If you’re a gamer, it makes sense to want to know a little more about how games function and why they’re so successful and getting us hooked. No one wants to feel like a lemming that gets easily trapped in the need to keep playing and coming back. But anyone who has ever played games will know that we all do that. So, how does it happen? Here are some of the factors that are most important in keeping is coming back for more.
Simplicity and Complexity
Once we feel like we’ve mastered the mechanic of the game, we want to push further or even learn even more about it. Some of the most simple games actually have the most to learn. For example, fighting games are simple on the surface. Two in-game characters fight each other until one wins. But there is a huge range of combos and moves that can be learned. So, the simplicity draws people in, while the complexity keeps them coming back.
Rewards
Rewards are often given in games. This can happen in many different ways. For example, if you continue playing through a game, you will often unlock new things that allow you to do new things and get more mileage out of the game. Then there are the more overt examples of games that give out rewards for winning, such as Unibet roulette. These all work on the same basis. We want to win and be rewarded, and that makes us want to keep playing.
Going One Better
High scores have long been features of gaming, and this goes all the way back to Pac-Man. It’s a great way to keep us coming back because we can see how well we did last time and how well we might do if you just give the game one more try. And then one more, and one more. It’s no surprise that so many very simple games have lasted a long time and remained popular when they use this basic technique.
Social Connections
For many games, it’s our need for social connections that keep us coming back for more. Large online multiplayer games can feed our need to interact with other people and make connections. They simulate that social interaction very well. And these days, most gamers use gaming as a tool for socialising with friends. They play games together and talk to each other via microphones and headsets.
In-Game Leveling Up
Studies and research have found that games that have a leveling up mechanic build into them are much more successful at getting us hooked on the gameplay. If we’re a level 1, we want to become a level 2. And if we’re a level 78, we want to be a level 79. And on it goes. You can see this in expansive video games like Skyrim, Destiny and World of Warcraft. We want to feel like we’re getting better and continually pushing on to the next level.
Video games keep us coming back for more, and now you know how. If they didn’t, we wouldn’t spend so much time playing them.
