Reward Me for Gaming

The blog has been quiet for the last week. While I would love to blame the lack of news for this week's dearth of posting, the truth of the matter is I caved last weekend and picked up Forza Motorsports 2. I, the gamer who cut his racing teeth on arcade fare the likes of Test Drive and Need for Speed, went out and purchased the first unabashedly realistic, car racing simulator for the Xbox 360. I now play this game compulsively.

The game has had me in its grips for 6 days now for all the usual reasons. There is another aspect of Forza 2's design that keeps racing happily around same tracks, over and over again.

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I could waste valuable blogging real estate praising the accessible ultra-realism presented in Forza 2's gameplay. Similarly, the silky smooth framerates (60fps for those of you who are counting) and fantastic detailing of the game's 300 accurately modeled cars are also very much worthy of mention. No, all those things are to be expected of a next-gen racing game.

The thing I didn't quite expect from Forza 2 were the rewards it had in store for me. Simply put, I feel rewarded every time I play the game. Make no mistake it is very typical of other console racers in that almost everything is locked in the beginning. The tracks available to race on: sparse. The selection of cars you have to drive: meager. Your available funds to purchase new cars and upgrade existing rides: beyond pitiful.

It all started with a few races in Career mode with my unassuming Class D jalopy. These contests were easily won with the help of some very useful assists that eased me into the hardcore simulation driving mechanics. As the game celebrated my victories, it displayed expanding bar graphics representing my Driver and Car Levels. Interesting. I then noticed that I had unlocked a new car and had earned a modest sum of credits that I assumed would be used at some point to upgrade stuff on my cars. Pretty cool, I thought.

It wasn't long before I was doggedly replaying race events to win gold trophies, thus earning the right to unlock prize vehicles specific to that event. The Forza 2 designers have done an amazing job of turning what has always been a bit of a chore in racing games (unlocking shit) into an addictive play-reward system. It's not uncommon to win a single race and be hit with a flurry of rewards. Perhaps you earned enough credits to level up your Driver Level. You may have hit that milestone that unlocks new, advanced racing circuits comprised of several dozen new tracks. At the same time, you might have also leveled up your current vehicle, which in turn unlocks manufacturer discounts on upgrade components and brand new cars. Finally, if you happened to perform particularly well in the race, a car company may put their support behind you and award you a bonus car on top of the car you won for completing the race event.

It's all very RPG with all the "leveling" going on and on the whole, it's extremely rewarding. The game succeeds because it constantly makes me feel like I'm making progress and there is always something to do. If I get stuck on a Career race, I can go back to any other race that I've already won and beat up on the amateurs there to grind out some easy credits. If I tire of that, I can always play the Arcade mode and unlock more cars and tracks there. When racing my car gets completely frustrating (which it often does), I can unwind a bit and spend some time pampering my cars with a new paint job or trick it out with some strategic upgrades.

Playing this game has really reminded me how crucial it is for a game to reward the player for their efforts. Working towards a big payoff, or a series of smaller, incremental rewards, is really what our lives are based on at the end of the day. This raises the question of why we should ever settle for a game that wastes our time or provides weak incentives for playing.

What are some of the games you keep playing? What are the rewards?