What keeps you coming back?

After a recent experience playing the game Trove, I got to thinking, "what keeps people coming back?"

In Trove, they offered cool badges and items for things like "number of days played" and "consecutive days played". Which was cool. However, a technical issue forced me to miss a few days. And let's face it, at some point you're just going to miss a day of playing. We're gamers, but we do still have real world lives.

After that incident with Trove, I lost any desire to return to the game. Sure, it had other things to offer. I was building a cool little house, I was leveling up a few different classes, etc. But I logged in every day for nearly 2 months and was looking forward to the bonus items for "consecutive days". Now that I'm reset back to zero... meh.

I then noticed that this is typically why I quit a lot of games. Facebook games, for example. I don't play Farmville, but it's a prime example. You miss a day (or even a specific time) and your crops wither and all your work and planning starts over. Typically, I just don't feel like starting over, regardless of anything else that the game may have to offer.

So! I'm experimenting with a bit of reverse psychology in our current project: Rewarding players for logging off, for staying away. Sure, you need to log back in to reap those rewards, but actually logging off for the night will give you a bonus. If you don't get back to the game for another day or two, it will actually increase that bonus (to a point).

So yeah, you'll have all the other cool aspects of the game to play with, but you won't lose anything if you miss a day. In fact, if you miss a day, we actually work harder to encourage you to come back!

What do you think? Thoughts on this? Anything specific that usually causes you to quit a game? Anything that causes you to return?

 

To be honest I wouldn't rely too much on this type of systems. The player should WANT to play the game, not play it because some daily bonus etc...

What I think happened here is that you stopped enjoying the game itself long before you quit, the daily reward system keep you playing even tho you didn't enjoy the game itself anymore.
You shouldn't think of players like game playing machines who collect daily bonuses, but as people who come to your game to have fun.

 

You may be right on my experience with Trove, but as I said, I'm looking at designing a system which does the opposite. I certainly hope people will continue coming back because it's fun, otherwise all I'd be accomplishing is encouraging them to stay away for long stretches of time.

 

A lot of f2p games work a similar way. Players use their lives, don't want to spend any $ so log off & come back in a few hours when their lives have regenerated

 

Ah, I suppose that's a good example. I suppose I never really thought of that tactic in the same way.

 

At the end, trying to find a new experience is what people come back to a game for. Everything else is just a trick They work of course, but if all the player is coming back for is to get their daily reward and play for 60 seconds your odds of conversion are low. That said, if you can do it, the next step is simply finding a way to use a successful reward system to re-engage the user via... drumroll.... a new experience to discover!

 

^^^^^

Your goal shouldn't be to take as much of the players time as possible, but to give the best experience possible.

 

What about daily events?
Or organizing an in-game contest every few weeks, which would last several days, so the players don't have to be online that one exact day.

That way people will be coming back every day for the experience, not just to get some item.

 

I don't think I would ever want to stop player from playing my game just because he doesn't want to pay, rather make them grind for resources or money that would enable them to continue to the next lvl.
Or make this process the same for paying and non-paying players and just make it easier for the paying ones.

Important to note is that this activity should also be engaging to the player, otherwise they might see it as a punishment for not paying.

This might not always be easy. But in case of mmo's for example you could sell an item (equipement) that players would need to beat a boss or some strong enemy, or need it to join an in-game event, but to make this accessible to non-paying customers you can allow them to do a hard dungeon run for it and maybe require it to be done few times (just so that people who can pay don't do this dungeon run instead).
This way those players trying to get that dungeon drop will enjoy the activity and will later be playing with paying players. Keep in mind that you always want both of those groups playing together, because non-paying players are not just potential customers, but they are also "content" for the paying customers, because they make the game more popular and active.

 

A lot of the games I was referring to let you grind for in game currency which you can use to buy extra lives/life recharge, real $ can be used to buy extra in game currency. Both of those are for those that don't want to wait for natural recharge. Natural recharge with a push notification lets people come back as soon as they are able once recharged. It's not perfect but I find it is the better balance between keeping people playing whilst not making it pay to win (it's just pay to win quicker).

This is true, an MMO with a few whales & no one else playing will quickly be an MMO with no players at all.

 

I've got a few things to balance that out. In my game, there isn't a huge difference between a veteran player and a newb (except that the veteran player may have access to more activities, such as special types of crafting, access to restricted areas, etc.). But in combat. if someone shoots you in the face, you're out of the fight. It doesn't really matter how "good" they are shooting people in the face. (That old-school concept never made much sense to me.)

Also, I believe in building out rather than up. Adding new content that is accessible to all players rather than continuously adding more and more "end game" content which usually takes a year of development and is "completed" by the veteran player in like two days, and really just adds a sense of hopeless "catch-up" to new players.

 

Of course you want to give the players as much fun as possible. I've spent years designing my game to give players TONS of things to see and do, and as ideal as that is, there is much more to game design than that. There are millions of games on the market, plenty of them are fun, and if you want yours to survive more than a month in that harsh climate, you have to start looking at other aspects. Things like player retention and conversion are just as important as having a fun game.

EDIT: To clarify, I've played games that were CRAZY fun. For instance, the game Mag. SO much fun. I loved it. Played every chance I got. Then I just stopped. It wasn't any less fun, and the few times I went back, I had a great time (especially when they released new content). But there were so many other cool games coming out that I was checking out and also having fun with.

This was eventually the undoing of Mag (since it was online multiplayer only). Sad, because now I miss it. If only there had been more reason to return than to just have a good time (cuz that's available anywhere).

 

Games often use community as a reason to come back. You might want to hand out with your friends or guildies in a game and do a dungeon in the way.

If you are looking for something more, I guess you could allow players to earn money in game by trading items with each other for real money, that would certainly get them to come back. Extra credits have a video on diablo iii marketplace.

 

I return to a game just to continue playing. As long as it is enjoyable, not using cheap deaths and so forth I'll likely continue playing it just to get further and eventually perhaps even win the game. Usually I get bored long before I complete it. When that happens it is time to move on to one of other zillion other games out there. Achievements, community and so forth like that have no to very little meaning to me as far as playing games are concerned.

However... if I find a game I really enjoy the first thing I will do is see if the developer has any other games. Generally, if I like one game chances are I will like at least some of their other games too.

 

This topic almost deserves a branch about how long games need to be as it links in with what makes people come back.

Lots of people seem to complain that games aren't long enough for how much they cost yet apparently around 90% of players don't finish a game (I found the stat but they didn't define the type of game, they did imply AAA games though). If true that means that most AAA games suffer from the same problem of not knowing how to make people keep playing through to the end, yet if they made it shorter (to the point where most players get before quitting) they will be abused for making a short game.
Is it better to find that balance where you keep them coming back to that point & then perhaps offer additional content or a sequel with the rest you had planned, or try to find a way to keep more than 10% playing right through?

As I said though, possibly a topic for a separate thread.......

 

I think it's relevant-ish. It's the same with everything though. 65% of purchased books are never read to the end. Like you said, making them shorter just receives criticism, so I say go for the long gameplay. People that finish it will love it, people that don't won't be able to blame the developer. I don't think anyone ever says "there's too much content!" (maybe too many cutscenes though)

 

If you are concerned with players only playing part of your game then you could for example do this:

Lets say your game costs $60, you can sell the game and half of the content for 30 and offer the other half to the players who complete the first half (also for 30).
This way you will also attract ppl who otherwise couldn't afford, or wouldn't like to spend the full 60 on a single game. And you are making them a potential customers for the other half of the content.

But be sure to offer this like an option. So you're selling your game or 60, but ppl can also buy it in parts.Otherwise they will just accuse you of selling DLC and marketing wrong price.

 

Every time a player starts the game, they should be thinking they want to do or should do X. If there isn't something that makes them want to come back to finish something up or try something out, then you are probably reliant on players continuing to play for reasons that aren't actually the game itself.

 

The usual mechanics seem to be upgrading stuff, getting better stuff, and incentive to get better at the game.

Take a game like Diablo 3. The only thing there really is to do in that game is level up to the max level and get better stuff. There is an element of skill and understanding of the basics of the game, but mostly it is about becoming more and more powerful without any cap.

Starcraft II is purely about getting better at the game. There is nothing to get, you progress by doing better.

Blizzard is also good about finding the points of friction in these games and making those parts easier or more fun. In my opinion they are the masters of replay value and keeping players interested long after release.

 

I'm obviously taking a risk with my game, since it has no levels and gear has very little to do with anything
(If you get a new jacket for your character, it's because it looks cool and/or it will keep him warmer if you leave him out in the cold... or it could be better at concealing that Glock.)