Some time ago, when chatting with a small child in a relative's house, he accidentally learned that he originally loved to fight the king, and now he has unloaded the king. Asked why he unloaded the game, he said: "There was a time when I was particularly addicted to fighting the king. At that time, I wanted to rush to the provincial standard of a certain hero, so I started playing the peak game every day at the end of the day. It had been a streak of victories on Saturday night of that week, and it was already possible to get the provincial bid. As a result, after he had beaten himself one more time the next day, he began to kneel. Finally, the provincial standard is far away. After thinking about my recent life, I uninstalled the game in one breath. ”
This answer intrigued me, and I went on to ask him how he felt after uninstalling the game. "After uninstalling, I started to feel like I had more time," he says. There is no need to score points for a hero, and there is no need to meet teammates who want to scold the street, it seems to have a sense of liberation. However, after uninstalling the online game, I just changed the time I originally played the game into brushing short videos, reading comics, and reading novels. Sometimes it feels boring, a little bit empty. ”
I was a little surprised by his answer, and I couldn't help but wonder: Why are these competitive online games so attractive? After a brief understanding of some information, I have several conjectures. Next, I will use the example of the king to analyze.
Why are competitive online games so fascinating?
The thrill of competition and hunting
Moba games such as King of Kings provide players with a sense of competitive excitement. The pleasure of killing an enemy is similar to hunting in the wild, providing a sense of satisfaction and joy. If you explain from the hunting point of view: killing opponents is relative to catching prey in the wild, it can also understand why so many players are reluctant to choose the position of auxiliary when playing online games, and they will feel happy after snatching the heads of teammates. Compared with reality, most competitive online games tend to have richer and easier to operate, with lower risk and cost - players do not have to personally go to the court to play about three or five people, just click on the game to get the thrill of competition.
The powerful magic of the matchmaking mechanism
In most competitive games, each game is randomly distributed, and the game's victory is not fixed. This sense of randomness gives the player a sense of freshness – because you don't know what kind of teammates the game will match and what kind of ending it will have. We rejoice when we match a strong teammate, and we feel pain when we match a pit teammate. Teammates and opponents are not fixed monsters, so each one is full of variables – from headwinds to flips can happen in as little as two minutes.
In order to maintain the balance and popularity of the game, the game vendor also designed matching mechanisms such as the ELO mechanism. By adjusting the strength of the matched teammates and opponents, it is difficult for one player to win consecutively. When a game fails, players often do not choose to stop, but fall into a gambler mentality - if they lose, they still want to win back what they lost, and they want to continue to win when they win. Many players repeatedly experience the cycle of consecutive wins - consecutive kneeling - streaks, and then are completely held by the game. Even if the game mechanics are cursed, most players will only continue to play in the end.
Diagram of kneeling (Image from the Internet)
Honor system
If game companies have any "genius" ideas in attracting users, then it must be inseparable from establishing an honor system within the game. Or take the king as an example: the king has now established a complete system of honors. From qualifying to the peak race, from heroic combat strength to segment position, the king has designed the corresponding honorary sign. These medal-like things can be used to prove the player's game strength and can also be used to show off in the game. If a game has a particularly large number of players and users, then these honors can not only be shown off in the game, but also can play a social and show off role in reality. For some people: these things can be used to show off in front of brothers and friends, and can also be used to bring girls, and even stickers with girls. It can be said that by establishing a set of in-game honor systems, game providers have made a large number of users addicted to it and it is difficult to withdraw from the game.
The source of the image comes from the network
In order to earn these honors, many players need to spend a lot of time and effort. In the beginning, the child plays games all night for a hero's provincial standard. Of course, the honor system in these games is usually mainly influenced by the user of the game. In other words, when you retreat, these systems can no longer kidnap you.
Low-cost entertainment tools
I mentioned in a previous article that addicting to online games may not be because online games are too interesting, but because the reality is too boring. Even if some students do not play games, they often do not go to offline to participate in any activities, and are more likely to choose to soak in the dormitory to read or chase novels. If we make an alternative interpretation of the current "social terrorism" popular on the Internet, we will find that in fact, the popularity of the "social terror phenomenon" confirms the convenience of online entertainment. Online entertainment does not require interpersonal interaction with strangers, and there is no social risk. Rather than organizing several people to play offline, it may be more convenient for the system to match several people to play games. The low cost of online games allows more people to indulge and be able to indulge in it.
After quitting the game, I was liberated and empty
Quitting online games doesn't mean everything is fine, we also need other entertainment alternatives. Even without online games, the extra time we have may not be perfectly filled with other things, but there may be a sense of emptiness.
Although online games occupy our time and energy, at the same time it can also become a social tool for us. For some young people: during the holidays, asking a few old brothers to play games and chat and blow water can become an important way to maintain social relationships. Sociality, irritation, and freshness have become important factors that make it difficult for us to get out of online games.