Skip to Content
 

What do you most enjoy in a game?

7 replies [Last post]
Stainer
Offline
Joined: 12/31/1969

I did a forum search with this question and nothing came up. I'm really interested in hearing what other people enjoy when playing games. What mechanics most interest you? If it was invented, would you ever eat a marshmellow with a chocolate center? I talking good chocolate here... like milk chocolate...mmmm chocolate and marshmellows...mmm

Me, I like card games and gambling. I'm not addicted to gambling or anything, I just like the thrill of spending money everyday... he he, no really, I don't gamble everyday.

I also like building stuff. I like starting at nothing and building an empire. Not just any empire, but a good one.

I also like random effects in a game. Like rolling a die (I actually prefer rolling two dice as opposed to one).

What do you like? I think it's good to see what other people like so we as game designers can build games with this in mind. Answering this question will help us all!

p.s. anybody keeps tabs on the newest ideas in the industry? If so... what do people think of the new Clout Fantasy game by Hidden City Games? My opinion is it won't be much fun... but I want to try it out first.

Love you,

Rob

Anonymous
What do you most enjoy in a game?

Nice post.

Well what interest me is different storylines with a few twist or even more then a few twists. But I have seen the newest game advertisements and seem them at their main websites with all of the glamour that the publishers have put so much time and energy into them I just say to myself " Looks great and exciting but its the same story within a different local area of game history or what have you."

I also like character interaction and emotions. For instance. FF7 great story line and character structure. Secret of Mana for snes had great character and weapon combination and level up system but different story line. But when square keeps coming out with similar names and different characters their is the story line that hasn't changed for the different game consoles or handheld consoles.

I also like thinking on my next move of combat strategy or searching for the next newest weapon or item or anything that will get me to the next level.

What I don't get is why every company that comes out with a great new game for console or for p'n'p or for ccg or tcg they have used the word MANA. Like magic the gathering, if you don't have enough Mana you can't spend your attack card or how ever the game is played. Or go get the mana power and save the world blah blah blah. Its been done to death. I know there hasn't been anything new for awhile so I guess its fair to say use it until it dries up like a country water well.

But that is me when I look at the new storylines and other materials that each company use for their new game or storyline. What is there left for a storyline or action adventure or thriller? Why do we use the same stereo typical linear concept of writing story lines? Trying to make that new path which is about as slim as water goes through a crack.

Never mind I am just rambling on again.

Jesse

Anonymous
What do you most enjoy in a game?

I am not a chess master of strategy but I don*t like dices (luck). I like turn-based games where you know what you can do, so theres never luck involved.

These games that families like to play, were people move the number of dice dots on the field is like automated randomness to me, a machine could do this, pick up the dice, let it randomly fall and then obey and move the number of dice eyes on the field.
Back in the days when I yet was a kid my family never understood my upcoming antipathy against these kind of games.
It*s why I don*t like the card games like Yu-gi-oh either. They all depend on luck which cards you draw.

Chess is a bit like the king of games. You know what every token can do.
That*s the best concept to me. Even for an action fast paced game where you don*t plan that much and just realise your opportunity and slam the opponent off the field. When I called the biggest company here in germany once asking about one of my games they said a pure turn-based
game doesn*t serve the average people`s interest so it has no chance to be released - great, the same company released the best turn-based games of its kind 25 years ago :(

Rick-Holzgrafe
Rick-Holzgrafe's picture
Offline
Joined: 07/22/2008
What do you most enjoy in a game?

The games I enjoy best are the ones where I must make "agonizing decisions" based on trying to guess what my opponents are going to do. "If he does THAT then I'm okay if I do THIS... unless Fred does this OTHER thing which will destabilize that standoff over THERE that I need to keep stable, in which case..."

I need lots of decisions that will each have a significant affect on the outcome of the game; I need to face so many opportunities and/or threats that I can't summon the resources to deal with them all easily; and it all needs to depend on what the other players do.

Some wargames fit this model: A Game of Thrones is probably my very favorite game, when I can get four other people together to play it with me. War of the Ring is another example. But games like Tigris and Euphrates and Through the Desert also fit the description.

I like games to have a mix of luck and strategy, but light on luck and heavier on strategy. If there's too much luck involved, my decisions don't mean much and that removes the all-important agony. Of my example games, AGoT has only a small random element, and all battles are deterministic. WotR and T&E emphasize strategy over luck, although T&E has rather more luck than I might prefer. TtD is pure strategy and has no luck at all.

(Just because this point comes up from time to time: by "luck" I mean deliberately random factors. My opponent's behavior may sometimes be unpredictable to me but it's not random. Dice and shuffled decks and tiles blind-grabbed from bags are random.)

I like themed games, but I don't require that the theme run deep. The camels and palm trees in TtD are fun to play with even though the theme is shallow and the game could be completely abstract. But I especially enjoy immersive games, where you just disappear into the game world for hours on end; this seems to require deep theming. For me, AGoT and WotR are like that. Role-playing games are like that too (or else they're not worth playing, IMHO!) although it's been years since I've actually done any role-playing.

There are no particular mechanics that attract or repel me. Auctions, dice, building, battles, tile-laying, route planning, they're all good. It's the playing experience that matters to me.

larienna
larienna's picture
Offline
Joined: 07/28/2008
What do you most enjoy in a game?

I like card games because you can easily transport them.

I like strategy game, or game that has a certains level of thinking.

I like games that has a good replay value even if I have over played the game.

I hate games that are too much deterministic. A bit of random is always welcomed.

Same thing for the opposite, random only is bad.

I hate games that you can't influence the outcome. (ex:pay day)

I hate games that are too much complex for nothing. For example, blood ball, there is just too much details, modifiers to remember and dices to roll. I am sure that some simplifications could be made.

Related to the above, I hate games that does not flow correctly. Again in blood ball, it is suppose to be an action game, but the action does not happen as fast in the game since you must make various check or rolls for each unit. The same thing could be said about making D&D combat on a battle map.

I hate game that are UNBALANCED and UNFAIR. That goes double for Monopoly and Yu-Gi-oh.

I hate games that has bug/flaw when the company who made it is awared of the bugs and does nothing to change it (ex: Magic, Monopoly). (In pay day, each new version has rule and board changes which monopoly does not have ).

Challengers
Offline
Joined: 12/31/1969
Tattered Seal

Altered State:

That is what I most enjoy while playing a game. If I can be transported from the kitchen table to the boardroom of a real estate tycoon, then I am happy.
When I am playing Axis and Allies, I am the General!
Abstract games provide a different sort of transcendence - athletes call it the flow - and no game provides that rush like speed chess. I agree with Foamy.
Incidentally, I get the same feeling whether playing chess online or OTB.

Mitch

Anonymous
What do you most enjoy in a game?

I like games that make you think HARD! Matching wits with another human being and not knowing who will win until the last moment.

CardboardAddict
Offline
Joined: 12/31/1969
What do you most enjoy in a game?

I like the following things in games (and try to place them in my creations as well):

1. When you don't know who'll win until the end. It shouldn't be a complete surprise everytime, but it helps keeping the players at the edge of their seats, eagerly waiting for their turns.

2. Actually, quite the same as one. Players should be able to participate throughout the whole game, straight up to the end. (I'm working on a secret-character game and it was hard, but I've managed to have all the players involved the whole time).

3. When you have to pay attention to what another player does in his turn. To be the fastest with a trading offer, of because he's giving away information etc.

4. Once you've earned points, they should be yours. No one should be able to steal them.

5. The theme and the game should be one. (By using a good and original storyline)

6. Not too much luck. I'm never that lucky.

Well, that's about it for me.

Syndicate content


forum | by Dr. Radut