Law 2: Playability must be addictive.

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Law 2: Playability must be addictive.

If the game isn’t addictive, then it isn’t that much fun. The good news is that every game starts with an advantage. We have spent money on it. We are about to spend time on it. So we want it to be good. We want it to be addicting. We’re not like the grouch who growls at the comedian, “Make me laugh. I dare you!” We’re open and want it.

So the game must now do things that destroy that initial trust which we have given it.

When people are enjoying a story they will enter a state call Suspension of Belief (SoB). We forget that we are playing a game, in a theater, reading a book. We are into it. As long as the story/experience is good we stay there and don’t want to leave. Time flies by without our noticing. We’re addicted. But if something should jar us out of that mood, then the story has failed us. We must make an effort to get back into it.

The biggest mistake a story can make is to make people or institutions act in ways we just can’t believe. In The Adventures of Valdo and Marie, a pirate Captain releases us and our possessions just because we know a friend of the First Mate. HUH? I don’t think so. In The Arrival, we escape from the aliens and report to a government official. The government believes us and mounts a counter offensive. Right. Who are you and what have you done with my government? The familiar things must act in the familiar ways or it breaks our SoB.

The same holds true for the player. As noted above, if I am being asked to do things in a game then it is me doing it. I am going to chose answers from dialog trees which fit me. In my case, I will always answer nice and polite. If I need to be rude or pushy with someone, then I better have a clue and a reason to do that before I get there. Asking the player to do something they find distasteful or out of character is a quick way to break the SoB.

Addiction comes from desire. We want something. The story must have a grand goal that we want to see fulfilled. We must save the princess/kingdom/planet/universe. But the story cannot just indicate that they need saving. It must convince us that we are the only ones who can or will do it without breaking our SoB. We need an emotional stake in the game.

But strategy can only take us so far. The story must have chapters and each chapter have its own mission. Escape from the tower. Cross the desert. Break into the tower. At every point in the game the player must have a clear idea of what they must accomplish, even if they don’t know how to do it. Jewels of the Oracle had only one mission: solve all of the puzzles. That was it. But The Arrangement revealed another clue about the fate of your Dearly Beloved after each puzzle. You needed to go on because you needed to find out more.

The worst thing is to be placed in a location with no idea of what needs to be done. If you must wander around before finding out what your goals are, you just might get bored and quit before figuring it out. Boredom will break your SoB. In The Sacred Amulet you had to constantly wander around the large city and talk to the same people over and over again just to see who had something new to say. This was annoying to say the least. A hint from each person about who to speak with next would have gone a long way towards salvaging the game.

Addiction also comes from fulfillment. Each accomplishment must have its own reward. Opening the door to that next area should answer that lingering question. Solving the puzzle should resolve an issue or otherwise advance the story. To just solve puzzles with no feeling that you’ve accomplished anything will lead to frustration and break the SoB.

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