Sid Meier on What Makes a Great Video Game

Mike Rohde, Executive Editor

March 11, 2010

At the keynote speech at GDC today, Sid Meier broke down the top features of what makes a truly great video game. Attendees learned the psychology behind developing the best games. Sid, the rock star that he is, puts the focus of the game--and the psychology of the game--in the player's favor. When developing a game, it's all about keeping the player in a suspension of disbelief, keeping them involved, and allowing them to feel like they deserve the rewards. The player likes to believe they earned a game's awards through strategy and creative playing. Developing games is not about making it so difficult that the gamer comes out of the experience. If so, then the player might believe that the game is cheating them or that something is broken if the player loses a battle. For the player, it's not about logical math or random dice rolls to determine the outcome. It's more about Odder Odds. If your player has 3 to 1 odds against the AI, then the player should win every time. Mathematically, that doesn't make any sense. But games aren't about pure logic, they are about entertainment and winning. And that's the focus behind the psychology of gaming: the player needs to stay in the game.

To keep a player in the game, the AI shouldn't make brilliant moves that utterly destroy you. If it does, then the player feels like the game is sneaking a peek at your defenses and strengths and can make plays accordingly. On the other hand, the AI shouldn't do anything too random. If so, the player feels like the AI is making stupid choices. For players to appreciate the AI, it has to perform predictable actions.

Games should also keep random events and mystery to a minimum. If there's going to be a tech tree, then that tech tree should not magically re-arrange itself on the next play through. There also shouldn't be a fog-of-war type of effect in terms of advancement. Players like to see the path they are heading down so they can look forward to future rewards. For example, if they want to use gunpowder, they must know they need to research ironworks first. It should not be mystery as to how to unlock gunpowder or whatever reward or achievement the player is gaming for. It's this type of planning and looking ahead in a game that keeps the player involved and interested.

Sid went on to say that there should not be any extreme twists and turns in a game. If a player spends eight hours to help support a King, and then suddenly the King does a switch-a-roo and becomes a bad guy that you no longer want to support--the player isn't going to think--Wow, what a cool turn of events. No, they are going to think, I just wasted eight hours of my life. They are then taken out of the game and they shut down.

Then there is the aspect of replayability. During the course of the game, the player needs to be confronted with choices. The outcomes of the choices should provide enough of a hint as to what will happen next. If they choose path A on the first play through, then they know in the back of their mind that on the next play through they can play path B and experience something new. The player should feel they are on an epic journey with several different epic paths, which ultimately creates a multi-epic gaming experience.

To break it down and sum it up, to develop the most epic gaming experience, developers need to:

• Keep the player in the game and allow them to win through their creative game play
• Don't make the AI too smart nor too stupid
• Allow the player to know how to advance in the game
• Keep random events and mysteries to a minimum and they should not affect the final outcome of a game
• Provide for meaningful choices in a game that change the final outcome and allows for multiple play throughs with multiple experiences

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