Why rewards always devalue the game experience

by thebruce , Ontario, Canada, Wednesday, April 24, 2013, 07:19 (4020 days ago) @ Jillybean

Quelle surprise I agree with you, partially. Modern gaming is reward-based, with perhaps a few exceptions. We have gamers which are motivated by reward (MR) and gamers which are motivated by engagement (ME). Games need to be designed, and if you're designing for an MR player, you may not be catering for an ME player. Vice versa, a game designed for ME players may not keep the interest of MR players.

However, I don't agree that MR players can only enjoy rewards and the ME players can only enjoy engagement. I think it's much more multifaceted.

In saying that, if you are an extreme ME or MR player, you'll probably be drawn to very different games.

Nice explanation. Motivation I think really is the key factor in Cody's crusade against rewards.

ME and MR players are, still, rewarded with something, otherwise why keep playing?
For MR, the rewards are tangible, offered, objective, persistent displayable achievements; social from a me-first perspective.
For ME, the rewards are arbitrary, memorable, indirect, subjective, intangible experiences.

The problem isn't rewards, the problem is the kind of rewards the developers build their game to provide, and the type of experience they encourage their players to push for. Neither reward style is inherently 'bad', and as you say, there can most definitely be crossover.