What motivates you when you play games?

[Paul Debrion]

This is a very interesting question about video games that came to me while I was playing Left 4 Dead 2 with my roommate.

It may be just me, but what I'm starting to see is that the motivations people have to play video games are changing. I'm not really saying this is bad, but it does raise a few interesting questions. I often find that the motivations of others to play games are very different from my own to the point where it is difficult to compare experiences

For example, achievements. I don't hate achievements, but I also never understood their appeal. They seem so outside of the experience the game the game is attempting to provide that I usually don't care about them at all. I can understand the idea of trying to prolong the entertainment a game can provide, but it seems that a lot of people play just for achievement and stats alone. It's as if they would have never bothered to touch a game in the first place if there weren't achievements to unlock or stats to raise.

I also have trouble understanding the appeal of the loop of becoming ever more capable that many game use as the motivation to play them. Again, I don't dislike the idea and I do like it to some degree, but I do have trouble grasping why it has the appeal that it does. While I think it does make sense to reward the player for progressing by making them more powerful with new methods to apply and new ways of playing the game, it starts to seem rather counter-intuitive when this becomes the main motivation to play the game at all. I do like going through a dungeon in Zelda and getting the boomerang or exploring a cave in Oblivion and finding a more powerful staff, but in a lot of MMOs like World of Warcraft where it seems like I'm running on an endless conveyor belt running in the other direction with few other appealing aspects other than trying to further along I start losing interest.

Let's shift over to actions games for a bit. The motivation in question this case would be "kills". It seems that every time I introduce someone else to a game the first question they start asking is "Where are the enemies and when do I get to kill something?", which is usually followed by me wondering why it matters so much. I have trouble understanding why slaying an opponent seems to have such a strong appeal by itself that many gamers can't go without it. Killing off an opponent, whether computer or human controlled, can lead to some satisfying results, but to me it seems so rather dull by itself. I blow the head off a zombie or put two shots into the torso of an enemy soldier, and it seems that many people go "AW MAN YOU GOT HIM GOOD!" or something to that effect and I'm left wondering what the heck was so interesting about this.

As for me, I like the experiences that games can provide. I like playing games for the sake of getting to do the things they let you do and for the awesome moments that result. I don't really care how many soldiers I shoot down, but I do like the challenge of trying to accomplish the objective that gives reason to do so as effectively as possible, or perhaps avoiding shooting any of them at all. I don't really care what equipment I get at the end of a quest, but I do care if the quest itself is interesting. I would dislike spend an hour and a half collecting scorpion tails even if I was given a big-ass bazooka at the end, but I wouldn't mind being sent through an cave to fight hordes of mutant people if the act of doing so was exciting, even if all I got for my troubles was a lousy knife.

On the other hand I don't mind being the guy in a game of ArmA stuck with driving a repair truck a few miles to that town where we have a tank broken down. Sure I don't think that experience itself would be that fulfilling, but I would certainly consider it a necessary evil to creating the resulting experience as a whole. This particular example stems from what appears to be an strong like of teamwork, as I seem to get much joy from being a part of a large group of people coordinating their efforts to a bigger goal.
No doubt many others find this just as strange as I find their motivations for playing video games.




In short, while I could usually just attribute this to others simply having different tastes, that doesn't stop me from being curious and sometimes wishing I could get into their heads and somehow see this appeal for myself.

There are times when I see a friend of mine get so much enjoyment out of something that seems so benign, like simply headshotting a random enemy soldier, that I can't help but think maybe I'm missing something.

I usually just see this as a result of my "gaming childhood" being very different from most others my age, given that much of it wasn't exactly mainstream. Growing up more with the likes of Rainbow Six and Falcon 4.0 as opposed to Goldeneye and Halo no doubt results in a very different taste in games. This makes me wonder about something else entirely. How much of the appeal of video games is "learned" and how much of it comes more immediately? Of course, that's probably opening up a whole other can of worms that would be a bit much for this discussion.  :V


In sticking with the question that was raised earlier and in an attempt to spark an interesting discussion, what motivates you when you play video games?

[AlexX Unlimited]

Some evil shit is threatening the world and its my job to put them in their place.

[Suikama]

Some evil shit is threatening the world and its my job to put them in their place.

[Benny1]

http://www.pixelpoppers.com/2009/11/awesome-by-proxy-addicted-to-fake.html
This is relevant.

Anyways, why do I play games?  It wastes times, it keeps me amused, it is visually and aurally stimulating, and working with MBAA combos is fun.  It's a shame I don't have a long response like the first post, really.  There's really nothing else to it though.  I love playing games, I love reading their stories, I love listening to their music, I love looking at their art, and interaction is an enormous plus.

[Drake]

The current gaming generation pisses me off with the concept of "achievements". If something is truly an achievement, you wouldn't need the fucking game telling you what you need to do, and give you an invisible reward for doing whatever the fuck all.

Back in the good ol' days you would do something worth noting, and everyone would be like YEAH YOU'RE AWESOME GOOD JOB and everything would be great because you accomplished whatever the hell you did and you feel amazing just for doing it. You didn't do it because the game was like "you'll forever be terrible unless you do this because i said so", you did because it was GREAT and had an actual sense of I DID THIS MOTHERFUCKERS instead of LOL I GOT 1000 GAMERSCORE GUYZ.

fuck

[Gpop]

I don't play for achievements. I just play for fun.

Isn't that what it's all about?

Therefore, I have no motivation but boredom.

[Matsuri]

My biggest motivation is getting that number higher than it was before.

[Paul Debrion]

Come to think of it, a lot of the games I like consist of long stretches of quiet with bursts of excitement every now and then.

A lot of my friends look at me funny when I mention I can tolerate spending 10 minutes or more flying to an area for a two minute engagement in Falcon 4.0, but I find that the long stretch of quiet makes that bit of excitement all the sweeter.

The moment I see that target come up on radar and turn the master arm on makes me go "AW YEAH!".

Bonus enjoyment if it becomes a dogfight. Going into a high-g turn to close my angle-off and hearing the tone of that AIM-9 Sidewinder getting higher pitched as it picks up the head of my target's engine feels awesome.


Again, one man's boredom can be another man's adrenaline rush.

[Chaore]

Stories. Mostly stories. Its a really damn odd thing, I can play a good game and never really enjoy it because I hate the story, But push my way through bad games just for the small gems. It doesn't matter if its a genre I'm unused to, or outright hate, If it has a good story I'll play the shit out of it.

[Gammeru]

I'm motivated to play games because sometimes reality is depressing/hard to endure/too heavy/tiring. When I play a game sometimes I look for things that engender feelings I would get from activities I can't actually do, like kill monsters, or bash enemies into the ground with a baseball bat, or...roll a katamari.

[Fetch()tirade]

If it can keep my attention for long enough and/or strongly enough, then I consider it alright. Like ODST.

[Kojiremi]

i don't have an Xbox so i can't say much bout achievements or other people's motivation haha. I play games for entertainment and passion. I've been playing them ever since i was a kid. I play them to have fun with friends as a social gathering, be it a little party or random get together. And to keep myself entertained and have some sweet good loving fun.

[Gammeru]

http://www.pixelpoppers.com/2009/11/awesome-by-proxy-addicted-to-fake.html
This is relevant.

Role-playing games. They're more like strategy games with a story to give a reason to everything. Unfortunately, the fact that they have a story means that the player will inevitably win because the developers cannot deny you the story just because you suck at the game. This is less skill than patience.

RPGs I can think of that reward skill are The Spirit Engine 2 and, to a much lesser extent, the Tales series. You can trodge along all you want and level up in spades, but if you're no good at the game itself a high level means very little. In TSE 2, there is a limit to what your level can reach in a given area, meaning you better improve or else you'll never beat that boss. Even if you do manage to grind your way to a win (not really possible in TSE 2 unless you're playing on easy), you've done nothing but used those high levels as training wheels, and not even that; you've screwed yourself over by skipping the meat of the game itself, meaning you haven't actually played the game at all.

Oh whatever. I play games because they have virtual walls and I must climb them.

[Bananamatic]

The current gaming generation pisses me off with the concept of "achievements". If something is truly an achievement, you wouldn't need the fucking game telling you what you need to do, and give you an invisible reward for doing whatever the fuck all.

Back in the good ol' days you would do something worth noting, and everyone would be like YEAH YOU'RE AWESOME GOOD JOB and everything would be great because you accomplished whatever the hell you did and you feel amazing just for doing it. You didn't do it because the game was like "you'll forever be terrible unless you do this because i said so", you did because it was GREAT and had an actual sense of I DID THIS MOTHERFUCKERS instead of LOL I GOT 1000 GAMERSCORE GUYZ.

fuck

fuck yes
I love how some of the achievements are like "start up the game lol" or "beat the first boss"

Secret Achievements
 
Abolished Armaros   20
Defeated Armaros on the northern coast of Aeos.

SINCE WHEN IS BEATING THE FIRST BOSS A SECRET ACHIEVEMENT AND WHY DOES IT GIVE MORE POINTS THAN 100% BATTLE TROPHIES

All in all, it's just a spoiled kid fest which is only about who has more games to get the shit simple ones.



YOU SHOW THEM ONLINE MOTHERFUCKER

Spoiler:

but I'll rather buy a 3rd PS2 once this one breaks

[Alfred F. Jones]

I am an anomaly around these parts. Touhou is literally the only game series I consistently play; my friends can testify to the fact that I prefer gardening, writing, drawing, painting over gaming any day of the week. I don't own a single gaming system apart from my computer. I have never even seen an Xbox or a PS2 or what have you (and if I have, I haven't recognized it).

That said, what motivates me to play a game is different from most other people. I play games with my friends; one memorable instance was last year, when my friends threw a New Years' party. We stayed up until midnight playing Rock Band, which I had never seen before in my life. We all sucked at it, yet we all could not stop laughing at how bad we were. I play games because they're enjoyable with friends; they're something I can share. We can all join in together.

Even in Touhou, I play more often than not in front of my friends, so they can at least hear the music and see the danmaku, even if they can't get past Rumia. I can't do something like that for myself; I like to involve other people when I play games, and I like to join in when they're playing something as well.

So yes, in a nutshell, I play games to have fun. Not for high scores or for accomplishments.

[Drake]

Rock Band

Argh. Every time I hear these games mentioned I get angrier. A longtime friend I've had since kindergarten lives around the block from me. We used to play any game we could get, all the time, yet suddenly him and all his friends are stuck to the GH/RB thing starting like two years ago. They don't play to have fun, they play for I HAVE A BETTER SCORE THAN YOU ON THIS SONG SO YOU SUCK LOL, which pisses me off to no end. I like to play when they come over or I go over, but we'll just play those games. For what could be three hours straight. They won't ever change games on suggestion. I'm not some damn professional or whatever the shit they like to call themselves, and I get put down for not getting an OH MAH GAWD FIVE STARS on every song they decide to play. They ask why I don't hang out with them more, even though it's ridiculously obvious that I don't want to hang out with people who keep their lives on a loop controlled by a select group of stupidly similar video games and don't give a hoot about others who aren't PROS.

by the way this has turned into my rant plug sorry, this just really upsets me

[Pesco]

If it's a series I've been following, I play for completion.
If I can only barely beat it, I'll play to see the endings.
If it's something I've consistently been good at, I'll go for score.

[Seian Verian]

Well, most of the time, I'll simply play to have fun. I like RPGs, and actually think that a lot of them are fun to play... Particularly ones like Tales or Star Ocean.

One thing that I've noticed happening recently though, is that on Touhou, I keep playing to just try and get better. Not really to outdo everyone else, but to improve my own skill, because something just feels GOOD about managing to do something I haven't managed before. It feels like I actually accomplished something by taking the effort to get better.

Of course, another reason I play video games is for the music. Obviously, Touhou is really awesome with that, but also anything by Gust~

[Tengukami]

Depends on the game, to some extent, but generally speaking, it's escapism. The feeling of achievement is just the cherry on top.

[RainfallYoshi]

Mostly, I play for fun and to get away from stress. The music is just greatness too, I LOVE the music in video games.

Also, some video games tell some really fantastic and wonderful stories.

[Janitor Morgan]

Most often, I'll play games for fun. Once I get good at the games, though, I'll switch to a somewhat more completionist train of thought; for instance, one of my long-term goals right now is to fill the figurine gallery in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, as I've never done that before.

Music also plays a large role for me. Story, not so much.

[Formless God]

My well-deserved ending.
*cough*SMT Nocturne's Musubi route, Devil Survivor's

Spoiler:

Naoya's

route, etc.*cough*

[Solais]

Good Story.
Good Escapism.
Good Gameplay.
Good Satisfaction.
EPIC FINAL LEVEL AND BATTLE.

Ripping bulls apart with a cannon.

[shadowbringer]

regarding achievements, I like IN and have played it a lot, when I started playing Touhou, because I wanted to unlock all the Last Words and beat them. (however I can't fathom the mind of people who just go for the easy achievements)

perhaps, achievements can motivate the player to keep trying the game (perhaps the player has no experience in the genre, or no developed interest in the genre, or has difficulties on the game, or just has a lazy mindset, I mean, doesn't adapt or want to adapt himself/herself as well to the gameplay or improve at it). Take for example.. Ketsui Death Label

haven't played the game yet, but the achievements seem to be "color-coded" according to their difficulty. How nice of Cave, to try to be welcoming to new players (while we're still on the subject of achievements, Street Fighter IV's Time Attack/Survival/Trial modes could also be considered achievements; the Trial mode tries to teach you combos and show you what your character can do, while the other modes -- and the normal single gameplay as well -- allow you to practice your current knowledge and abilities, to an extent)

As for what motivates me to play, in the case of competitive games, is that I like to test myself and try to improve (and feel that I've improved). Games that aren't meant to be competitively played normally don't have a competitive playerbase, which you need in order to improve in said game.
For non-competitive games (but clearly not limited to), there are single or multiple elements that can be enjoyed: gameplay, storytelling (even if a game doesn't have a deep story to tell, it can have a background story, or make you feel relaxed, stressed, pressured, etc., depending on where you are in the game), immersiveness (stage + bgm + player character, for example), sense of accomplishment, incentive (reward) to advance in the game (some later stages would feel more fun for me to play, so I would want to get to them as soon as possible, but it's still important to make the first stages not too boring). Perhaps we could bunch all these factors (and others that I might've forgotten) together and name them "gaming experience".

here's something that I would like to show you people:
http://www.theoryoffun.com/theoryoffun.pdf

Games can entertain, and exercise, among other things.. we like to be exercised, as long as we're enjoying it, it seems.

now, something that I wouldn't like to show you, but feel like it's necessary in order to try to explain the fun in trying to get the most of a game's intended gameplay.
http://www.sirlin.net/ptw-book/intermediates-guide.html
what I said above (fun in trying to get the most of a game's intended gameplay -- or, trying to push the game to its limits, or yours) applies for non-competitive games too..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hgd3YcmIvYE
.. the difference, is that the example above has some (lol xD) inhuman execution demands (air jumping), and unintended features (wall-zapping, air jumping, and other stuff you may read here). Still, exercising your knowledge to perform better in a game, along with other virtues (willingness to take risks, reflexes, reading ability, adaptation, improvisation, patience, initiative, control, etc.) was at least part of the fun I meant to express, though the practical example (a Tool-assisted superplay) was merely for illustrative purposes, since most people here would be familiar with Megaman.

[trancehime]

My main motivation is mainly enjoyment. I play games because I enjoy them. I'll put down a game if I find I don't enjoy it because why would I waste time playing a game I don't like? The whole idea of "achievements" is overall subjective. If you go by the definition of the superfluous "Gamerpoints lol achievements," then, naturally, it is something that should not be taken seriously. THOSE kinds of "achievements" are just titles to give you benefits. They're not true achievements that one can be proud of.

The real "achievements" that one spends a lot of effort doing, a lot of research and practice to make sure he gets it right, THOSE are the achievements I find great pleasure in attempting and accomplishing. It disappoints me that I can't share those achievements with anyone but myself, but such is life.

[theshirn]

I play almost everything for the same reason.  The sole exception is Touhou, but I'll get to that.

I play games for the experience.  Games to me are usually greater than the sum of their parts.  I love a good storyline, great characters, awesome music, epic battles, etc., and I usually seek all of these in games.  Admittedly, I rarely find them all together, but I love gaming nonetheless.  That said, very rarely am I inspired to try to push the games' limits.  For example, I have beaten Fire Emblem around a dozen times, but only once did I play it through on Hector Hard Mode, the most difficult challenge the game throws at you.  I enjoyed it, and enjoyed it greatly, but I simply have more fun with the game on a lower difficulty.  It still presents a challenge, but there's less rage and restarting.  In fact, I think Fire Emblem is a great example; it requires skill, not grinding (unless you abuse the arenas, but bah to that!) and for you to think the entire way through.  And I enjoy the series to death!  But I feel no need to rage against the highest difficulties and frustrating enemies; I have plenty of fun on the standard levels.

Very rarely will I drop a game entirely; it has to completely fail to pull me in, or be so frustrating that it's simply not fun to play.  Unfortunate examples are Contact and Devil Survivor, for the DS.  Neither one provided an experience that made me want to continue playing (though Devil Survivor wins points for awesome characterization and ending routes).

Certain games, I've beaten multiple times.  I guess those games are the ones that really drew me in; games like Fire Emblem, Star Ocean 2 and Baldur's Gate II.  These are games that, to me, have the overarching combination of so many great points to make them outstanding classics that will basically last forever.  On the whole, though, I'm usually content to play through a game; maybe a few months later I'll pick it up and go through it again.  I am not a completionist; I play to enjoy myself.

Then...there's Touhou.  For no reason I can adequately justify, I've played these games into and out the other end of rage, into some abyss of spittle-flecked madness.  And I keep doing that!  I'm playing freakin' Shuuso Gyoku right now!  I've 1cc'd 5 Lunatics and counting!  There is something so deceptively simple and addicting about the series that makes pushing myself...not easier, and certainly not fun...but I love the series to death, and no matter how often I get thrashed into a bloody pulp, I come back.  It is the one PURELY skill-based game that I am inspired to keep hacking away at...and I don't know that I can adequately explain why.

[Ghaleon]

I play games because they're fun. I also have a deeper passion for them than most gamers I think. To me, I have to try games that I don't even think I'll like if the opportunity arises. There's just something in me that has to know as many games as possible, be up to date with every genre...I can't really explain honestly.

Anyway achievements are mentioned, while I think the idea can be cool in some regards, most of the time it's rather stupid IMO.

I think achievements are nothing but an (unfortunately good) way to add fake re-playability to games that by nature don't really offer much in that catagory. In addition, it's a way to add somewhat fake difficulty to an otherwise easy game. Easy games for the most part sell better than hard ones because most people like to feel like they're good at a game, and fact is, most people who play games aren't really that GOOD. Alot of the people who seem to be good gamers online typically only play 1 or 2 games to DEATH (counterstrike is my fave example, fighting game fans typically do this more often than fans of other genres too). So anyway, you can have an easy game that can appeal to most people, and then stick a few hard achievements in it, to give the impression that the game is really hard.

Even before achievements were known, it was heading to that direction anyway. I never really understood how people could enjoy a certain rpg game so much that they hit level 99 in it, master every spell on every character, have 5 copies of some item or another which takes too long to get even 1 of before naturally beating the game itself without trivializing it, etc.

I remember when I was a young kid, and videogames seemed new (I mean everything is new as a young kid), I (and everyone else) would brag to their friends if and when they "beat" a videogame. It was a source of pride. Now partially I think that's because many games were just plain harder back then, but another part was the fact that I think we were just immature gamers. Nowdays when I beat a game, I feel BAD almost because it was fun, and want to keep enjoying it (not by leveling to 99, or doing something else tedious or whatever in it mind you).

Story, in my opinion is not really a motivator most of the time. But I can respect that it is for some people. I read alot of books and I rarely find a game with a story as engrossing as some of the books I have read (and hence, probably not as engrossing as the stories in some of the books I plan to read that are related to my old faves in some way). Generally, I might fall in love (not in a Japan kind of way! figuratively speaking) with a character or two in a story-based game, and at that point I might force myself to play it longer than I initially intended to when my intended "quit" time just so happens to be at a climatic point for that character.

As for killing people in games, I don't know, maybe that's an alpha-male thing. I'm the same way where I can play a game without much action and have fun in it (I don't know about flight simulators though). For me, I can play a game like civilization or something, and enjoy it without ever having a single battle. Unfortunately, the AI often does not enjoy such a game and forces wars on me even when I'm nice to them >=(. I don't know how unusual that is for you guys, but I know my casual-gamer friends pull their hair out when playing a TBS game with me and I'm just sitting there developing economy and research and never conquering anybody (unless it's to save their noob asses).

Discovering the music in a game is also plus. I don't really think it motivates me to play a game though. But it can do the reverse, if I don't like the music in a game, it makes me less motivated to try it. For example,  I saw a couple youtube videos of "death smiles". From what I read about this game, it is the #1 game I should try in the shooter genre. But yet, the music just killed my desire to try it. Good music CAN increase my interest in trying a game though (it's never the sole reason is what I'm saying). Pretty much every new Castlevania for example, I salivate over the new music it might have.

[Doomsday]

As for motivation for playing a game, for me, in single-player games, its simply completing the story mode or whatever the main chunk of the single player is called. I've never bothered with getting every secret or every collectable or whatever, getting to the end credits is enough for me.

Multi-player games are a bit more complex though, so i won't go into that one. Just as a side-note, i don't care about achievments/trophies, but they're like jewels from the heavens for my brother :/

[Rikter]

For personal enjoyment or annoying others usually.

[Kitsumi]

I can only play games for fun.
I don't understand why people care so much about achievement-whoring. What makes a game fun is:

1. A great story (I would have to say RPGs fit in this category)
2. Fun gameplay (Touhou lacks a good story, but the gameplay is really fun and challenging)
3. Music and characters

I'd honestly have to say that good overly extravagant graphics are just an extra (I actually happen to like 2D graphics, i.e Tales of Eternia, Terranigma, etc) , as long as it has one of those first two reasons, I'll play it. :V