
SCVNGR’s Secret Game Mechanics Playdeck - ssclafani
http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/25/scvngr-game-mechanics/
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replicatorblog
Jesse Schell should get credit for the game cards concept
ttp://artofgamedesign.com/cards/ as well as popularizing a lot of the talk
about Game Mechanics.

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drv
In my experience, "Fun once, fun always" is the real key to a game that
continues to be fun (and therefore keeps players). In a game about shooting
virtual guns or driving virtual cars or building virtual cities, those basic
actions had better continue to be enjoyable; no amount of rewards layered on
top will fix a game with a poor basic mechanic.

(As a side note, my first thought when reading "Rolling physical goods" was
"Donkey Kong".)

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gojomo
Great list, but I sense in a year or two a backlash by users who develop
'game-resistance': "Stop toying with me!"

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vyrotek
Interesting, do you think StackOverflow.com users are going to be part of this
backlash? If done right, the game mechanics aspect of an application shouldn't
feel like a separate feature or game.

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exit
what parts of stackoverflow.com are game-mechanics? if it's what shows up in
that yellow bar, i wouldn't know because it's too annoying to pay attention
to.

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raptrex
Points (reputation) and badges that are earned through various ways in
interacting with the site

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vyrotek
Very nice. Those 47 points are basically the Bible of Game Mechanics.

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mattmanser
I disagree.

This is totally missing most of the fundamental game mechanics that make FPSes
fun, platformers fun, etc.

In fact it misses out much of what makes WoW fun for end level raiders.

Re-reading it this feels more like a deck of false rewards to make people
think they're playing a game when they're not.

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TheEzEzz
Exactly.

These aren't game mechanics, they're psychological hacks. Classic game
designers used all these 'mechanics' as a sort of spice, to enhance the solid
gameplay already in place. Games like Farmeville are refined and condensed
spice. No meat, just flavor.

Personally, after playing Diablo as a kid for god knows how long, I vowed to
never play a 'grinding' game again. I suspect (but definitely am not certain)
that most new casual gamers will go through their own experience, and come out
the other side more immune to these hacks.

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TheAmazingIdiot
Of course, I was the old Total Annihilation buff. I had a few mods on it,
mainly adding up to 1000 units per side, and up to 10 players.

The most I played was 6 sides, each of us around 800 units each, with 200 en
route to someone elses base. Those games lasted for around 5 hours, which were
a blast!

Then we compiled a private epic build system on top of advanced that had
mechs, berthas on wheels, and walking fusions. The doomsday device was a
nuclear launcher that would, on impact, destroy a 22 screen radius of
everything. When you're playing on Real Earth v2, which is 128x128 screens (at
1024x768) you need big skills.

None of this "click on buttons to make xp go bigger" or other gimmicks of
these net games.

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dkasper
One complaint: the reward schedule rules are scattered all throughout, fixed,
interval, variable, etc.

19\. Fixed Interval Reward Schedules

20\. Fixed Ratio Reward Schedule

...

23\. Interval Reward Schedules

...

34\. Ratio Reward Schedules

...

38\. Reward Schedules

...

44\. Variable Interval Reward Schedules

45\. Variable Ratio Reward Schedules

What's with the ordering? It doesn't even go from most general to most
specific? Is the list ordering a game mechanic itself (that would be meta)

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dwynings
The mechanics are ordered alphabetically.

