Examining Game Design from the Perspective of “Behavior Analysis” Vol.3
*This article was originally written by Japanese indie game creator Daraneko, and translated by PLAYISM.
Now, we'll continue on.
The previous installment can be found here.
[h2]◆Fact #6: Extinction and reversion[/h2]
I have explained four basic principles of behaviors contingencies, but there are two more.
What do you think would happen if a behavior that was reinforced became unreinforced after a certain point? For example, if poison was no longer cured by using the antidotal herb. Or like, you were no longer able to look at naughty pictures while playing your game.
I think you can sort of guess the answer, but it reduces the frequency of that reinforced behavior. It's not worth it to use an antidotal herb that doesn't relieve poison. An eroge without naughty pictures may be a perfectly healthy, wholesome game, but it doesn't satisfy the desires of the horny weirdos who just need to get their porn game fix. The frequency of reinforced behaviors does not last forever, and if the results continue to be disappointing, the reinforcement will eventually disappear. So the once-increased behavior returns to normal frequency.
This is called "extinction". It is often confused with the "disinforcement through removal of a reinforcer", but that one is "the disappearance of what was already there", while this one is more like "the failure of what was supposed to be newly available to appear".
By the way, there is a similar thing with disinforcement. If you think something bad will happen if you perform an action, and you try said action, and then nothing bad happens, the behavior that had been decreasing returns to normal. It increases. This is called "reversion".
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Now, I know that many of you are reading this with a "hmmm". This "extinction" tends to be an invisible trap for game designers. If you are not careful, you'll end up getting stabbed from behind. I'll explain what I mean here.
[h2]◆Fact #6 – Special Edition: That thing where you get to the end of the game but lose motivation[/h2]
One of the most common things people say about games is, "I've made it all the way to the end of the game, but I've lost my motivation and haven't beaten the last boss." This is exactly where "extinction" plays a bad role.
Recently, I felt this strongly with the new Fire Emblem game (Three Houses). I don't like to use other people's games as examples, but, well, it's a good example, so...
When I play a fun game, I tend to play it continuously, and the first day I bought this game, I played it all day long. However, the frequency of my playing gradually decreased, and by the end of the game, I only felt the need to play it once every few days.
Let's analyze this in terms of behavior. To analyze it, let's summarize the “reinforcer” evaluation of this game. My personal evaluation of the beginning of the game is as follows.
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◆Class change [ S ]
Your abilities collectively increase greatly, making you stronger and changing your appearance. This is quite important because it changes your movement type and you can acquire skills by mastering a class. This is the key to training, and the class you choose for your character will greatly affect your training methods.
◆Level up [ A ]
You have to be above a certain level in order to change classes, so stuff like "I want to get to level 20" ends up becoming a goal. The early stages of the game are also highly affected by ability increases.
◆Skill level [ A ]
It is necessary to learn new active and passive skills. It also affects the success rate of class changes, and the main character's skill level is also necessary for scouting (making characters friends), so you can set goals like "I want to get my sword skills to B". This stuff is important.
◆Character likability [ A ]
As likability increases, you can see specific events for the characters and it also affects battles as well. Not only is there a likability level for the main character, but there are also likability levels and events between characters, so you can try your best to raise these.
◆Scenario [ B ]
I knew that the three groups that were getting along reasonably well would eventually fight... So I was looking forward to seeing how that would play out. It also serves as a type of “reinforcer” to a certain extent, as your scenario choices can increase the likability of the characters.
◆Guidance level [ A ]
This is an essential element for raising skill level and likability, and its importance is quite high as it affects them quite deeply. Whenever I had extra actions to perform along my way, I would always try to raise my guidance level.
◆Equipment upgrade [ C ]
While I'm happy when I get equipment that looks strong, the system makes the initial training equipment pretty good (I used this to kill goombahs even at the end of the game), so even if I'm able to get something cool, it often can't easily be upgraded, or I end up not using it due of its durability.
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It's basically a whole bunch of “reinforcers”, although a little weak in the equipment department. As a result, my behavior had been reinforced and I continued playing the game for a while.
Next is my evaluation for the end part of the game.
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◆Class change [ C ]
I've already completed the class change for the top-level job. And when you max out a higher-level job, you get a skill that is exclusive to that class, and you're like, "You can't use that in a top-level job..." and a little bit of extinction occurs.
◆Level up [ C ]
While it is nice to see abilities increase, the rate of growth is the same as in the beginning, so the importance is not as high as it should be.
◆Skill level [ D ]
I'm almost done, and there are some left, but I don't really feel the need to try to improve or acquire anything else.
◆Equipment upgrade [ D ]
I've got all the strong equipment I need for the moment, and I don't need to force myself to update it.
◆Scenario [ C ]
Unfortunately, I couldn't get that emotionally involved with the characters, and the choices were becoming more and more pointless, so I wasn't really interested in seeing what happened next. (I think I made a mistake in choosing my route.)
◆Character likability [ D ]
My character's likability is maxed out, and actual likability doesn’t increase any further.
◆Guidance level [ D ]
I’ve already maxed out my level so whatever.
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Yeah. So there isn't a single B rank, and you can see that my evaluations have dropped a lot compared to the beginning. And to think how chock full of “reinforcers” it was.
Note that although the “reinforcer” of the training system is very powerful and very easy to create, once levels are maxed out and there's no longer any need for training, it becomes pretty much pointless. As a result of the capping out of the training part, the “reinforcer” has been basically eliminated, and there is no longer a "reason to play this game". That's why people quit games even after having advanced all the way to the endgame.
The player has high enough levels, the strongest weapons, and the most powerful skills, and all they have left to do is take on the last boss... So now, you may be pretty screwed as far as player retention goes. As a game designer, you should also think carefully about how to create reasons (“reinforcer”) to play the game up through the endgame.
[h2]◆Fact #7: The nature of extinction and types of reinforcement[/h2]
So I've explained the horrors of extinction. As for extinction, if you don't get the expected result, it doesn't mean that your behavior will immediately decrease. There is something called "resistance to extinction", and if the resistance to extinction is strong, the behavior will not decrease easily. (Incidentally, there is no such thing as "resistance to reversion", which I guess would be the opposite of resistance to extinction.)
So what kinds of things have strong resistance to extinction? There are two types of reinforcement: "continuous reinforcement" and "partial reinforcement", and each type of reinforcement has a different resistance to extinction. The characteristics of each type are as follows.
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◆Continuous reinforcement
Reinforcing the pattern of getting the “reinforcer” every time you do a specific action. This is the one where you get experience when you defeat an enemy. The resistance to extinction is weak, and when you don't get the reward that was there every time before, the behavior will be reduced more quickly.
◆Partial reinforcement
This is a reinforcement of the pattern where you may or may not get the “reinforcer” when you perform a specific action. This is the kind of reinforcement where you get a rare drop of powerful equipment after defeating an enemy. The resistance to extinction is strong, and since it's a reinforcement that may or may not provide a “reinforcer” in the first place, it's less likely to reduce the applicable behavior even said reinforcer isn't provided every time.
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Partial reinforcement is the deeper one here. Gambling and capsule toy machines are also very powerful forms of partial reinforcement. Also, the reason I make games even though they don't pay off every time is because I used to get so much positive feedback from reviewers, like "Thanks for a great time!" This is also a type of partial reinforcement.
Looking at it this way kinda makes me feel like I should just make all the elements into partial reinforcements...
You need to have the target try until partial reinforcement occurs (until you get the reinforcer), and (and this is just my guess, since it wasn't clearly written in some book) it is preferable to have a strong example of a reinforcer for reinforcement rather than continuous reinforcement.
If you have to work really hard to get a strong weapon in a rare drop, and the weapon you get is only slightly stronger than the one sold in the store, then no one will bother to work hard for that weapon.
By the way, there is a property of extinction called "extinction burst" which is sort of like a special move. To explain it very simply, when you press the attack button and no attack occurs, just keep mashing the attack button again and again... This is an extinction burst. It's an explosion of actions before the extinction. It's not really relevant to this story, so I'll spare you the details. But if you think you can make it work out, by all means go ahead and try it out.
[h2]◆Fact #8: Time up to releasing the “reinforcer” and “aversive conditions”[/h2]
Reinforcement or disinforcement occurs when a "reinforcer" or “aversive condition” appears after an action... So how exactly should one time "after an action"?
To sum it up, the sooner after the action, the better. To give an extreme example, the reason you are happy when defeating a metal slime is because "you get a lot of EXP after defeating it". If it's done in such a way that you get a lot of EXP 30 minutes after defeating it, this sense of happiness is going to fade significantly.
If I had to give a clear guideline, I'd say "within 60 seconds". There are no clear boundaries here, so it's really just a guideline. Basically, it's good to show the reinforcer or aversive condition to the player immediately after the applicable action.
For example, if an event choice increases the player-character's likability, it is preferable to tell the player about the increase in likability when they make that choice - not after the event is over. Get it out there as soon as possible.
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That’s all for the third installment.
The next and final installment will conclude this article. We'll be applying all of the knowledge discussed so far to ruminate on creating the kind of game that "makes you want to keep playing".
The next update will be tomorrow. . See you again then.
[A Little Bit of Promotion]
I’m currently developing the “game book-style RPG” The Use of Life.
It’s the kind of game in which you can choose to use a key to unlock the door standing before you, or you can simply destroy it like a boss.
The demo version is now available on Steam, so by all means give it a try if you’re interested.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1483370/