Psychology of Rewards

[Hornete]

I was scrolling on youtube today and I found this wonderful video that covers the topic of Extrinsic and Intrinsic Rewards/Psychology of Rewards in video games and used Don't Starve/Together as one of the main examples! I found this video really interesting and I feel a lot of you guys should really check it out! A lot of the main points in this video can explain why Don't Starve/Together(atleast on the PC version/Mobile version) doesn't have any achievements/quests. I would love to hear some of your opinions on this video! This channel has made some really interesting videos and covers topics on game design that I would absolutely recommendfor you all to check out!

I posted this topic/post here due to how the video can be applied to DS/T(and well DS/T was used as one of the main examples). But let me know if you feel this shouldn't belong here and i'll try to move it to the Off-topic subforum,

[Mike23Ua]

Achievements are not a bad thing- Yes they can be seen as sort of a bragging right as a sort of A “oh hey I did this thing..”  but they can Also be clever and creative.

For example in Batman Arkham Knight there is a secret Achievement in one of the challenge maps where if you manage to link a 300+ hit combo without being hit once.. then Killer Croc will invade the challenge map and you’ll get to do battle with him in an Epic Boss fight.

Very few people would have done this.. if there wasn’t an achievement Telling them to do it.

In short: Achievements can be seen as a way of getting players to explore a game in ways they otherwise wouldn’t have-

For example: The Left 4 Dead Achievement where your team has to pick up a boring useless garden gnome in chapter 1 and carry it all the way to the rescue helicopter at the end.

A Pointless thing- that rewards you nothing, except maybe a fun new way of playing the game.

I wouldn’t consider getting to fight Croc a “Reward” for stringing together a 300 hit combo without being interrupted. 

Achievements go hand in hand with the “Xbox Record That” button on Xbox Live: Where players can Record their greatest accomplishments, their hilarious unforgettable moments where their horse collides with another player unexpectedly in Red Dead Online.. Your amazing “Never going to be able to do that again in My life” 12 Kill Streak in Apex Legends where you go on to Win the game as Kill Leader... or in the following example:

Your most embarrassing moments in gaming EVER that you will never be able to live down.

Achievements also give developers clear and undeniable Statistics about their game and what areas of said game could use improvements or better instructions to help the player without having to resort to a WIKIPEDIA Page to discover...

(this photo may be a bit outdated but it’s still an example)

 

Now to end this statement: I did not know you can actually craft Lawn Chairs and Tables in DST without Mods, I had Assumed this was a PC Mod & was not possible at all on consoles- It wasn’t until someone provided the following spoiler that I even learned you could DO THAT.

Spoiler

Informed me that I need to go to the ruins and insert a very specific list of items, in a very specific order into a ruins chest in order for it to give me the chair crafting blueprint.

https://dontstarve.fandom.com/wiki/Relic

The above spoiler is something that Achievements or even in-game inspection quote hints could HELP a Player learn alone, by themselves. Rather then having to resort to Wiki Pages, Online guides, or forums members who have read Wiki pages/online guides.

[Cheggf]

I love this channel and I love this video.

[Blueleaf12]

I've always loved the very simple exposition and motivation Maxwell gives you at the beginning of Don't Starve; find something to eat before night comes. That alone is enough to tell a player 1. food is important, and 2. that night is dangerous, which is enough to at least get you started if you're playing it for the very first time without holding your hand too much. 

It's interesting seeing how much different the beta was compared to the final game. I know I've read on the wikipedia about the original science point interface, which I think replacing it with what we have now was for the better. The small goals like that still do remain with crafting, like if you need 4 boards for an alchemy engine, you still need to farm wood to get all 4 boards. However, they're not as glaringly obvious. If you get good at the game and start memorizing crafting recipes, you don't even need to rely on that. 

I do agree that Don't Starve (Together) is fun on its own without achievements (I play on PC) but yeah, adding achievements isn't inherently a bad thing. I've been playing a lot of the Binding of Isaac Afterbirth + lately, actively trying to get achievements. This is mostly to unlock new items and to actively make the game harder the more you play it, which is more fun to me. However, there really is nothing like getting an achievement you didn't know about just by playing the game, rather than actively doing something because the game told you so. Even Minecraft has achievements as an open sandbox game, but even then, most of those are from playing the game, with some of them hinting towards specific things you have to do (like catching a fish in a bucket; who would think of doing that when you have a fishing rod?).