This thought occurred to me after finishing the "hard" ending of Cave Story (This old bit of information prompted me to take another spin with the game). The first time I played through the Sacred Ground, I had the vague feeling of accomplishing something great (you the feeling.) The developer had created literally a hellish course and challenged me as a player to try my skills with it. After numerous retries I finally came off the trial victorious. Well, it wasn´t really that hard, but it still felt good to beat it. After second time it naturally didn´t feel that great, but I came to realize, it wasn´t the feeling of triumph, you get after overcoming a challenge, I was after. What I found more rewarding, was learning more about the story; getting to know new aspects about the characters and the game world. It was great to see a character obtain more colour and the story gain more depth. That was rewarding enough for me. I don´t need a round of applause and a man wearing a top hat hand me big bag full of money after achieving something in a game (although, that would be nice too). What I want is an interesting and solid story for me to immerse in.
When is a game rewarding and how are you rewarded? When do you get the feeling, that the hours spent with a game were spent well? Does the game reward you by meeting your expectations or does it come through the unexpected. These are few of the things you may ponder over in this thread.
(So, it´s getting kinda late here. Please excuse me, if the above seems occasionally a bit incoherent.)
When is a game rewarding and how are you rewarded? When do you get the feeling, that the hours spent with a game were spent well? Does the game reward you by meeting your expectations or does it come through the unexpected. These are few of the things you may ponder over in this thread.
(So, it´s getting kinda late here. Please excuse me, if the above seems occasionally a bit incoherent.)
