I’ve played video games since I was pretty young. Just really simple cartoons.
I also played a lot of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I enjoyed it so much that when I turned 15 I wanted to be a video game designer.
I was still new to video games, and I really enjoyed the games and the worlds they provided.
Since then, I have played more and more video games.
I do believe that playing video games can be very productive. Yes, I agree that there are some studies which show that playing games can lead to problems.
But we can talk about those in another article.
Here are a few things that I consider to be productive when it comes to video games:
Developing games
Some people prefer to develop games from the ground up.
By this, I mean to develop games using other people’s work to make the game itself.
They don’t want to adapt or make the game from scratch, but rather use other people’s games to create their own.
Making the game more fun
Making a game fun is one of the most common things that people look for when they play a game.
Many people don’t know how to make the game fun, so they choose the easier option.
That leads to many people just playing a game for enjoyment.
Making the game more complicated
We have the option to make games more complex.
For example, you can add more content or modify the game mechanics so that the game becomes more difficult.
If there are plenty of ways to play the game, then you can meet different play styles, and you will not make the game unplayable.
Some people love a challenge. The more, the better.
Playing games where the skill is increasing or where the game mechanics need to be focused on will encourage the player to continuously play the game.
Players will not have the chance to stop playing.
Here is an example of a well-made game that isn’t a simple game to start with:
Final Fantasy 15. It can take up to 40 hours to finish the story, as well as the side stories.
It is not the easiest game in the world to complete, but it is a story you can only get if you really know the mechanics.
Defining some criteria
So how can we define what we want from a game?
When we see a game, we have a few predefined criteria.
They are:
An interesting world
I am sure you can think of more, but these are what we consider to be the most common things that we look for when we are choosing a game.
Some games do the things that are harder to do, but those aren’t necessarily very interesting.
Most people spend hours playing games that they are bored to death with.
This is something that happens so often that it is a common meme in video games:
“What’s your favorite video game? It’s not your favorite. It’s the only video game you can actually play.”
I can’t say that I love playing those games either.
I do try to play them to stay in shape, but I don’t spend too much time on it, and that’s the key.
I also don’t like playing games that I have to keep focused on.
Making the game more complex
Some people believe that they need to keep things simple to make the game more interesting.
Of course, there is a certain limit to how simple a game can be. If your game takes up more than 20 hours to complete, then you need to be careful.
Most games are now more complex than they used to be. And for the average person, more complex games is what they want.
When people are bored playing a game, they go through several patterns:
- Stop playing.
- Start playing a game with their friends.
- Spend 5 minutes trying to play with their friends, but then they get bored.
- Wait 2 hours for them to get bored, and then they leave.
- They don’t go back and play again.
This is where the tricky thing starts.
You need to decide on how much time your game takes, and then make sure that people don’t get bored too quickly.
If they are bored, they won’t finish the game.
One way to make sure that people don’t get bored is to make sure that they have enough time to finish the game.
Giving people enough time
Even though you are limiting the time people have to play your game, they still need to have enough time to complete it.
You can only give people so much time to play a game. There are many interesting mechanics in the game and a lot of things they need to do to complete the story.
So why are they still spending time in the game?
Because that is how it feels, and they have spent so much time and money on the game.
They just have to spend a little more time to finish the game. If they don’t, they feel sad and they don’t even know why.
Of course, they know, but they can’t admit it. It’s just the way that they are programmed.
They need to be told to do this.
You can usually test the length of time people have to play your game by themselves.
You can also test it for your friends. It’s very important to do so because they know you.
Your friends don’t want to feel bad if you tell them the game is too hard. I know I don’t.
