Game Over: Need it be there?

Life is a meaningful experience where the consequences of your actions matter... But when you make mistakes you aren't asked to "do it over again". Well, barring school or courses - and we all know how fun that is.

Yet, repeatedly, we run into video games that force us into situations where we must meet certain criteria, such as jumping through an obstacle courseor defeating a powerful enemy, in order to progress... And try again once we fail. And then again, and again and again.

The rationale for this pattern is threefold. First, games must make the player's actions matter - and undesirable consequences such as replaying a level or forestalling additional content certainly make it so. Second, games must provide a sense of achievement and this is one way to embody it.. Third, games must be challenging to be fun. If a game is too easy, we have a sense that players will get bored with it.

But stripping away the execution of making players redo areas once they fail... All that is left is these criteria that must be met for a satisfactory game experience. If one can fulfill them in other ways, many points of forced retries can be eliminated in the favor of something far more meaningful.



First, meaningful results can spring from a character's actions besides the simple ability to progress vs. the forced repetition of areas. For example, if the focus is to be on narrative, failure in a task can cause the death of a minor character or the destruction of a village. The story can progress, the game can progress... But something tragic has happened, and it's your fault. That can be powerful.

In a less artistic sense, the simple fight scene is a wonderful example of this. In a fight, complete failure leaves you dead and forces a retry - but semi-failure only leaves you hurt. This is a clear punishment, but you are still able to progress through the game. If we expand upon this concept it is possible to see success rewarding you with nice but unnecessary rewards - such as special weapons, abilities or even intangibles, such as trophies.

Characters actions should matter, must matter... But there are ways to make them matter besides restarting the level.

Second, achievement can be given in ways besides the final sucess in a difficult task. Leveling up a character gives one a sense of achievement - but it can be a pure function of effort, rather than difficulty. Just as finally getting that one jump across the platform provides only a small sense of achievment - the level of pride does not reflect only difficulty, but rather substance of the event involved. 

Defeating a major boss may be just as dificult as making a particularly infuriating series of jumps - but it provides a much greater sense of achievement. Thus unlocking story events, gathering weapons or exploring new areas can provide just as much fulfillment without the need to redo areas.

Now we come to the idea of challenge. The reaction of many to this exploration of lowering the amount of events a player must redo is to simply make the game easier. This can work... But it kills the challenge and thus the pure enjoyment of the gaming experience. But just as making things too easy is a problem, making things too difficult presents similar difficulties. Things need to be just right... But why?

Because we're looking for a state of mind. A quality of being on the edge of your seat, the game just difficult enough that you can do brilliantly... But just barely so, pushing you to the edges of your abilities.

It's called "Flow" and it's where much of games fulfillment comes from.

However, when you are in Flow - you aren't losing, you're winning... Though only just barely so. And it is not in any way contingent upon your loss meaning a redo of the event. Flow can be achieved through challenges that do not force a character to repeat previous areas or try again at certain events. I will investigate this topic in greater depth at a later date...

But until then, I'll simply leave one example. Bejeweled runs beautiful game mechanics becuase it pushes a player to match all the gems that they can find. No matter your skill level, you are always at the edge of your abilities. The game doesn't provide jewel puzzles, starting easy and working harder... It is simply one experience in trying to match the most gems possible in a limited amount of time. The game can't rightly be said to make you repeat yourself when you fail - because all it does is wipe the score for an easier understanding of your progress. The challenge remains the same.

I have some ideas about how to work Flow within the more complex games, such as FPS and similar, but that is another topic. For now, it is enough to mention the concept of challenge as not contingent on do-overs, but as something scalable to players - rather than forcing the player to scale to the challenge itself.

Games can be meaningful without forcing a player to sit back as the words, "Game Over" play across the screen. This is not necesarrily an advantage for all types of games, but those that want to immerse a player within a world and limit player frustration may wish to lok for other ways to provide their players with meaning, achievement and challenge. They're there. We just have to find them.

-Dan Felder