Ok, time for a new series in the TiGD. These next few weeks, we'll be discussing different categories of "player goals"; what are the players supposed to be doing? Winning some sort of race? Acquiring the most cash? Something else?
What I want to kick off with is a discussion about how we, as designers, go about selecting a good set of goals for our players. For myself, I find it's not too hard to create themed mechanics, but then I'm always left with the question "yeah, but what are the players trying to accomplish while using these great mechanics?"
What I don't want so much is a superficial discussion where everyone gives their process, which I bet for 90% of us sounds like this: "First I think of a theme. Then I make [a goal/some mechanics] based on the theme and then [some mechanics/a goal]." What I want the conversation to focus on more is how we go about setting up goals for the players; does it flow from the theme? Does it flow from the mechanics? Does it depend on the game? Or the kind of player experience we're trying to create? How important are the goals to the enjoyment of the game? How much can the goals change during the development of the game?
These, or any other questions, are open for discussion. I'll chime in with my own thoughts on the subject at some point, but for now, the floor is yours!
-Jeff
Great topic, and one that is currently high on my list of priorities since I am developing a game that includes player goals.
Wow! Great question and one without an easy and direct answer. My first response is to think that it wouldn't make sense for the goals of a game to not be a reflection of the theme of the game. After all, it is only intuitive that a game about gold mining should have a goal that players accumulate gold. But then the more I think about it, there are plenty of possibilities that the goals of the game have nothing to do with the theme of the game itself.
I'll use my most recent game, Ghost Hunters, as an example. One of the goals is to hunt ghosts and other preternatural creatures, however, that only accounts for about one-fifth or so of the players' final scores. As a designer, I wanted players to have multiple paths to victory so I created a series of goals for each player. For example, a player with a warrior character will gain bonus VP if their strength ability score progresses higher than all the other players.
In this game, the selection of the goals was done with the player experience in mind. The variety of goals were dictated either by the theme of the game (destroying creatures) or by the mechanics of the game (since players have abilities, some goals are based on those abilities).
There are probably games where the goals are dependant strictly on the theme, especially games with only a single goal. With that in mind, I would answer your question as follows:
The number and variety of player goals would depend mainly on the game and the designer's intent for the players' experience. From there, the goals would flow as a natural and intuitive extension of the theme and the mechanics of the game--though goals don't need to reflect both aspects of the game.