Book Recommendation: Achievement Relocked

 Book Recommendation: Achievement Relocked

I've been pretty silent on the game development front lately because I haven't done much that has me thinking about anything I would really share on here. I've written down a bunch of new game ideas, and I've tried working through some more design details on my Pick Up and Deliver game. But I've mostly been quiet because my brain has mostly been quiet (on that front, anyway). But as my new schedule starts to settle a bit, I'm trying to get back to work because I want to get some prototypes on the table and really start gunning the engine a bit with regards to my attempt at designing games. To that end, I thought it was time that I catch up on reading my Cardboard Edison articles. I read some good stuff on a variety of subjects, including best lessons from a new designer and how far to take art in a prototype as well as why Kickstarter should be a last resort for some aspiring game designers. But the one that really engaged me was this one about something the author (Geoff Engelstein) calls Staggered Goal Engagement Theory.

Reading stuff like this really makes me feel like just one of the rats in the maze. But there is SO much to be gleaned from these experiments. Even if I'm one of the rats!

I found it absolutely fascinating. And upon discovering that he had written a book called Achievement Relocked, I ordered it immediately. I happened to be out of town at the time that I read the post, so I was glad to hear that the book would arrive at my house before I returned. I normally make the effort to buy books from my local bookstores. But every now and then, I want the book now and that need for immediate gratification drives me to Amazon. I know: it's not great. But I figured this book would also likely have to be ordered and I didn't want to wait even longer to get it.

Anyway, the book's description goes a little something like this: 

"How game designers can use the psychological phenomenon of loss aversion to shape player experience.

Getting something makes you feel good, and losing something makes you feel bad. But losing something makes you feel worse than getting the same thing makes you feel good. So finding $10 is a thrill; losing $10 is a tragedy. On an “intensity of feeling” scale, loss is more intense than gain. This is the core psychological concept of loss aversion, and in this book game creator Geoffrey Engelstein explains, with examples from both tabletop and video games, how it can be a tool in game design.

Loss aversion is a profound aspect of human psychology, and directly relevant to game design; it is a tool the game designer can use to elicit particular emotions in players. Engelstein connects the psychology of loss aversion to a range of phenomena related to games, exploring, for example, the endowment effect―why, when an object is ours, it gains value over an equivalent object that is not ours―as seen in the Weighted Companion Cube in the game Portal; the framing of gains and losses to manipulate player emotions; Deal or No Deal's use of the utility theory; and regret and competence as motivations, seen in the context of legacy games. Finally, Engelstein examines the approach to Loss Aversion in three games by Uwe Rosenberg, charting the designer's increasing mastery."

Again: absolutely fascinating stuff. I've been able to articulate some of the things this book would appear to cover, but not in the way that Engelstein seems to do. And he's got far more experience in the gaming design industry than I do. So I figured I'd try and get through this book upon returning home. Take a pen and highlighter to it, take some notes, get through it in a week.
Y'all? I finished this book in two days. Not reading it straight through, as it's only 120 pages; but taking notes, highlighting, and considering what I was learning over the course of two days? I planned on taking the week to slowly digest this book, but I just couldn't stop reading. It is so damn good. It's accessible, but includes all of the science and math to which Engelstein refers in some of the conclusions he draws in that post to which I linked above. I'm not going to cover it all here, but I've gotten so much good material out of reading this book that I'd call it a Must-Read for anyone aspiring to game design. Honestly, it has already helped me pinpoint so many issues I have with games that I've played in the past! Sometimes, I'm honestly just stumped: I'll play a game like Dinosaur Island and say, "I should like this more than I do, but it feels like something is missing." I was never quite able to articulate the fact that I often felt as though I were effectively starting over every time I bought a new dinosaur or advancement because so many of these games with resources force you to spend all your resources and then have to build them up all over again. This book really gave me insight not only to that reality, but why it bothers me on an (often) unconscious level.

Great book; cannot recommend it enough. Honestly, even if you're *just* a gamer and not an aspiring designer, I think Engelstein has a lot to offer in this little volume!