Rewards and Games

Rewards are one of the best aspects of gameplay because they offer an extra aspect to the goal of most games: to win. Winning by itself is already a great reward in the eyes of many, but a game designer must ask themselves, "what's going to keep my players coming back to my game?". More often than not the answer to that question is simply a greater reward, something that can either positively affect the player's impact in the game, or something that the player can use outside of the magic circle of the game world (money, prizes, etc.).

The Sims Scouts- by Roudoudou Hirons via Flickr

For me rewards should come frequently and in small doses. I love simulator games and because those often don't have any specific goal or way to end the game, game designers have to keep the player in the game by giving them smaller rewards. In The Sims players are rewarded in many ways with job promotions, in game currency to buy better houses and furniture, and even a more points based system that rewards players for reaching certain life goals with their sims, allowing them to unlock better stats, if you will, for their sims (not having to use the bathroom, sleep, or even eat as often). This system creates small and quickly achievable goals alongside larger, more long term goals. These smaller goals feed the player's drive to reach the goal that might seem like it will take a more significant amount of time to achieve.

Pollination by Riccardo Cuppini via Flickr 

Another game I've come to love, and let's keep in mind this is a judgement free zone, is Plant Tycoon. Yea, you read right, I love Plant Tycoon, a game based solely around cross-pollination and selling plants. Its reward system is excellent: by cross-pollinating any two mature plants, a player is rewarded with a new yield of seeds that create a whole new plant. As you sell plants over time you are able to buy better soil, pesticides, and fertilizer, thus opening up a whole new set of more delicate or exotic plants. This kind of reward mechanic is just subtle enough to let the player feel a more natural success, almost as if you were cultivating a real nursery of difficult plants. I think for many players, at least on a casual level, it might be more fun to work towards an abstract goal, creating a really cool plant, than it is to work towards something more concrete like a new set of armor.

Honestly, I'll play any game as long as it has some semblance of a working rewards system, but the finely tuned rewards of sim games will always feel just a little bit better.