When it comes the time to engage and retain the player to your game, the player motivation is definitively one of the most important aspects to take in consideration. In fact, you will need a strong gameplay loop and a great reward system.
The player motivation is really important, this will be what will trigger the player to engage and keep being engaged for long term into your game. The motivation is the action or the process of motivating someone by giving him the reason for doing and keep repeating some actions.
What is a good motivation system in videogames?
A good motivation system for a videogame is the one that will fill the player needs and drive them to engage themselves to keep playing the game.
This is often defined as your core gameplay loop or the OCR of your game.
Objective: Give a clear and identified goal to the player
Challenge: Create a fun and identifying goal to the player
Reward: Give rewards to reinforce and reengage the player
3 LEVELS OF PLAYER'S MOTIVATION
There are three types of motivation that should be applied to a videogame. Those three types are identified by the time that the player invests in the game. We talk about the short term, medium term and long term motivation.
Short term retention
The short term motivation is what motivates the player to complete the current challenge. A short term OCR loop should be quick between 0 to 60 seconds for AAA title and the quicker it is for a mobile game the better it will be.
The OCR will be repetitive for the player and should be integrated into your core gameplay loop.
Short term motivation example
Here is an example of a short term motivation for a player in Zelda BOTW games. In this example below, the OCR that will be repetitive player action in the game.
Objective: Defeat the bokoblins
Challenge: Fight the bokoblins using your combat skills
Reward: Gain loot and chest reward
To be clearer, your short term motivation OCR is the core gameplay loop that will become repetitive for your player. You must prototype this loop early during your conception process and massively iterate on it until it becomes frictionless and fun to play. When this is done and you succeed to prove the fun of it than you can move on to the next steps, find a medium-term motivation.
Most of the AAA games that the player explores the first short term motivation loop within the first minute of the game, however,this number can be count in just a few seconds if you work on a mobile game. Don't expect to get strong D1 retention if you don't succeed to deliver a strong and fun short OCR loop to your new player.
Midterm motivation
The midterm retention can also be defined as what will motivate the player to complete the current chapter, level or mission?
The midterm motivation loop must be clear and understandable by the player during the FTUE. Again, the time will differ depending on whether you work on AAA games or on mobile game. For the AAA games, the player can complete that midterm OCR loop within a 20 minutes timeframe. If you don't succeed to give to the player a strong understanding and amazing experience of what will make them continue playing the game, there's a big chance that you will lose that player forever.
For free to play mobile games, we are talking more about the time between 5-7 minutes. Mobile gamers are more volatile than AAA gamers you must hook them fast. The fact that they don't pay to play the game means that they are less tolerant of any friction that can be found in the game.
Midterm motivation example
Here is an example of a mid-term motivation for a player in Zelda BOTW games. In this example below, the player must progress a while to reach the point where they can activate the tower that will be allow them to navigate quicker than before. This tower also gives them a more detailed map.
Objective: Reach and activate the tower
Challenge: Navigation challenge + climb and or fly mechanic
Rewards: Acquire quick navigation and detailed map of a new area
Another mid-term retention example can be the mini-boss fight in Zelda the BOTW. I consider it as a mid-term goal even though that doesn't respect the 20 minutes rule. This is to show you that the 20 minutes rules for AAA can be longer overtime especially if this means that is linked to a different game mechanic.
Objective: Defeat the mini--boss
Challenge: Fight the mini-boss and use your cleverness skills to beat him
Reward: Gain unique gears and unique loot
You mid-term motivation will be the motivation that will keep the player engaged to progress through the game. in Zelda BOTW, the game designer have clearly built the game so the end of a mid-term motivation is linked to the discovery of a new area to explore. This is a smart hook that can also be seen in other games.
For free to play game, most of the mid-term motivation mechanics are handled by the game system more than directly gameplay mechanic. For example, in Clash Royale, level up a card in early progress can clearly be considered as a strong mid-term motivation.
Long term retention
The long term retention is what motivates the player to finish and complete the game. What will make the player stay in the game for 30, 60 days? What will make them complete the game? For free to play mobile games, we even talk about years from 1 to 5 years. All designs choices that you will do during the design of the game may impact the player motivation. It is obvious that you should have a clear idea of what will be the player motivation in your game design. If you don't have it in your free to play game, you won't retain your super fan user and you will skip great user conversion opportunity.
Long term motivation example
In Zelda BOTW, beating the end boss can be considered as the long term motivation for the player. We can also consider that point to be the end of the story mode. Wish can be a great driver for story driven type of players.
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