I’ve always found myself bouncing off hard on “make your own fun” type games like Minecraft or the newer Zeldas. This extends to any type of game that has no clear goals or motivators.
Turns out I’m just an extrinsically motivated gamer. For me, it’s about the destination, not the journey. I enjoy games that keep me going with rewards promised at each step of the way. When given the choice to be creative with the tools I’m given, I’ll just find the most efficient way of getting it done.
I’d like to hear what type of gamers y’all are. What type of games bring you joy?
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It’s gotta be a mix of both. If there aren’t frivolous side tasks I can do, a game feels empty to me, but without a primary set of goals, it feels aimless. Immersive sims that combine the two are my white whale. I want to defeat the big evil with fishing minigames and trading quests.
I agree, but there is definitely a limit to the degree of frivolous side quests. I’m playing TotK here and there, and some of the quests/objectives are basically punishment. I liked the koroks in BotW, but a lot of the new ones can fuck right off.
I too am enjoying AC Valhalla, lol.
ah man, ive given up on AC a while back, is Valhalla worth the time? I was under the impression they were all mostly the same with a different coat of paint
It’s worth the time to me, but I can definitely understand why others might not feel the same. Personally, I don’t love the Viking “honour and glory” theme but I do like the zany “mystery” side quests and the overall game structure. As for whether it’s a rinse-and-repeat of previous games… yeah, it is, in most meaningful ways. Since Origins, they’ve relied on a lot of the same mechanisms, but that’s not a deal breaker to me. I like (modern) AC because of the visual polish and atmosphere, not necessarily unique gameplay. Odyssey was my favourite of the “new” gen of AC games, and I think Valhalla made a lot of tangible improvements to the mechanics and gameplay loops since that title.
I love good stories. For me, the atmosphere and plot are vital. It feels like after work I just don’t have enough time and mental capacity to put a lot of effort in a video game, therefore I avoid things like Minecraft or the whole survival genre, even though I used to enjoy that kind of stuff when I was a teenager.
I feel you on the after-work blues. For me, it pushes me towards arcadey games cause I don’t have the energy to invest in a good story.
I most like sandbox games that allow me to do the journey my way. I very rarely do anything the optimal way.
Often if I am playing a linear game people will get frustrated with my because I’ll pass on a better weapon because I like the one I currently have. They say take that sword it’s better but I’m not playing the game to reach the end. I don’t care if a better weapon makes it easier I want a cool sword that fits my playstyle and that I have fun using.
I almost exclusively play games where I can set my own goals, or do my own thing, or experiment. I also gravitate towards immersive games. I assume that means I’m more intrinsic?
I really don’t like games that treat leveling as an obstacle to the “real game.”. Makes it seem pointless.
I actually enjoy a bit of both! There’s definitely pros and cons to both types, and which I feel like playing varies according to my mood, energy levels, and what else I’ve played recently. Sometimes I want to be moving towards a destination and reward, other times I just want to wander around and do whatever.
I’m currently playing x4 which is giving me a small dose of both. Overwhelmingly the game is more “make your own fun” but there are some small plot lines that reveal the story of some of the factions that I’ve been slow rolling as I build my empire.
I’m extrinsically motivated, but my definition of “extrinsic” is pretty loose. I’ll do things that aren’t necessary to beat the game (I don’t even need the game to be “beatable”). As long as I’m finishing something and getting a reward for it, I’m content.
I’m having a great time doing side content in Tears of the Kingdom: completing as many shrines and side quests as I can, hoarding materials for armor upgrades, etc. Those are optional objectives that you can truly complete. However, I don’t spend much time experimenting with Ultrahand.
Similarly in Minecraft, I liked accumulating resources in survival mode, but I bounced off of creative mode.
EDIT: apparently my Lemmy app went haywire and posted this about 8 times. Very sorry.
I’m think i’m the same as you. I don’t mind if a game is open world, sometimes i come back and do more in that open world, but i like the game to guide me throught that world with a maybe exiting story or clearly build level paths that are linear, that are designed to be done in a exiting way. I don’t want to be creative in games.
The wanting an open world that guides you is exactly why I don’t like Bethesda games. I played Oblivion way back in the day, I played for like 15 or 20 hours, and once I got out of the prison. Never touched the main story. I competed in this tournament in this big city, I did all this stuff, and just was feeling like, I shouldn’t be able to do this stuff yet. The tipping point for me was going into an oblivion portal, I hadn’t gotten to any point in the game that actually mentioned them or what they were, and while it was cool being in this hell scape type place with these cool looking enemies, I was like, I’m still technically at the beginning of the game. I should be getting massacred right now, and it just made me not want to play it anymore.
Everyone is different. I think the freedom to do that is better than being arbitrarily locked out. If you are winning tournaments, why wouldn’t you hold your own against the portal enemies? Makes sense to me.
“Extrinsically motivated” games I like: I’ll play it once, beat it, play a bit of post game, drop it.
“Intrinsically motivated” games I like: make my own stupid-ass goal, spend dozens and dozens of hours on it, finally do the stupid thing, progressed 1% further through the game, get bored, drop it, but then I pick it up again thinking about doing another stupid-ass thing.
any game with a story
Minecraft, Terraria, Factorio, Satisfactory, Rimworld, Starbound…
I’m largely extrinsically motivated. I always have high hopes of 100%-ing games, but I find once all the quests are done, my enthusiasm for going out and wandering and finding the last things drops off precipitously. Even if I’m not following the storyline and have wandered off to explore, I still feel the need for some ultimate promise of more story to come.
Time played: 400 hours. Completion percentage: 15%
extremely intrinsically motivated. give me a world with stuff in it, not goals
I kind of feel bad for people who are only motivated by things like trophies, or feeling the need to 100% a game. If I’m not enjoying a game, I’m not going to force myself to play it longer because of some strange need inside me to 100% complete every game I start. If I don’t like playing a game, I will just stop playing it.
Somewhere in between, I like having something to work towards but I also enjoy making my own fun along the way.
It also depends on my mood, sometimes I want to min max something, sometimes I just want to cruise around in GTA and check places out.
I lean toward the “here’s a goal, good fucking luck getting there” types of games, but I sometimes play more open-ended games like Cataclysm: DDA and Dwarf Fortress. Currently I’ve been binging Vechs’ Super Hostile Minecraft maps, which I guess offer a fusion of both?
I’m not a “make my own fun” gamer, and now when I think about it, because all of my “make my own fun” is done outside of gaming, e.g. playing music, coding, 3d printing, drawing, etc.
I don’t think I fit either side of this dichotomy (though if forced to pick would choose extrinsically), as I love a good story but am very much about the journey and not just the destination.
If I had to guess, the limits of development scope and the resulting limits on worlds being believably reactive means a lot of people are going to see themselves as extrinsically motivated, with the big exception being people that just love building things in sandboxes. Intrinsic motivators would be much easier to come across if more avenues of interaction felt fleshed out but for some rare exceptions.
