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There are some very strong reasons why arcs dominate and they're not all financial. 1) People get bored and need change. This can be partly satisfied by a larg
by teamonkey 15y ago
There are some very strong reasons why arcs dominate and they're not all financial.
1) People get bored and need change. This can be partly satisfied by a larger loop that varies the gameplay mechanics, one method being "exotic gameplay" (such as bonus levels).
2) People need closure and the feeling that they've finished a task. A visibly endless task with no goal is a thankless task.
3) People get satisfaction in closed cause-and-effect chains (and have limited working memory space to process them), by which I mean converting a short string of events into a story.
- chii 15y ago"2) People need closure and the feeling that they've finished a task. A visibly endless task with no goal is a thankless task." This is not necessarily true. Its only true if the game frames itself to be a task to be completed (for fun). There are (very few) games that are called "sandbox" games, where there are no ending. The player decides what their goal (if any) is. An example of such a game is Eve online, the sims, and simcity.
- philwelch 15y agoClassic games like Tetris or Missile Command are also loops, albeit loops that one inevitably fails to complete.
- teamonkey 15y agoFlow theory[1] dictates that there has to be clear goals set in place, whether they are set by the game or player. More than this, these goals need to challenge the player while still being achievable. The problem is that when playing a game not everyone can (or wants to) set their own goals in this way. It takes a small amount of persistence and discipline, which might not be appropriate for a game that is supposed to be played as a leisure activity. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_%28psychology%29#Conditions_for_flow http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_%28psychology%29#Condition...