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Maslow's Hierarchy of needs in games

Binding of Issac

We had picked Binding of Isaac to compare it with our own game and that included explaining their hierarchy in Maslow’s pyramid.

The game starts with Isaac’s mother hearing god give her commands to make Isaac live a life without sin, first she removes everything that makes Isaac happy such as his colours and toys, to basic things such as clothes. This already sets Isaac very low on the pyramid. Issacs’s mother then hears gods voice again and god tells her to kill Isaac so god can be with him and protect him. Isaac escapes via the basement and that’s how the game starts. In a way Isaac has his psychological needs because the basement does provide as shelter and sometimes you can collect a type of clothing.

There is health showing for the player and the sense of safety can be that Isaac can shoot an infinite number of tears that damages enemies, property is a second section of the safety needs list because the player does collect items which can also bring a friendship from getting a small creature that follows the player and attacks enemies and strength from building their collection of items.

At the very stop once the player collects everything, they need they would have reached the very top of the pyramid. Once at the top players are usually ready to fight the final boss.

All items on the binding of Isaac are randomly generated and will always differ every time the player plays the game, this includes the love and belonging section can change or the esteem as maybe everything the player had collected as not up to his satisfaction.

For it to have every Maslow’s hierarchy for any random game is to have it that in every game the player will get a creature to stick with him in one point or the other, that or to add a type of multiplayer option.

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Cookie Clicker

While playing Cookie Clicker I didn’t feel particularly motivated and didn’t feel a sense of achievement until it became a competition amongst class members. 

In relation to neurotransmitters I would say the competitive aspect released Adrenaline which gave me the energy needed to perform better.

Dopamine was also released as I felt rewarded from acquiring a higher score than my competition. 

My level of motivation was shifting in the game as I became increasingly less motivated as I progressed. This is due to having many power ups that were doing the work for me and I stopped feeling the need to try as much.

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Octalysis Method and Gamification

A way of gamifying the MCAST experience is through displaying student performance in a fashion symbolic of leaderboards. In this way students receive a public reward for excelling in classwork.

Lecturers could incorporate games in class which help students remember concepts learnt in class. On top of that lecturers could encourage students to team up and develop reward systems based around group efforts.

In relation to Octalysis Method:

Epic Meaning and Calling:

In order to make students more engaged they must feel like what they are taking part in is part of something bigger. The lecturer could include work shops which put the students in a setting similar to those they aspire to work in in the future.

Development and Accomplishment:

Students need to feel a sense of progression. This could be done through the leaderboard system as they are rewarded by placement in relation to others which inspires a competitiveness within them and a drive to succeed.

Creativity and Feedback:

In order to motivate students to work consistently all year round and not just the night before assignments are due, students should get points (which would place them higher in the leaderboard) for updating certain online worksheets.

Ownership and Possession:

The students will have a sense of ownership as their place in the leaderboard represents themselves. They’ll feel the want to work because they associate working with the autonomy of their score.

Social Influence and Relatedness:

The fact the whole class would be participating, it would make them want to participate even more as the individual students feel they are participating in a social activity.

Scarcity:

Certain one-of-one rewards could be set, which could be achieved through competitions or the like, which will make students work to achieve them.

Unpredictability and Curiosity:

Students could receive better score for going above and beyond to solve an issue by exploring many options.

Loss and Avoidance:

Students don’t want to lose, so they will be driven to perform well.

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King of Thieves

Games like this give me a sense of nostalgia as they remind me of other mobile games from my youth that revolve around taking over other players’ bases and upgrading yours. Overall, I found it enjoyable and was quite jealous over the fact I couldn’t find it on the apple App Store and had to resort to playing it on someone else’s phone.

1)Operant Conditioning

Here are the examples of reinforcement and punishment I took note of:

Designing your dungeon requires the player to be creative with how they make use of their resources in order to avoid getting their gem taken away. This in it of itself is a Variable Ratio Reinforcement depending on how decent the player trying to take your gem is at the game. A poorly designed dungeon is a discouraged behavior by the game in this way, making it an example of Negative Reinforcement.

On the other hand, making the dungeon impossible to beat is also a discouraged behavior but in this case it would be a case of Positive Punishment as it will block you from saving it unless you yourself are able to accomplish the dungeon twice. Solving your own dungeon twice before saving is a uniform action and makes it a form of Fixed Ratio Reinforcement, as you can only save the dungeons you beat.

As is normal is most mobile games there are a lot of examples of Positive Reinforcement here. The game grants you free re-spins at the beginning to encourage the player into behaviors around these types of “luck based” scenarios. With how this would be a digital spin wheel and not a real one, winning at these becomes a form of Variable Interval Reinforcement.

The game also rewards the player based on their performance. Positive Reinforcement is at play once again as the player receives a higher chance to steal based on the more stars they get. This also makes it a Fixed Ratio Reinforcement.

Another form of Positive Reinforcement is the game showing your name going up on the scoreboard. In that case it’s a Fixed Interval Reinforcement.

The game gives the player a Positive Punishment by having someone else entering their dungeon. If they manage to steal it, it prompts the player to steal it back which is a behavior the game encourages in order to keep its players active and the game going.

2)Classical conditioning

The sound design has been constructed around positive and negative behaviors. This will make the player react accordingly depending on what the game is rewarding them on or condemning them on. Such as the sound you get when you get a prize etc.

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‘Everyday the Same Dream’

Upon my first impression of Molleindustria’s Everyday the Same Dream I was immediately intrigued because it contained the cues of a game which relies heavy on storyline (such as waking up by the bed, signifying the beginning of a new day, getting dressed, etc.)

The little incremental acts of turning off the tv and making your way out of the house seemed as though my suspicions were accurate and in a way they were, but after playing the game further, it wasn’t panning out how I had previously conceived in my mind.

The game is very repetitive, by design I understand, but at first I thought the game was broken. It didn’t occur to me that I had to carry out my day differently with each play. I only noticed that aspect of the gameplay after hastily passing by things and not putting as much effort into it as I went along and also just out of pure curiosity to keep the gameplay as fresh as I could with how slow it was.

Overall, I think the game was effective in portraying its message but it isn’t something I would ever revisit again. The way it subconsciously pushes you to do things differently is quiet the brilliant design element and the simple art style is appealing to me.