KILL THE PRINCE ADDRESSING PLAYER MOTIVATIONS

Justin ACHILLI

WHO THE HELL IS THIS DUDE? INTRODUCTION

•  Started  at  White  Wolf  in  1995  

•  Le3  and  came  back  a  bunch  of  9mes  

•  Now  at  Red  Storm  (Ubiso3)  

•  Freelancing  for  Onyx  Path  Publishing  

JUSTIN ACHILLI

•  Vampire:  The  Masquerade  

•  Vampire:  The  Requiem  

•  WOD  MMO  

•  Assassin’s  Creed:  Revela0ons  

•  Social  games  on  Facebook  

•  Unannounced  AAA  project  

What About Games is Rewarding? Why Do We Play Games?

KILL THE PRINCE and you can choose your reward

SHITLOADS of

Dracula POINTS

PART MOTIVATION and reward

1

TYPES OF MOTIVATION

WHY DO Players DO WHAT THEY DO? Motivation and Reward

EXTRINSIC

INTRINSIC

•  Because  someone  else  told  me  to  do  it.  

•  Because  you’ll  kick  my  ass  if  I  don’t.  

•  Because  I’ll  get  something  for  it.  

•  For  its  own  sake.  

•  Because  it’s  fun.  

•  To  learn.  

•  Because  it  contributes  to  my  image  of  myself.  

TYPES OF REWARD EXOGENOUS ENDOGENOUS

•  Unrelated  to  the  ac9vity.  

•  Ex.:  Eat  this  weird  sandwich  I  found  in  the  garbage  and  you  can  have  a  book.  

•  Ex.:  Shoot  an  alien  and  you  can  have  some  points.  

•  Directly  related  to  the  ac9vity.  

•  Can  make  you  be3er  at  the  ac9vity.  

•  Ex.:  Buy  one  book,  get  another  book  free.  

•  Ex.:  Kill  the  vampire  Prince  and  you  can  have  some  vampire  powers.  

WHY DO Players DO WHAT THEY DO? Motivation and Reward

Trigger  

Interval:  A  length  of  9me  

Ra0o:  An  ac9vity  or  ac9on  

Frequency  

Fixed:  Consistent  

Variable:  Occurring  at  different  9mes  

Trigger  +  Frequency  =  Reward  

Rewards: Trigger and Frequency

The  human  mind  is  hard-­‐wired  to  enjoy  surprise.  

 

In  video  games,  a  variable  ra9o    reward  scheme  is  the  most  effec9ve  combina9on  for  long-­‐term  reten9on.    

WHY DO Players DO WHAT THEY DO? Motivation and Reward

THEREFORE

(motivation)(reward) = how much the player cares

WHY DO Players DO WHAT THEY DO? Motivation and Reward

PART Motivation In Play

2

Overcoming  challenge  Competence  

“Flow”  

MASTERY

Ownership  of  fate  Voli9on  Agency  

AUTONOMY

Recogni9on  of  Accomplishment  

Context  Comparison  

RELATEDNESS

WHAT DOES A PLAYER Need? Motivation in play

motivations inform the game experience

•  Controls  and  HCI  

•  Game  systems  

•  An  understanding  of  how  to  effect  change  in  the  game  space  

•  Difficulty  of  overcoming  challenges  

“I’ll  use  a  monofilament  katana  to  kill  the  Prince  and  protect  myself  from  his  blood  rockets  with  my  armor-­‐plated  trenchcoat  that’s  also  warded  against  Thaumaturgy.  Then  I’ll  go  Crinos.”  

Mastery

WHAT DOES A PLAYER Need? Motivation in play

•  Freedom  to  explore  

•  Not  just  geography,  but  also  conceptual  constructs  and  system  combina9ons  

•  Sect  and  clan  dynamics,  Traits,  the  Tradi9ons,  Discipline  permuta9ons,  etc.  

•  Se^ng  one’s  own  goals  

•  Choosing  who  and  what  to  interact  with,  as  well  as  how  

“Once  I’ve  killed  the  Prince,  shall  I  become  the  next  despot  in  his  stead?  Should  I  tear  down  the  reminders  of  his  tyranny?  Might  I  even  cede  the  domain  to  the  Sabbat?”  

AUTONOMY

WHAT DOES A PLAYER Need? Motivation in play

•  The  presence  of  other  people;  a  shared  experience  

•  Coopera9on  and/  or  compe99on  

•  A  sense  of  cause  and  effect  

•  Apprecia9on  for  what  the  player  has  done  

•  Reputa9on  

“Do  you  know  who  I  am?  I’m  the  motherfucker  who  killed  the  Prince!  <guitar  solo>.”  

RELATEDNESS

WHAT DOES A PLAYER Need? Motivation in play

Flow: ChAllenge Difficulty

Flow  is  a  state  of  cosmic  awesome.  

•  Being  in  the  zone,  finding  the  Muse,  “at  one  with  the  universe,”  etc.  

•  Immersion  in  the  challenge  and  the  environment.  

•  The  op9mal  manifest  of  player  capability  and  challenge  posed.  

Time  and  Player  Skill  (Character  Competency)  

Challenge  Difficulty

 

Too  Easy  (boredom,  apathy)  

Too  Hard  (frustra9on,  anxiety)  

WHAT DOES A PLAYER Need? Motivation in play

PART Framing the Result

3

Name Your Reward •  Came  from  playing  the  game.  

•  Only  marginally  related  to  playing  the  game.  

•  Have  lidle  real  meaning  in  the  context  of  the  game.  

•  Suggest  rather  than  demonstrate  mastery.  

•  Minimal  relatedness  to  the  game  world.  

•  Offer  an  unrelated  sense  of  progression.  

•  Infinitely  repeatable…  …but  why  bother?  

Satisfying the Needs Framing the Result

SHITLOADS of

Dracula POINTS

Name Your Reward •  Came  from  playing  the  game.  

•  Relates  to  playing  the  game.  

•  Has  meaning  in  the  context  of  the  game.  

•  Points  back  into  the  game.  

•  Makes  the  player  beder  at  the  ac9vity  that  generated  it.  

•  New  avenue  of  mastery.  

•  More  opportuni9es  for  autonomy.  

•  Establishes  new  relatedness  to  the  game  world.  

•  Indicate  numerous  elements  of  progression.  

Satisfying the Needs Framing the Result

Progression Specific  rewards  suit  a  wide  variety  of  players.  

•  Narra9ve  progression  

•  Character/  cumula9ve  progression  

•  Feature  progression  

•  Compe99ve  progression  

•  Social  progression  

Without  some  element  of  progression,  the  story  of  the  character  is  nonexistent.  

Satisfying the Needs Framing the Result

PART Practical Application

4

Your Friend, the Core Loop

Understanding Your Chronicle Practical Application

Objective

challenge result

Loops  are  flexible  

•  Loop  your  loops  

•  Short-­‐,  medium-­‐,  and  long-­‐term  

•  Account  for  player  mo9va9ons  

•  Individual  and  collec9ve  

•  Scale  challenge  difficul9es  

•  Results  include  rewards  

•  Vary  results  and  rewards  

Short-Term Loop: Killing the Prince

Discover the nature of the enemy

Who are these vampires kicking our asses? The

Prince’s Flunkies! Outrun or overcome.

Information, XP

Understanding Your Chronicle Practical Application

Medium-Term Loop: Killing the Prince

Find the Prince’s vulnerability

Catalog the Prince’s transgressions

Information, Leverage, XP

Understanding Your Chronicle Practical Application

Long-Term Loop: Killing the Prince

Settle the vendetta

Kill the Prince Vengeance, Reputation,

Opportunity, XP

Understanding Your Chronicle Practical Application

Nested Loops: Not Just for Programmers

Understanding Your Chronicle Practical Application

Any  number  of  short-­‐term  loops    

Any  number  of  medium-­‐  term  loops    

Any  number  of  long-­‐term  loops    

Rewards: When and What?

Understanding Your Chronicle Practical Application

•  Vary  reward  triggers  and  frequency.  

•  Interval  and  ra9o  

•  Fixed  and  variable  

•  Vary  rewards  by  mo9va9on  (intrinsic  &  extrinsic).  

•  Vary  rewards  by  progression  type.  

•  An9cipate  a  great  deal  of  narra9ve  progression  in  a  storytelling  game.  

•  The  humble  Experience  Point  is  a  marvelous  reward  in  almost  every  case.  

•  Find  your  troupe’s  sweet  spot.  

Contact + References GO Further

Contact+ References

f  facebook.com/jus0n.achilli  

t  @jachilli  

www.jus0nachilli.com  

PENS  model:  hdp://www.immersyve.com/  Csikszentmihalyi’s  Theory  of  Flow:  hdp://www.psychologytoday.com/ar9cles/199707/finding-­‐flow  Endogenous  Rewards:  hdp://chrishecker.com/Achievements_Considered_Harmful%3F  Koster’s  Theory  of  Fun  (Learning  as  a  Reward):  hdp://www.theoryoffun.com/  

thank you