Reward Systems

Welcome to my next blog on what I learn in class. This week I will be going over reward systems in games. Let's jump right into it.

Initially in our class we went over the eight reward forms from Wang and Sun.

1. Score Systems
2. Experience Leveling Systems
3. Item Granting System Reward
4. Collectible and Usable Resources
5. Achievements Systems
6. Feedback Messages
7. Plot Animations and Pictures
8. Unlocking Mechanisms

After the different forms of rewards we discussed the four reward characteristics.

1. Social value of rewards (show skills, compare level)
2. Effect of reward on gameplay
3. Suitability of a reward for collection and review
4. Time required to earn or receive a reward

There are a lot of lists in this lesson so I want to be able to get through them all quickly. On the next list we have hoe player's use these rewards.

1. Advancement - progress in skill and power
2. Review - entertainment, accomplishment, memories
3. Sociality - establish social status
4. Cooperate/Compete - sharing resources, set items

Next up we have Schell's Reward Categories in Games. There are 9 different categories.

Praise
Points
Prolonged Play
A gateway
Spectacle
Expression
Powers
Resources
Completion

When Ivan Pavlov discovered classical conditioning he came up with another list of three.

Pavlov's dogs - salivation triggers, metronome vs food
Stimulus - neutral/unconditioned, conditioned
Response - neutral/unconditioned, conditioned

Now there are three types of game rewards. With these come two engagement processes, wanting and liking. Wanting a reward gives the player ambition and drive. Liking the reward makes it fun and a delight.

Emotional
Individual
Collective

Tom Chatfield has for us, another list of 7. This one contains game reward lessons.

1. Experience bars measuring progress
2. Multiple long and short-term aims
3. Rewards for effort
4. Rapid, frequent, clear feedback
5. An element of uncertainty
6. Windows of enhanced attention (memory and confidence)
7. Other people (strong social pull of collaboration)

The list that goes with the motivations for a player to achieve these rewards.  The list after will be for abilities and then opportunities.

1. Make people aware - form mental models
2. Help people understand - connect to emotions, values
3. Make people care - appeal to and satisfy needs

Ability

Goal-setting and Supporting Visions
Mindfulness and Willpower
Self-efficacy
Actual Ability
Habits
Social Support

Opportunity

Time - rhythms and timings
Space - action opportunities
Cues - create wanted and remove unwanted cues
Reminders

The final list I have in today's blog is increasing the engagement of the player for achieving the awards.

Completeness
Positive Reinforcement
Loss Aversion
Saving for tomorrow
The power of Free
Susceptible Moments.

To finish off this blog, I would like to talk about how we plan to implement rewards in our game Aeolus. So the reward we are looking to have is a score system for the first semester. The score will accumulate as you destroy turrets and complete objectives. Next semester we plan to upgrade our reward systems to Item Granting System Reward as well as Collectible and Usable Resources. The way how we plan to do these are to give the player in game items after completing objectives and reaching a certain score in the game. These items will be collectible items and resources that the player can use later in the game.

We wanted to also add Plot animations and pictures with our art gallery but when our game gets displayed at game con, it won't be available for anyone to see since it would all be locked. But it would be extra rewards just like the parts to the helicopter.