Are you an intrinsically or extrinsically motivated gamer?

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 extrinsicly 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?

Tearcell,
@Tearcell@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

@bijuice I recall when achievements were still kinda new and weird a little game called viva pinata. While it was a creative sandbox of sorts, the achievements essentially guided you to get 'everything' the game had to offer, and it ended up being one of the only 'monster catching' games I actually finished completely and loved.

I think that's probably the way to do it. Freedom to do what you want, but a guide to encourage you to do most of it.

frank,

I really liked VP. I’m guessing it wouldn’t hold up like I remember it, but I low key hope for a new entry someday

Tearcell,
@Tearcell@mastodon.gamedev.place avatar

@frank ya the. Second one really wasn't as good somehow to me. But with the cozy game trend atm it feels like a new entry would do well.

Bloodwoodsrisen,
@Bloodwoodsrisen@lemmy.tf avatar

Honestly depends, for minecraft I need goals, I need a motive (ie modded quest books). Satisfactory is one game where I can just wander around and collect things to get to the next big thing.

lustyargonian,

When I was young I would spend hours taking photographs or randomly roaming around in GTA San Andreas, it was a nice break from reality to just be free. As I grow old, I find myself actually enjoying good narrative without painfully complex mechanics like Minecraft, and I presume TotK. Back then I would skip the missions and just fool around, now i would follow the missions and in the process fool around only after i get comfortable with the game world and setting.

Profilename1,
@Profilename1@sopuli.xyz avatar

Intrinsically, definitely. Minecraft, Dwarf Fortress, RimWorld, Victoria 2, and etc.

Rentlar,

“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.

TopHat,

any game with a story

Minecraft, Terraria, Factorio, Satisfactory, Rimworld, Starbound…

sparvin69,

I’ve always been a slow-to-start gamer. I’ve really for to ease into games. I remember when I first played FFX, I just kept playing the beginning over and over because I didn’t realize there was a save feature, and everytime more of the story got revealed, my thought was, “how much more game could there possibly be?”

Minecraft was great until I had mastered the mechanics, and then looked further to see what the point of all that learning was. Turns out there was no point.

I guess I’m saying that I love the sandbox until I’ve learned to be efficient in the sandbox, then I want something to do with the efficiency I’ve gained. If the game asks too much of me from the start without giving me a chance to slowly learn (Apex, COD, etc.), I’m out. If there’s no goal after I’ve learned, I’m out.

I just left D2 after 5 years only because the only thing left for me to do in the game was PvP, and I’m never going to be good enough at PvP because there is not enough time for me to git gud.

reverendsteveii,

Time played: 400 hours. Completion percentage: 15%

extremely intrinsically motivated. give me a world with stuff in it, not goals

liminis,

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.

any1th3r3,

For most games, I’m like you - It’s been a gradual shift for me, as I used to play very sandboxy type games before (although I could never get into Minecraft), but have been heavily focused on story-heavy / experience-based games for the last 3+ years.
I will say that I really liked BotW though, and am looking forward to playing TotK eventually (in the next 2/3 years or so) and Starfield has got me really intrigued, so we’ll see.

Then there’s the “intrinsic me”, I guess, I don’t mind playing some games for the sake of it, with no goals in mind - Forza Horizon just going from one end of the map to the other, or the same loop of various arcade games whenever I don’t feel like doing anything else - sure there’s some sort of objective, but ultimately when you’ve seen and done it that many times, it’s not far off from it not being there at all imo, and I still enjoy it just as much.

UngodlyAudrey,
@UngodlyAudrey@beehaw.org avatar

Definitely extrinsically. In a lot of those super open games, I get just completely overwhelmed by choice, don’t know where to go or what to do, and give up. I’ve tried twice to play Breath of the Wild and I just can’t. Give me a linear experience any time.

Dominic, (edited )

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.

MangoKangaroo,

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?

kebabslob,

Whatever gender of gamer this is: youtu.be/nZuNMb57rVI

I never skip the intro

asteria,

Both. I love to set my own targets. They can be informed by larger in game targets on entirely seperate (‘wouldn’t it be cool if I did X’ or ‘I wonder if I can do Y’) but I cannot play without a goal or target of somesort. Often I find something as trivial as a client side number going up is enough to keep me satisfied like a high score at an arcade but I’m not competitive with other people.

lenninscjay,

All of you intrinsically motivated gamers. Have you heard of our lord and savior, Bob? Have you played eve online?

One of the most complex, brutal, make your own fun games I’ve ever played. On and off for 16 years and I still suck at it.

DaSaw,

I have played Eve. I log in every few months or so to do a little exploration.

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