Reward

Aesthetic of play suggests why we enjoy games. There is considered to be 3 theories of pleasure to playing a game, reward, flow and initiation. In this blog I am going to be looking at the rewards we can get from computer games. We know that according to Dr Spock (1998 p.625) that computer games don’t really do much for the developing person and that the best to be said for them is that they can improve hand eye coordination. So it is considered that there is no material reward to be gained from a computer game.

It is shown that the human brain is wired to wanting a reward, what the reward is, is irrelevant. Greenfield (1984 p.92) found that the presence of a goal or achievement such as a reward was the single most important factor in determining the popularity of a game. In a game there is considered to be four types of reward; glory, substance, access and facility. To show what each of the rewards consists of I am going to relate them to the game Crash Bandicoot 2 in which you are a dog on a mission to save your sister who has been captured by an evil man who plans to take over the world and wants Crash to collect diamonds for him. To achieve this goal Crash has to complete 5 courses on 4 different levels.

For me there was a great sense of glory when I completed the first 5 courses without losing any lives. This can also be linked with the reward of substance. Substance is the reward of character maintenance, such as the health peak of the player. As it was the furthest point I had achieved in the game with the highest health points.

The reward of access, is gaining access to new locations and recourses, such as passwords, level completions etc. in crash you are only able to move onto the next level once you have completed the first 5 courses.

The reward of facility is when you can enhance or gain new abilities such as new weapons, magic items, extra strength. In relation to Crash you can gain a magic face which gives you a one of protection from dying. However if you gain 3 faces you are given magic time where you are invincible for 1 minute.

I conclude that the computer may not reward you with anything materially but it does reward you with the simple pleasure (although it can course huge frustration but well leave that for another debate).

Bibliography:

Greenfield, P.M (1984) Mind and Media; The effects of television, computers and video games. Great Britain; Fontana Paperbacks.