progress and innovation.