How to Win at Losing
As an industry, we are really, really good about making players feel really, really bad. We kill player characters at the drop of a hat, force them into near impossible situations, and then mock them when they fail. We’ll steal from them in a heartbeat, and we’ll mess with their minds any chance we can get. What we’re not very good at doing is offering praise. And as an industry, we wonder why players complain about games. What we need to do is make players feel like the best people in the world instead. The best example I’ve seen of giving players praise is in Zak and Wiki: The Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure (Capcom, 2007). Whenever players do something correctly, the following happens:
- A “success” musical sting plays.
- The hero does a funny reaction or victory animation.
- There is a particle effect coming off the hero.
- Wiki, the player’s monkey sidekick, congratulates players (in text form) on how good they...