This past weekend was a blur of video games. Well, game, really; I had a pretty long marathon going through Uncharted 2, the new Playstation 3 game modeled after the likes of summer blockbusters, particularly those of Indiana Jone-sean vibe. The last time a game warranted a marathon gaming session from me was upon the release Metal Gear Solid 4, another story-driven masterpiece.
I should do one or two more before I get too old and mature to spend my free hours appreciating virtual worlds and plotlines.
But the very act of keeping a player engaged for eight, ten straight hours is a feat all by itself. Video games are one of a few rare mediums that allows continuous consumption; MMORPG players, for example, are notorious for spending hour upon hour raiding for treasures or socializing with their guilds with reckless disregard for personal hygiene or dietary needs. Game designers have a few tools to keep players like me sucked in:
- The dangling carrot, that feeling of “one more turn” or “one more quest” hinting at greater things to come,
- Character progression and customization, making me relate to my virtual avatar,
- Storyline, drawn from traditional film and books, with a plot driven by my actions,
- Items and collection, hitting that completionist soft spot,
- Increased player skill, training me to be good at the game and rewarding me for the accomplishment
All the above, though, fall to repetition fatigue over time. Too many items coming in too frequently and they lose significance; slow experience gain and tedious leveling makes playing the game a chore. This is where pacing comes in: a well-designed game balances the highs and lows across these techniques to keep the player refreshed and hungry for more.
Uncharted 2 pulls this off spectacularly.
In the first scene of the game – the tutorial stages – I’m falling out of a train dangling off a cliff. Just the fear of immediately dying while I was learning the game’s controls was exciting (1), but it very cleverly follows it up with a flashback, switching to its storyline to keep me interested while giving me a break from the tension. The next section involved jumping around and puzzle solving, introducing other parts of the gameplay and introducing me to new locales. Throughout, the game is tracking player accomplishments and doles out virtual dollars, which I use to buy new characters and items.
After all, I’ve just fought through a entire squadron of shotugn-wielding baddies; why wouldn’t I take an action break and jump off a cliff?
- It worked so well, in fact, that Sui asked me to teach her how to play action games so she could go through the game herself (↩)