Fun Factors

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6 April 2005

by Mike Rozak

What makes a game fun? Raph Koster's latest book, A Theory of Fun, proposes some ideas which I tend to agree with.

I thought I'd different approach to the problem: Look at some computer game categories and identify the defining "fun" characteristics of the category.

Scanning through some game review web sites, I came up with the following game categories:

• Adventure games
• First person shooters
• God games
• Platformers
• Puzzles
• Role playing games
• Strategy
• Traditional games, like cards and chess
• Vehicle simulations

MMORPGs/MUDs also come in a few different varieties:

• Creation
• PvE
• PvP
• Role playing
• Table-top RPGs or Skotos-like "storytellers"

What makes it fun?

What makes each of these categories of games fun?

• Adventure games - Puzzle solving, which is deductive reasoning. Perception of clues, such as subtle hints in the scenery or what NPCs speak. Exploration and story are also critical.
  
  
• First person shooters - Adrenaline generated by the twitch component.
  
  
• God games - Resource management. Understanding and mastering the pattern (as Raph Koster says), which is the same as understanding the enemy, in sports and strategy games, even though the computer isn't presented as the enemy.
  
  
• Platformers - I view platformers as a combination of first-person shooters, role-playing games, and adventure games. Thus, they take elements from all three.
  
  
• Puzzles - Deductive and inductive reasoning.
  
  
• Role playing games - Resource management. Doing variations the same task over and over again, which is inductive reasoning. The fact that role playing games can always be won as long as the player is persistent enough is important; it's kind of a "hard work" ethic. Exploration and story are occasionally important. CRPGs rely heavily on displayed numbers, such as experience points, statistics, weapon damage, etc.
  
  
• Sports games - Sports games are fun because of twitch and understanding the enemy.
  
  
• Strategy - Strategy games are about out-thinking your opponent and understanding the enemy. Strategy games often include resource management.
  
  
• Traditional games, like cards and chess - Traditional games have a variety of elements that make them fun. Card games include luck, perception (guessing who is bluffing), and memory (card counting). Chess is a strategy game.
  
  
• Vehicle simulations - Twitch and resource management.

The social aspects of MMORPGs and MUDs also translate into elements of fun:

• Creation - Creation worlds, such as Second Life, involve creating and showing the creation to others, making one's mark on the world.
  
  
• PvE - PvE games are CRPGs that player play with friends and meet new people.
  
  
• PvP - PvP games are fun because of a combination of a challenging enemy (to understand), and beating a real person. PvP also involves playing with friends and meeting new people.
  
  
• Role playing - All the virtual worlds can include role playing, but role playing is most common in PvP and table-top RPGs. Role playing is fun as escapism, and a way to understand other people.
  
  
• Table-top RPGs or Skotos-like - These are fun because of the story, playing with friends, and meeting new people.

Main elements

If I boil down the main elements, I come up with:

• Creating
• Deductive reasoning
• Escapism
• Exploration
• Hard work
• Inductive reasoning
• Luck
• Memory
• Numbers - Mini-maxing the system.
• Perception - Subtle clues.
• Resource management
• Story
• Twitch
• Understanding the enemy

The social reasons for playing are:

• Beating a real person
• Play with friends
• Making one's mark on the world
• Meet new people
• Understand other people

Many of the elements of "fun" are opposites, such as inductive and deductive reasoning. If I combine opposites together, the list now looks like this:

• Game
  • Creating (vs. experiencing?)
  • Deductive vs. inductive reasoning
  • Escapism (vs. reality?)
  • Exploration (vs. explicitly taught?) - Non-interactive books, movies, and TV are good at explicitly teaching information. Interactive experience, like games, are good at exploration.
  • Hard work vs. luck
  • Numbers vs. perception - Is this a left/right brain thing?
  • Remembering the past (memory) vs. predicting the future (resource management)... But predicting the future with resource management is an inductive process.
  • Story (vs. choice?)
  • Twitch (vs. thinking?)
  • Understanding the enemy (vs. ???)... But understanding the enemy is a deductive thought process.
    
    
• Social
  • Friends vs. enemies
  • Getting people to understand you (making one's mark) vs. understanding them
  • Meeting new people