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Satisfaction. Perhaps one of the single most important aspects of ourselves that needs to be brought out from within us from a game to keep us going, to keep us playing it.
Games can offer us everything, they have many ways in which they can bring out emotions in us, from feeling the fun they give us to the confusion and the surprises they give us in a plot. They have that power. But these are nothing if we don’t get that satisfaction from playing the game.
Satisfaction is the one thing that can keep us going playing a game. Many may argue that it is to do more so with addiction to the game, that could be true, but that addiction ties in with the satisfaction that you can get from a game that you play. But this aspect of satisfaction is something that every game needs, and its something that every great game has.
You get satisfaction from games all the time, and sometimes you just might not realise it, but its there and we all have our own experiences of how that comes about. The Final Fantasy games are just one example of where satisfaction comes into play. How many times have you been playing through the game and then come to a boss, tried beating it and then loosing. So you try again, and loose again and the cycle continues. Each time you are learning more and more about this boss and your devising a plan in you head on how to beat it. Finally, you try again, all that aggression and annoyance inside you from being beat may all come to end in this one final go…and then you beat it, all that time and effort paid off, and the satisfaction from it can feel immense.
Of course this works on all games, another obvious choice is playing games like Pro Evo. This game alone requires you to spend vast amounts of time learning and perfecting the skills needed to become truly good at this game. You have to learn how to pass, when to pass in order to split up those strong defences, and then you have to learn how best to strike the ball and how to time you tackles just right in order to get the ball back from the winger bombing down the pitch. The best thing about this game, and these types of games is that once you see it all come together on the screen, once you see a series of passes and then a goal all come together, it really makes you feel good inside.
But there are loads more examples out there that you can see where the satisfaction from games comes from, another one that comes to mind is the licenses from the Gran Turismo games, these took some doing, many hours were spent doing these, and many many attempts too. But once they were done, again the satisfaction of getting through them came through with all the races now being able to be entered.
Of course, with this, in all games, frustration often comes parallel to the satisfaction; you really can’t get one without the other. For you to feel the satisfaction that games can bring you properly there has to be something there in the way first, there has to be something there that’s frustrating you, whether it be a level that you cant pass, or a boss that is too hard. Frustration is the thing that comes first, because without it you wont really appreciate the satisfaction from the game that you are playing.
Frustration too can be found in games that are just plain below par however, we have all played the type of games that suffer from glitchy graphics and pathetic control systems, but in a way that is heading down another path of discussion, yet its all based on the same thing too. However in this example, there seems to be no real area of satisfaction until the game is back in its box and on its way to the second hand shelf never to be play by you again.
But both Frustration and Satisfaction comes into all games at some point. They are very important emotions that we feel when we play a game. Combined they are the things that keep us going and playing through the game, when we get stuck we keep on playing, we try and disregard the frustration that we have and try to crack the game open, and finish it, bringing the satisfaction we all want from the game.
Games can offer us everything, they have many ways in which they can bring out emotions in us, from feeling the fun they give us to the confusion and the surprises they give us in a plot. They have that power. But these are nothing if we don’t get that satisfaction from playing the game.
Satisfaction is the one thing that can keep us going playing a game. Many may argue that it is to do more so with addiction to the game, that could be true, but that addiction ties in with the satisfaction that you can get from a game that you play. But this aspect of satisfaction is something that every game needs, and its something that every great game has.
You get satisfaction from games all the time, and sometimes you just might not realise it, but its there and we all have our own experiences of how that comes about. The Final Fantasy games are just one example of where satisfaction comes into play. How many times have you been playing through the game and then come to a boss, tried beating it and then loosing. So you try again, and loose again and the cycle continues. Each time you are learning more and more about this boss and your devising a plan in you head on how to beat it. Finally, you try again, all that aggression and annoyance inside you from being beat may all come to end in this one final go…and then you beat it, all that time and effort paid off, and the satisfaction from it can feel immense.
Of course this works on all games, another obvious choice is playing games like Pro Evo. This game alone requires you to spend vast amounts of time learning and perfecting the skills needed to become truly good at this game. You have to learn how to pass, when to pass in order to split up those strong defences, and then you have to learn how best to strike the ball and how to time you tackles just right in order to get the ball back from the winger bombing down the pitch. The best thing about this game, and these types of games is that once you see it all come together on the screen, once you see a series of passes and then a goal all come together, it really makes you feel good inside.
But there are loads more examples out there that you can see where the satisfaction from games comes from, another one that comes to mind is the licenses from the Gran Turismo games, these took some doing, many hours were spent doing these, and many many attempts too. But once they were done, again the satisfaction of getting through them came through with all the races now being able to be entered.
Of course, with this, in all games, frustration often comes parallel to the satisfaction; you really can’t get one without the other. For you to feel the satisfaction that games can bring you properly there has to be something there in the way first, there has to be something there that’s frustrating you, whether it be a level that you cant pass, or a boss that is too hard. Frustration is the thing that comes first, because without it you wont really appreciate the satisfaction from the game that you are playing.
Frustration too can be found in games that are just plain below par however, we have all played the type of games that suffer from glitchy graphics and pathetic control systems, but in a way that is heading down another path of discussion, yet its all based on the same thing too. However in this example, there seems to be no real area of satisfaction until the game is back in its box and on its way to the second hand shelf never to be play by you again.
But both Frustration and Satisfaction comes into all games at some point. They are very important emotions that we feel when we play a game. Combined they are the things that keep us going and playing through the game, when we get stuck we keep on playing, we try and disregard the frustration that we have and try to crack the game open, and finish it, bringing the satisfaction we all want from the game.
Satisfaction. Perhaps one of the single most important aspects of ourselves that needs to be brought out from within us from a game to keep us going, to keep us playing it.
Games can offer us everything, they have many ways in which they can bring out emotions in us, from feeling the fun they give us to the confusion and the surprises they give us in a plot. They have that power. But these are nothing if we don’t get that satisfaction from playing the game.
Satisfaction is the one thing that can keep us going playing a game. Many may argue that it is to do more so with addiction to the game, that could be true, but that addiction ties in with the satisfaction that you can get from a game that you play. But this aspect of satisfaction is something that every game needs, and its something that every great game has.
You get satisfaction from games all the time, and sometimes you just might not realise it, but its there and we all have our own experiences of how that comes about. The Final Fantasy games are just one example of where satisfaction comes into play. How many times have you been playing through the game and then come to a boss, tried beating it and then loosing. So you try again, and loose again and the cycle continues. Each time you are learning more and more about this boss and your devising a plan in you head on how to beat it. Finally, you try again, all that aggression and annoyance inside you from being beat may all come to end in this one final go…and then you beat it, all that time and effort paid off, and the satisfaction from it can feel immense.
Of course this works on all games, another obvious choice is playing games like Pro Evo. This game alone requires you to spend vast amounts of time learning and perfecting the skills needed to become truly good at this game. You have to learn how to pass, when to pass in order to split up those strong defences, and then you have to learn how best to strike the ball and how to time you tackles just right in order to get the ball back from the winger bombing down the pitch. The best thing about this game, and these types of games is that once you see it all come together on the screen, once you see a series of passes and then a goal all come together, it really makes you feel good inside.
But there are loads more examples out there that you can see where the satisfaction from games comes from, another one that comes to mind is the licenses from the Gran Turismo games, these took some doing, many hours were spent doing these, and many many attempts too. But once they were done, again the satisfaction of getting through them came through with all the races now being able to be entered.
Of course, with this, in all games, frustration often comes parallel to the satisfaction; you really can’t get one without the other. For you to feel the satisfaction that games can bring you properly there has to be something there in the way first, there has to be something there that’s frustrating you, whether it be a level that you cant pass, or a boss that is too hard. Frustration is the thing that comes first, because without it you wont really appreciate the satisfaction from the game that you are playing.
Frustration too can be found in games that are just plain below par however, we have all played the type of games that suffer from glitchy graphics and pathetic control systems, but in a way that is heading down another path of discussion, yet its all based on the same thing too. However in this example, there seems to be no real area of satisfaction until the game is back in its box and on its way to the second hand shelf never to be play by you again.
But both Frustration and Satisfaction comes into all games at some point. They are very important emotions that we feel when we play a game. Combined they are the things that keep us going and playing through the game, when we get stuck we keep on playing, we try and disregard the frustration that we have and try to crack the game open, and finish it, bringing the satisfaction we all want from the game.
Games can offer us everything, they have many ways in which they can bring out emotions in us, from feeling the fun they give us to the confusion and the surprises they give us in a plot. They have that power. But these are nothing if we don’t get that satisfaction from playing the game.
Satisfaction is the one thing that can keep us going playing a game. Many may argue that it is to do more so with addiction to the game, that could be true, but that addiction ties in with the satisfaction that you can get from a game that you play. But this aspect of satisfaction is something that every game needs, and its something that every great game has.
You get satisfaction from games all the time, and sometimes you just might not realise it, but its there and we all have our own experiences of how that comes about. The Final Fantasy games are just one example of where satisfaction comes into play. How many times have you been playing through the game and then come to a boss, tried beating it and then loosing. So you try again, and loose again and the cycle continues. Each time you are learning more and more about this boss and your devising a plan in you head on how to beat it. Finally, you try again, all that aggression and annoyance inside you from being beat may all come to end in this one final go…and then you beat it, all that time and effort paid off, and the satisfaction from it can feel immense.
Of course this works on all games, another obvious choice is playing games like Pro Evo. This game alone requires you to spend vast amounts of time learning and perfecting the skills needed to become truly good at this game. You have to learn how to pass, when to pass in order to split up those strong defences, and then you have to learn how best to strike the ball and how to time you tackles just right in order to get the ball back from the winger bombing down the pitch. The best thing about this game, and these types of games is that once you see it all come together on the screen, once you see a series of passes and then a goal all come together, it really makes you feel good inside.
But there are loads more examples out there that you can see where the satisfaction from games comes from, another one that comes to mind is the licenses from the Gran Turismo games, these took some doing, many hours were spent doing these, and many many attempts too. But once they were done, again the satisfaction of getting through them came through with all the races now being able to be entered.
Of course, with this, in all games, frustration often comes parallel to the satisfaction; you really can’t get one without the other. For you to feel the satisfaction that games can bring you properly there has to be something there in the way first, there has to be something there that’s frustrating you, whether it be a level that you cant pass, or a boss that is too hard. Frustration is the thing that comes first, because without it you wont really appreciate the satisfaction from the game that you are playing.
Frustration too can be found in games that are just plain below par however, we have all played the type of games that suffer from glitchy graphics and pathetic control systems, but in a way that is heading down another path of discussion, yet its all based on the same thing too. However in this example, there seems to be no real area of satisfaction until the game is back in its box and on its way to the second hand shelf never to be play by you again.
But both Frustration and Satisfaction comes into all games at some point. They are very important emotions that we feel when we play a game. Combined they are the things that keep us going and playing through the game, when we get stuck we keep on playing, we try and disregard the frustration that we have and try to crack the game open, and finish it, bringing the satisfaction we all want from the game.
Firstly Good post.
Anyways the point you brought up where
" How many times have you been playing through the game and then come to a boss, tried beating it and then loosing"
I agree that even if you either have to go out or our tired you wont be able to do either until you have defeated the boss. First time you fight the boss you usually find its weakness just as soon as you die, so you go all the way back to where you last saved it and you might build up your players stats different to attack it differently.
Anyways the point you brought up where
" How many times have you been playing through the game and then come to a boss, tried beating it and then loosing"
I agree that even if you either have to go out or our tired you wont be able to do either until you have defeated the boss. First time you fight the boss you usually find its weakness just as soon as you die, so you go all the way back to where you last saved it and you might build up your players stats different to attack it differently.
Good post...really satisfying game- Monkey Island/Broken Sword...point and clicks the most satisfying games. Most frustrating....pants platformers were u keep falling off ledges. Unfortunately there is more of the frustration than the satisfaction. Oh well. Good point though. Its a good factor.
Satisfaction and frustration are elements that appear in most games, ive recently been playing ISS 2 again and most times I am satisfied beating some of the best teams in the tournament, or little things like having a decions go my way when it was actually the other other way round, but it also frustrates me because the decisions can go the other way round, and don't you just hate it when the opposition nicks a goal in the final minute of a game to knock you out of a tournament. The affects of of these two factors can be critcal to how long you carry on playing and how far you get in games. It is different for different games, for example I have Crash Bandicoot, and as you know I have been stuck on this one boss for a while and still am, this has lead to me not have played it in a long time, because ive lost interest, in contrast to ISS 2 if I get couldnt win a particulary tournament after a few goes, I would keep trying.
I think games rely a bit on both matters. Like if you dont get frustrated then u can say that your not really involved. Only involving games can get you frustrated and thats why i think frustration is a good element to have. Also it gives you an incentive to play more to kill the frustration.
Both elements can contribute to improve a game. It depends on what you define as frustating. It could mean plain awful, or challenging. And if a game is challenging, players are much more likely to be satisfied with the end product, as they have worked to achieve the goal i.e end of level, etc.
Lets take football games as a good example. I remember in my early PSone days playing the FIFA series. It didn't challenge the player, goals were too easy to score, resulting in it becoming very boring very quickly. Come to present day Pro Evolution Soccer and we find a more challenging game, where you have to work to achieve goals. And, I'm sure most would agree, Pro Evo stands as one of the best football games ever made.
I'm not a huge fan of Platform games, but when I did purchace one a while back, I did find it annoying with the constant falling down pits and getting killed by falling boulders. Altough annoying, I carried on with it and eventually completed it.
What I'm trying to say is that challenging games can entice players (like me) to play the game. I don't want an easy game to glide through.
Lets take football games as a good example. I remember in my early PSone days playing the FIFA series. It didn't challenge the player, goals were too easy to score, resulting in it becoming very boring very quickly. Come to present day Pro Evolution Soccer and we find a more challenging game, where you have to work to achieve goals. And, I'm sure most would agree, Pro Evo stands as one of the best football games ever made.
I'm not a huge fan of Platform games, but when I did purchace one a while back, I did find it annoying with the constant falling down pits and getting killed by falling boulders. Altough annoying, I carried on with it and eventually completed it.
What I'm trying to say is that challenging games can entice players (like me) to play the game. I don't want an easy game to glide through.
Both elements can contribute to improve a game. It depends on what you define as frustating. It could mean plain awful, or challenging. And if a game is challenging, players are much more likely to be satisfied with the end product, as they have worked to achieve the goal i.e end of level, etc.
Lets take football games as a good example. I remember in my early PSone days playing the FIFA series. It didn't challenge the player, goals were too easy to score, resulting in it becoming very boring very quickly. Come to present day Pro Evolution Soccer and we find a more challenging game, where you have to work to achieve goals. And, I'm sure most would agree, Pro Evo stands as one of the best football games ever made.
I'm not a huge fan of Platform games, but when I did purchace one a while back, I did find it annoying with the constant falling down pits and getting killed by falling boulders. Altough annoying, I carried on with it and eventually completed it.
What I'm trying to say is that challenging games can entice players (like me) to play the game. I don't want an easy game to glide through.
Lets take football games as a good example. I remember in my early PSone days playing the FIFA series. It didn't challenge the player, goals were too easy to score, resulting in it becoming very boring very quickly. Come to present day Pro Evolution Soccer and we find a more challenging game, where you have to work to achieve goals. And, I'm sure most would agree, Pro Evo stands as one of the best football games ever made.
I'm not a huge fan of Platform games, but when I did purchace one a while back, I did find it annoying with the constant falling down pits and getting killed by falling boulders. Altough annoying, I carried on with it and eventually completed it.
What I'm trying to say is that challenging games can entice players (like me) to play the game. I don't want an easy game to glide through.
Both elements can contribute to improve a game. It depends on what you define as frustating. It could mean plain awful, or challenging. And if a game is challenging, players are much more likely to be satisfied with the end product, as they have worked to achieve the goal i.e end of level, etc.
Lets take football games as a good example. I remember in my early PSone days playing the FIFA series. It didn't challenge the player, goals were too easy to score, resulting in it becoming very boring very quickly. Come to present day Pro Evolution Soccer and we find a more challenging game, where you have to work to achieve goals. And, I'm sure most would agree, Pro Evo stands as one of the best football games ever made.
I'm not a huge fan of Platform games, but when I did purchace one a while back, I did find it annoying with the constant falling down pits and getting killed by falling boulders. Altough annoying, I carried on with it and eventually completed it.
What I'm trying to say is that challenging games can entice players (like me) to play the game. I don't want an easy game to glide through.
Lets take football games as a good example. I remember in my early PSone days playing the FIFA series. It didn't challenge the player, goals were too easy to score, resulting in it becoming very boring very quickly. Come to present day Pro Evolution Soccer and we find a more challenging game, where you have to work to achieve goals. And, I'm sure most would agree, Pro Evo stands as one of the best football games ever made.
I'm not a huge fan of Platform games, but when I did purchace one a while back, I did find it annoying with the constant falling down pits and getting killed by falling boulders. Altough annoying, I carried on with it and eventually completed it.
What I'm trying to say is that challenging games can entice players (like me) to play the game. I don't want an easy game to glide through.
arrghh its posted 3 times- I'll get them deleted!