Game tools to 'hook' the player

We have been reading works recently talking about different tools used in games (FADT's) and certain techniques games designers use to keep the player interested in playing their games for a long length of time.

We looked at things such as Intention which is where the player can analyse the game world and make a plan what to do next. Perceivable Consequence was another thing we looked at which is when the player does something wrong in a game (e.g. dies) they know exactly why that was wrong and how to change what they did before.

We also looked at the idea of how movement impetus (how motivated the player is to continue forward in the game) and the space of possibility (how many possible choices the player can make at any given time) can effect pacing.

For example if you give the player a huge space of possibility then they will take longer to decide their next move and the pacing of the game will drop, or they will make the wrong move but not realise what they did wrong, become frustrated and stop playing, so there is no movement impetus. On the other hand, is the space of possibility is too small then the time it takes for a player to decide their move is shortened, speeding up the pacing, but the player may master the game quicker, being able to instinctively know the best move to make at all times and this may make a game boring fast and therefore they wont continue to play, also halting movement impetus.

The trick seems to be gaging the perfect balance of the space of possibility so that the player never becomes frustrated or bored, but motivated to move on and this can be further increased of the game introduces new mechanics at regular intervals for the player to learn and master which keeps the game feeling fresh at all times.