Attachment and Progression in Educational and Commercial Video Games
“We feel more competent, a sense of strength, and ready to take on more challenges.”
One of the ways video games keep players engaged, is by providing them with verbal or visual representations of how strong they are, and what they are capable of (a form of feedback). As these representations allow players to visualize how their strength and ability grows over time, designers are able to instill within players a sense of attachment to the game. That is, this visual feedback is evidence to players that they are stronger and better, and in turn, is a motivator to continue playing.
Research in game-based learning describes the source of this motivation as stemming from a sense of achievement (Yee, 2006). It is not too surprising. Research in mathematics education has also pointed to achievement as being one of the main sources of motivation and engagement in students (Middleton, Jansen, & Goldin, 2017). Further, remember that video games are typically designed so that a player is always experiencing challenges that are within their zone of proximal development or ZPD (Vygotsky, 1978). Therefore, as players progress through the game, they are constantly receiving this feedback, and in turn, feeling a constant sense of improvement in their abilities and skills the further they progress through the game.
Modern action and role-playing (RPG) games often do this in the form of what is known as “skill trees” — tables that contain a list of abilities or skills (these help you progress through the game) that the player can choose to acquire by allocating or using “skill points” (they might be called something else depending on the game). Skill points are typically obtained by “leveling up”. Leveling up occurs after the player obtains a set number of “experience points”, typically earned by making progress and completing objectives in the game.
Once a player levels up, their character(s) or avatar(s) get a permanent boost to their stats (short for “status”). A character’s stats are a set of attributes such as strength, defense, and magic (typically represented by a numerical value), that dictate how strong a character is. In addition to this permanent stat boost, the player earns the aforementioned skill points which they can choose to spend on whatever skills they like. However, video games designed so that stronger skills and abilities typically have prerequisites the player must achieve before they can spend their skill points to acquire them. For example, some skills and abilities might require you to have other skills and abilities first before being able to purchase them. Some also require the player to be at a certain level.
It is another way designers instill a sense of progression and attachment to the game. Being able to obtain these abilities is an indication of some level of mastery. This feature of attachment and progression found in video games is linked to competence, which according to the self-determination theory or SDT (Ryan & Deci, 2000), is one of three innate psychological needs (along with autonomy and relatedness) that can trigger intrinsic motivation.
Take Spider-Man’s skill trees in Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games, 2018) for example. In the photo below, notice the arrows and lines linking each skill, showing the pre-requisites for each skill in each table. What is also interesting, is that players are allowed to choose the tree they’d like to allot their points to. This allows for different playstyles and freedom in how you choose to play the game. Remember that sense of autonomy in video games that can lead to motivation? It’s here too.
Maybe you’re a player who likes to play more defensively, and therefore, you like to spend your skill points on the abilities in the Defender tree. Perhaps you like to use Spider-Man’s web abilities more often, and therefore, spend more of your points in the Webslinger tree. As you continue to progress further through the game (and further down these skill trees), you have more options and abilities to play the game. More importantly, you feel more competent, and therefore may feel more motivated and invested in this game.
Believe it or not, you are likely already familiar with the concept of skill trees. Skill trees aren’t any different from prerequisites in college or grade school. For example, students (usually) can’t register or take classes further along in a series of courses without taking the prerequisites first. And likewise, there is a sense of accomplishment we feel once we make progress in, or reach the end of a series of courses in any program.
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Leveling up can serve other purposes besides just making characters stronger. In Square-Enix’s Final Fantasy XV (Square Enix, 2016), the protagonists each have a hobby that starts at level 1. For example, the character Ignis is good at cooking. Raising his cooking level gives him the ability to make more complex dishes (that provide far greater benefits to his teammates than dishes that can be made at level 1).
While acquiring the skills on a skill tree and leveling up can be fun, they are not the only ways designers instill a sense of attachment and progression. Action and RPGs often have pieces of equipment that make your character(s) stronger. Designers often make obtaining strong pieces of equipment a challenge — like fighting a boss or completing a difficult minigame. In other words, obtaining pieces of equipment is often just a representation of a player’s skill and their mastery of the game’s mechanics. As mentioned in the beginning of this post, leveling up raises a character’s stats — numerical values given to a variety of different attributes that represents how strong a character is. A great example is Santa Monica’s God of War (2018). Each of these attributes affects the player’s character in different ways. For example, strength affects how much damage the main character Kratos does, while defense affects how much damage he receives.
Stats & Skill Trees in God of War (2018)
As players continue to make more progress in the game and overcome more of the game’s challenges, they obtain better equipment (which by the way, have stats of their own, that “stack” or add to the character’s own stats), develop stronger characters, and are able to take on stronger foes and stronger challenges. Notice the visual feedback in the photo and video above. They show a level 1 Kratos and a level 8 Kratos, respectively, and are visual indicators of how the player has progressed from the beginning of the game.
What About Educational Games?
Aside from test scores or grades, is there an educational equivalent?
Kahoot! Geometry by DragonBox - Euclid’s Island (Kahoot! AS, 2020)
Although not in many of them, some semblance of progression in the way I described above can be found in educational math games. In the geometry game Kahoot! Geometry by DragonBox (Kahoot! AS, 2020), you’re first instructed on how to make basic triangles and quadrilaterals, and as the game progresses, you learn more rules for creating more complex geometric shapes such as a rhombus and equilateral triangles. Also, notice the line markers connecting from level to level. There is a visual marker of progress as players climb higher up the tower until they reach the top. Further, kids are required to call upon knowledge of particular rules used to create geometric shapes from previous levels in order to solve new levels, making the game cumulative — much like how non-educational games require you to make cumulative use all of the abilities you’ve learned in order to keep making progress.
Therefore, in Kahoot! Geometry by DragonBox, perhaps students can feel a sense of attachment and progression in the sense that they are able to make several different kids of shapes, solve more challenging puzzles, and are climbing higher up the tower.
In popular such as Fortnite (Epic Games, 2017), gamers develop a sense of attachment and progression through rankings and competition, collaborating with other players, and cosmetic items for their avatar. What are ways that designers of educational games can elicit investment from students in the same manner as commercial games? I’d love to know what you think! If you have any ideas, leave a comment below!
References
Middleton, J. A., Jansen, A., & Goldin, G. A. (2017). The complexities of mathematical engagement: Motivation, affect, and social interactions. Compendium for research in mathematics education, 667-699.
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68–78.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. (M. Cole, V. John-Steiner, S. Scribner, & E. Souberman, Eds.). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.
Yee, N. (2006). Motivations for play in online games. CyberPsychology & behavior, 9(6), 772-775.
