TBM: Ep 6 EXTRAS

I like thinking about player motivation because motivation is a pre-cursor to emotion (more or less). When someone finally gets around to writing a full textbook on experience-focused game design, motivation deserves a chapter. (I will not be writing this book.) 

I was dinged in a book review for not critically examining Reiss's list of motivations. I hope readers here know by now that I'm trying to describe concepts with the intention to get you thinking more deeply about design, NOT trying to accurately label all of human experience. I like the list because it has a number of good places to start when considering player motivation. I don't really care beyond that. 

I only include part of Maslow's needs because the rest overlap somewhat with Reiss's list or don't feel relevant. But there are way too many survival games with oxygen mechanics to ignore the need to breathe as a strong thematic motivator. 

If I were writing this episode now, I would have spent longer talking about each item in the list. I was just starting to struggle with morning sickness when I wrote this one. 

I think the most important point here is about playtesting. Knowing that players are motivated by pressures beyond just winning and what those pressures might be can help craft better game experiences.