Have a nice Wednesday and so on. You have no idea how much Schuhmann suffers under such a lame introductory sentence, but my column, my rules! Without further ado, I want to get straight to the point: The expectations in and from games.
When reading interviews with developers over the past few years, the “Exit Point” has come up repeatedly and how to avoid them. This refers to a situation in a game that causes a player to log out and never return. While it makes sense to keep such exit points to a minimum, it also creates significant issues on the other hand.
Sure, there are “Exit Points” that can be avoided, such as problems during installation, complicated account setup, and so on. But especially in game design, such an “Exit Point” often poses a challenge. When I look back (a long, long time ago), what made me refrain from starting a Batman game on the Super Nintendo for a long time? Right, big challenges that I couldn’t overcome even after hours. Or that one level in Super Mario where the countdown was so tight. Grr. To put it more dramatically (also often referred to as “clickbaiting” in modern terms): For a game to have no Exit Points, it must not have difficult challenges.
What one often forgets in my view is: Too few challenges are also an Exit Point, at least for me.
That’s why – at least I suspect – a game like Black Desert as an MMORPG or Witcher 3 as an RPG is currently very successful. Many players long for not understanding things immediately, having to set off on their own, or simply spending time on something to understand it in all its facets.
Calm streaming or exciting challenge?
I don’t just want to complain (okay, caught: yes, I do!), because I also see that companies somehow need to make money and a satisfied customer is a paying customer. Who becomes desperate in a game and cannot progress, will likely not be very satisfied in the long run.
I also wouldn’t make a simple classification like “Casual = no challenge” and “Core gamer = super hard.” Because even “casuals” like to crack a nut and want to be challenged, and some core gamers would like to be guided to reach the next goal more or less directly. The question is more of an individual nature, whether you want to be “streamed” by a game or want to be challenged – relaxation can certainly provide both.
I believe that in today’s time the balancing act between these two groups is hardly doable anymore. WoW (as just one example) tries it with “LFR vs. Mythic”, but even with this solution, not everyone is satisfied (though I consider it the currently best option).
What do you think? Do you want to be challenged by games and are willing to accept a few “Exit Points” for it? Or do you have a solution on how to address all player types?
