Risk and Video Games – Finding the Right Design Balance

Here’s something that those looking to get into Game Design might find interesting. There’s this lengthy yet very interesting article over at Gamasutra offering insight into ways Risk is implemented throughout most video games. The article evaluates common types of risks characters face and the rewards that balance the risk within the game – how different types of gamers prefer different types of risks, and different systems of risk vs. reward in many different genres of games.

For example, a gamer who prefers skill, thrill, and excitement would prefer games that offer more rewards for faster and quicker skill-based play. Others would prefer games that let them take the 40-hour route, where strategy and the need to foresee is the risk and completion.

Here’s a list of the common forms of risk, as identified by author James A. Portnow:

1. The Risk of Wasting of Money:
Now this has can be immediately associated with arcade style games where every game over, every loss to another opponent will cost you a few coins. A lot of games are designed around this thrill. And obviously players who excel at this feel the reward of not only dominating their opponents or the game, but also the reward of saving a few bugs. Xbox Live has incorporated this idea of setting “currency” in gaming with their gamerscores.

2. Character Damage:
This isn’t just about losing a few inches of life from your health bar. In some games, when something bad happens to your character, something BAD happens to your character.

Read the full list after the jump.

Here’s something that those looking to get into Game Design might find interesting. There’s this lengthy yet very interesting article over at Gamasutra offering insight into ways Risk is implemented throughout most video games. The article evaluates common types of risks characters face and the rewards that balance the risk within the game – how different types of gamers prefer different types of risks, and different systems of risk vs. reward in many different genres of games.

For example, a gamer who prefers skill, thrill, and excitement would prefer games that offer more rewards for faster and quicker skill-based play. Others would prefer games that let them take the 40-hour route, where strategy and the need to foresee is the risk and completion.

Here’s a list of the common forms of risk, as identified by author James A. Portnow:

1. The Risk of Wasting of Money:
Now this has can be immediately associated with arcade style games where every game over, every loss to another opponent will cost you a few coins. A lot of games are designed around this thrill. And obviously players who excel at this feel the reward of not only dominating their opponents or the game, but also the reward of saving a few bugs. Xbox Live has incorporated this idea of setting “currency” in gaming with their gamerscores.

2. Character Damage:
This isn’t just about losing a few inches of life from your health bar. In some games, when something bad happens to your character, something BAD happens to your character.

3. Impassable Impediment:
This refers to any obstacle that prevents you from finishing the game. For example, take any game where you have a set amount of lives (Super Mario Brothers, Callisto, NES games) and once those lives are over, that’s it, you start all over again. Some say that this annoyance factor is being noticed by designers, which is why most contemporary games allow you to save the game.

4. Waste of Time:
Any game that punishes failure by making you repeat several tasks uses this form of risk. For MMO fans, the term “Death XP Penalty” rings loud.

The article goes on to compare risk with the ways games reward people, and how even though games suffer from bad gameplay, gamers will still feel satisfied because of the rewards.

You can check out the link if you want to get a more in-depth look at the topic. But first here’s a question for you guys: What draws you to a game? Is it the risks, the rewards or the gameplay? Tell us.