In the video below, B. F. Skinner demonstrates his famous Operant Conditioning chamber and the shaping of behaviors in a pigeon.
Consider that red, peck-able light next time you “Do a Job” in Mafia Wars or feed your animals in Frontierville.
Monthly Archive for July, 2010
If you have ever wondered why games with poor game mechanics can still entertain players, it is perhaps because many poorly designed games are at least easy to play – and if they provide rewards according to a reliable schedule, they will entertain. As long as they keep providing rewards. Good game mechanics can aid a game by eliminating rough edges and inconsistencies, and some players (those who fit the template of our H1 and H2 clusters in particular; those with access to the Rational temperament) are actively drawn to elegant game mechanics – but it is the delivery of rewards, and not the quality of the game mechanics, which maintains a player’s interest.
I’ve recently had an infatuation with Frontierville and have had an even larger infatuation with what makes such a boring, simplistic, and repetitive game so engorssing (and monetizable).I think the above quote neatly sums up a major reason why this, and other, Zynga games are so popular.
- Rewards on a reliable schedule
- Easy to play – especially the first user experience.
- Consistent game mechanics – even if simplistic.