The building blocks of addictive gaming
How are Modern
Warfare 2 and Angry Birds alike?
Answer: each game is built
upon a simple and tactile core compulsion loop as the fundamental building block of game play. Both games require you, as the player, to repeat the
same action over and over. It's an action that is inherently pleasing to perform, and provides a satisfying outcomes or
outcomes that makes you want to repeat the experience ad infinitum. The result? A game that you literally can't stop playing.
Example A.) Modern
Warfare
Lock-on targeting and headshot kill
Example B.) Angry Birds
Pull and release slingshot and physics-based destruction
In the case of Example
A.) The auto target and headshot, the action is perfectly mapped to the
controls of the Xbox 360 (or PS3) controller. Navigate your targeting reticule into the general vicinity
of your right Thumbstick. Pull Left Trigger, and the reticule snaps to the head
of said target. Pull Right Trigger
to fire away, with satisfying haptic feedback to simulate recoil. Target
disappears in a mist of red, and crumples, falls, or flies backwards. Even when playing enemy AI, the
simulated “kill” is visceral, immediate and addictively repeatable.
Example B.) is
less bloody, but no less genius in its use of the touch screen interface. Place finger on bird, bull back
(with delightful corresponding stretching sound effect). Gauge angle and distance to target,
then release. Upon impact, a
surprising real physics (not scripted) cause and effect, with blocks shaking or
falling, and occasionally crushing pig target or targets.
In both examples, there is a goal state – kill the bad guy
before he gets you, demolish the pig(s) -- that is
solved by successfully performing this action. Yet regardless of
outcome, the act itself has been engineered to be inherently pleasing. The result: a building block of addictive interactive experience, where, thanks to a deceptively
simple seeming mechanic, even failure results in an enjoyable moment of play.
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