Hello there, I hope you are doing fine!
This will be the last article of 2023, I started this adventure only a month ago and got 18 of you to subscribe so thanks a lot for being there and I’m ready for even more content coming in 2024.
If you missed the first part of this series of articles on the Players Expectation Need system you can find it here
The second intrinsic psychological need of the PENS model is autonomy, which is the experience of being in control.
Gamers, just like any other individuals thrive when they have the freedom to choose, create and make significant choices. We feel energized and motivated to engage in activities where we have the freedom to choose and create our own experiences.
Being limited to a single way of succeeding in a game can be highly demotivating.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR ACTION
Immersyve refers to opportunities for action, as the set of tools available to the players to tackle a situation and the choices they can make about it.
They can be defined as the options players perceive as available to them during the gameplay.
- What are the interactive objects players perceived
- What choices can they make related to these objects
- How will it help players to achieve their current goal?
They often represent the WOW moment where players are stunned by everything the game is proposing.
Images from
Aviva cuisine
Fallout New Vegas – Obsidian Entertainement / Bethesda
IMPACTFUL CHOICES FOR PLAYER INTERACTION
Autonomy also concerns the agency players have in deciding who they will be in the gameworld and when, where, how they take action. These actions must be meaningful, or else players won’t care. Each of these can have an incremental effect on satisfying Autonomy needs and it’s worth considering the design of game features and intended experience.
If you have items players can’t interact with it’s going to be very frustrating, autonomy needs care for those elements. Does your game environment graphically suggest actions that cannot be pursued ? Or can you basically do whatever you want with them like in my favorite video from Baldur’s Gate 3 crazy use of exploding barrels.
Credits OKOI - Baldur’s Gate 3 – Larian Studio
IMPACTFUL CHOICES FOR PLAYER NARRATION
Creating impactful choices in the narration is a key element for players immersion in the game (more on that in the relatedness chapter).
Branching out part of the story or having NPC’s react to the player’s character behavior plays a significant role in driving player engagement and replayability.
Lack of impactful choices in the game’s narrative can make the game progression feels flat. When players know they have to make a pivotal choice between paths, it creates a defining moment in the game.
If they wish to explore all choices they will have to play the game multiple times thus creating engagement as well as satisfying the need for autonomy.
RPG are very good at giving you choices that will impact your game, and yes I’m going to put two examples of BG3 as it’s the best game of 2023 and give players so much autonomy in the way you play the game, in the narration, in the story paths, in the fighting and the flirting.
Baldur’s Gate 3 – Larian Studio – press kit
IMPACTFUL CHOICES ON HOW TO BEAT THE GAME
If there is only one way to beat the game (or one that’s significantly easier) you hinder the players’ needs for Autonomy and Competence.
Keep the balance between the various options you provide to ensure that each game feels unique, whether players opt for one approach or the other. This also helps players choose their preferred method to win the game – diplomacy for 4X game instead of pure warfare tactics for example.
Autonomy
Just like Competence, satisfaction with the Autonomy need is equally important for all types of game. Players’ sense of autonomy is by far the primary indicator of enjoyment. That means that when players report having fun, it’s largely due to their experience of Autonomy.
As a fan of Paradox game I know I will find satisfaction in Autonomy in their games, I will be in charge of whatever their handling me, creating my own story.
Crusader Kings III – Paradox
Immersyve study – Table for players appreciation regarding Autonomy.
As we can see Autonomy is one of the strongest satisfaction factor for players regardless of the type of games.
As a developer you can look at how to improve on your game autonomy to score higher in player’s satisfaction.
Applied to your game development :
- Make all opportunities for action as playable as possible.
- Reward player’s personal agency for players through NPC reactions, cosmetics or storyline changes.
- Avoid railroading when possible as it hinders the player’s experience of autonomy.
- Use Autonomy and choices to encourage replayability.
Applied to your marketing :
- Showcase different outcomes of the same situation in your assets based on the approaches players can take.
- Or tease what path has been closed due to player’s actions.
- Show different ways to solve a situation like a stealth or gun-blazing approach.
- Highlight one part of the storyline and tease what the other way could be.
- Showcase choices and their impact resulting from players’ decisions
Thanks for reading me.
Matthieu
STEP UP YOUR GAME 