Most of the games have the same or similar progression system. Even if you don’t play games, you are familiar with it.
This is none other than the leveling system which requires the player to perform tasks and in reward they will level up, allowing the player to gain more power and perform more difficult tasks.
Another similar system is the coin system that you will probably know from Mario. The coins guide the players in the right direction and also instantly reward them for taking the right path.
How they work
Both systems work based on instant gratification. Even though leveling up takes some time, after each task you are getting rewarded with Experience Points, gather enough and you will get the bigger reward (level up). The coin system works the same way, gather enough coins and you will unlock the next level.
MOBA and Battle Royale
The last decade the progression system changed and it hooked more players than ever before with those two genres standing at the top. Both genres kept the concept of instant gratification but impended it differently.
MOBAs kept the leveling progress and adjusted the coin system. After each kill, you get Experience Points and Coins. Again, one is to allow you to get stronger and the other is to enable you to buy items that will also make your character stronger. But here is the twist, both of those rewards are for the current match you are playing, opposed to the traditional system that allowed to carry your progress through the game.
After each game, you start again from zero to hero.
Battle Royale also follows the same principal, dropping in an island with nothing, trying to find powerful weapons and armor faster than the others in order to eliminate them and be the last one standing. Again the progress doesn’t carry to the next match.
Repetitive gameplay
Also, the progression system is not the only thing those genres have changed. Each game is exactly the same, you spawn, you kill, grow more powerful and try to win the current match. Every match will play out differently but the principles are the same.
The repetitiveness of those games is also a kind of reward system. The reason behind this is, that even if you lose one game, you have the ability to win the next one. Since it’s a new match and everything gets reset.
You can see the same principles in a very old and traditional game. Chess. Each time you take out a pawn it’s the instant gratification. With the ultimate reward being to achieve victory.
Every game a new match, each match a clean board waiting for you to either make mistakes and lose or avoid your previous mistakes and thrive!
So what makes repetitive gameplay so addictive?
Everyone wants to achieve the ultimate goal of Victory. But, here is where it gets interesting. There are multiple layers of rewards during a match that makes us want to play again and again and again.
First, you have the anticipation before you start the new match, all those possibilities and strategies you can implement to achieve your goal. A clean canvas waiting for you. After you join the game, there are the rewards mentioned above, experience points and coins or weapons and armor.
Next, is each battle, you try different strategies to win the battle or change the strategy if you lose. Each game offers multiple battles. If you lose, the anticipation gets triggered and you get hooked to improve and win the next one. If you win, the instant gratification reward gets triggered and you want to taste it again!
The same happens when you get the final results. If you lose the match, there is an empty canvas waiting for you, a clean slate to try and improve. If you achieve sweat victory, you want that feeling again.
Conclusion
Both genres use a temporary progression and reward system, that makes the player in a short amount of time, to feel that they managed to win something but is short enough to make you want to feel it again.
Which progression system do you prefer? And what is your opinion on the new system that clearly has managed to find a huge audience?
You can also read my past article on how video games changed in the competitive era
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