Persuasion and Games
From CS 160 Fall 2008
Lecture on 10/8/2008
Readings
[Laws of Persuasion] Chapter 3 from "The Psychology of Persuasion," Kevin Hogan, Pelican Publishing Co.
Discussion Questions
Many of the persuasive principles in Hogan's chapter are adaptable to games. Can you think of an actual game you have played that use one or more of them?
Discussions
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Perry Lee 23:54, 5 October 2008 (UTC)
A game that comes to mind that incorporates several of these persuasive principles is Risk. Although the game certainly has its strategic elements (and an element of luck), your ability to negotiate and persuade others significantly affects your likelihood of winning. For example, using the law of conformity and the law of friends, you might try to convince other players that a certain player has grown too strong and is a threat to you all, thereby catering to their best interests (and your own); or you might help another player so that he or she will later want to help you in return (law of reciprocity). You might also use the law of consistency to show another player is not to be trusted; or even use the law of power to try to get other players to see your way.
Vedran Pogacnik 10:44, 6 October 2008 (UTC)
I think that among all the principles, the principle of reciprocity is the most widely applicable one when it comes to games of the mainstream entertainment genre. That is observed in a simple act of retaliation. To abstract it a little, when a player gets hurt, he wants to hurt the one that hurt him in the first place. Also, the Law of Friends and Law of Association might be applicable in many multiplayer modes of the game. Simple peer-pressure or superstition might get the player to become a cog in a machine rather than a single-minded individual.
Outside of the mainstream genre of games (which includes games like Mario, Sonic, or Tetris), the Law of Expectancy and Law of Consistency seems to apply better. For example, hidden passages, trap doors, or unusual game features appear if one does NOT follow the “normal” game pattern.
Stuart Bottom 06:12, 7 October 2008 (UTC)
The Law of Scarcity applies in many, many games I can think of - anywhere the player knows he/she can get a rare power-up or cool weapon, there is a very persuasive force to keep them playing. For example, in many first-person shooters (such as Halo), you walk around the map fighting enemies. Progressing to a certain area in a level may give you access to a very helpful weapon (e.g. a rocket launcher) that you would otherwise not possess. In other games, such as Rogue Squadron (a Star Wars flight simulator game where players fly around in spaceships from the movies and destroy Imperial ships), certain cool ships (e.g. the A-wing fighter) are unlocked only after you complete specific levels in the game.
In Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series of games, the endorsement of a famous skateboarding personality lends credibility and likability to the game (same with the Madden line of sports games - this by the Law of Association).
Jordan Berk 20:45, 7 October 2008 (UTC)
I think a certain category of strategy games are great examples of the Law of Reciprocity and the Law of Friends. The Civilization series comes to mind in this case, or even Monopoly. Both games rely heavily on interaction with other people (or maybe NPCs in the former's case), to which the previously mentioned laws apply. Reciprocity can be seen in the games in Civilization, for example, in how the player is significantly more likely to help out someone else who just helped them (by trade, or allied in a war against a common opponent, etc..). In Monopoly, the player may be more willing to give an opponent a monopoly if the opponent just gave them one and so on. The Law of Friends works similarly in both games, especially Civilization, where how the opponent civilizations thinks of you can affect the entire game, and in general being "friends" is better, such that the mutual desire to help each other out to maintain and expand the friendship is quite prevalent and important.
Alan McCreary 21:06, 7 October 2008 (UTC)
Some of these rules remind me of multiplayer online games. In Diablo, for instance, the Law of Power applies. Online gameplay includes finding and trading rare or powerful items; so if Player A wants Player B's valuable armor, then Player B has the power to make Player A do certain favors. Some players abuse this power, finding ways to steal other players' items. The Law of Reciprocity also applies in this game – players often cooperate with each other to achieve goals, so when one player helps another player kill a powerful monster, the player who received the help often feels obliged to return the favor later on.
Gary Wu 22:00, 7 October 2008 (UTC)
Pretty much any MMORPG or strategy game employ these laws of persuasion. As in real life, these games mimic the behaviors and rules of common society (albeit, in a virtual world). I noticed that many of these games also have rules instantiated by the game's makers to condone favorable behavior--most of which are mentioned in this article. The Law of Reciprocity shows when a player trades another player for something of equal value. Fairness is achieved when both parties fulfill this agreement. However, many times, people will feel cheated out of a trade and will likely not be allies for much longer. The Law of Contrast is definitely used by salespeople in these games as well. These players, while trying to sell their wares, compare their "dirt-cheap" prices with the other vendors on screen. There are also guilds and parties that players are a part of. When members of their organization asks for a favor, the player usually complies out the the Law of Expectancy. This also applies with the Law of Association. When a stronger and better player uses certain items or techniques, the player is inclined to mimic those behavior in order to better themself. The Law of Scarcity holds sway over all the salespeople in these virtual worlds. The also falls in line with the Law of Power. The leader of powerful guilds and respectable organizations will hold sway over their members and other players who are familiar with their reputation. Powerful items are usually the most expensive items in a game because they are rare. Why is gold so expensive in the real world? It is because they are scarce. The same Law of Scarcity applies in these virtual worlds as well. Furthermore, multiplayer board games such as Monopoly, Risk, and Dungeons and Dragons, all utilize the same principles when forming alliances and justifying "war" with other players.
Buda Chiou 02:26, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
I don't think any things that talked about in this reading is really related to the game design. The whole article talks about the persuasive principles, and for me that just can be applied between human beings. Sure, if for MMORPG these principle may apply to the communication between plays players in the game, but they can't be applied to the game itself. The card games may be applied, but that just because cards are played by the real people. The purpose of the game is to make player get some achievement that they can't get in real world, not persuade the player to do something. Therefore, I really don't understand how these principles can be adaptable to a human-computer game.
Mike Kendall 03:01, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
reciprocity: in every game you do something for a reward. why would you want to pick apples from every tree in teh grove? because you know teh friendly racoon who owns the grove is going to give you a new baseball bat that he happened to find while cleaning his attic.
the law of friends is a weird one with games... with humans: of course this applies. non-player-characters: sometimes i will do things for a character that is frieds with my character, but that's often because of rule 1.
rules 2 and 4 don't seem to apply to games since the user isn't usually tricked in the process of playing games (unless that's a story element)
the law of power is ridiculous... the people with power cited as examples are always either people with actual power or credible people... it makes sense to believe someone who knows what they're talking about, doesn't it? but of course you do see powerful figures in games all the time (the all knowing head in braingames, the king in every RPG ever, the stylish but mysterious ninja dude who tells you the weak point on the boss that you're about to fight).
Mikeboulos 05:03, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
I don't know if all of these rules can be applied to games. But certainly some of them can be applied may be not directly in the game, but it could be in some part of the game and the rest can be a social aspect, for example, XBOX is a great hit, why?! I think because of the law of Association, friends can play each other in the game, but not only that friends ask friends if they have XBOX and then the next thing if you don't have one, you'll buy one because your friend recommended it to you. also the Law of Power can be applied here, like when someone is playing a soccer game and they have the ball in front of them they are in control of the ball. It is like a greater authority over the ball, on the other hand I can't see how the law of scarcity can apply here, it doesn't fit since there is no sense of money or physical sense of the game.
Shyam Vijayakumar 05:10, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
Fighting games like 'Dead or Alive' and 'Soul Calibur' come to mind when thinking of some of the laws of persuasion. In these games, 2 characters appear on the screen and fight each other using various combinations of buttons to employ attacks on the other character. This can be multiplayer or against a computer.
Law of power: sometimes when you get to the highest level against the computer, you might have to play a scary looking character with intimidating music playing in the background. This character is referred to by the generic term, "Boss". The word "boss" triggers the meaning that you most usually associate with: someone who has power over you because he/she has the power to fire you. Therefore, this character is supposed to be the hardest one to defeat and should intimidate the player.
Law of expectancy: sometimes, the more well-known characters in the game might be expected to perform better as fighters in the game. But often times, it is the lesser-known characters that have better attacks.
Law of conformity: even with the well-known characters not performing well, most people will pick them to play with because they are popular.
Sports games: Law of association: basketball games like NBA 2k8 tend to have popular players on the covers of the game. Associating popular players (who most people like) with the game itself will probably help with its perception among consumers.
Hao Luo 05:27, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
The education game that my team is working on for this class, actually uses quite a few of these persuasion techniques. We're developing a math game that encourages students to practice math problems as they advance in the game. However, we don't want to force math onto the players. We want to give the players a choice but also persuade them to use and practice math in the game.
Law of contrast: in battle, the character can use a normal attack or a magic attack. To use magic you need to solve math problems. However, normal attacks do minimal damage while magic attacks do a great deal of damage. Here we're offering the player a choice, but the law of contrast makes it very appealing for the player to choose to solve math problems. It's simply much more effective than the alternative.
Law of expectancy: the game is a mathematical game. In it, the game teaches you to solve math problems, and there are many underlying mathematical themes. So the player feels like he is expected to be learning and using math. If he does not solve math problems to get through the game, it will seem pointless as he is playing a math game and as such is expected to do some amount of math.
Law of association: we're basing our game off of RPG's, and not traditional math games. Traditional math games are seen as boring and not compelling. RPG's are very popular among gamers. So within the gamer demographic, associating math with a popular genre (and the great games in that genre such as Final Fantasy) will make the game more appealing to play.
Law of consistency: by basing our game off of RPG's, we're also making sure we stick with many gameplay mechanics that are seem in many RPG's. The gamer who does not enjoy math but plays our game will tend to think "I like RPG's, therefore it should make sense that I will like this game, since it is so similar to the traditional RPG's I play." This is a powerful motivating factor in getting the gamer to keep playing our game.
Xuexin Zhang 05:49, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
The law of friends applies to many games in the reality. For example, StarCraft is a game that requires calibration when play in the team based multiplayer mode. While one side shares the common interests on defeating the other side, the teammates are more likely to fulfill the request from their members. Also the law of conformity applies in games. When deciding on a team strategy in StarCraft, players will follow the plan which the majority members selected in order to win the game.
Billy Grissom 05:52, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
I think MMOs really shine in this area. Roleplaying such as World of Warcraft definitely rely on this idea of persuasion to keep their user populations high. In recent years, for example, we've seen WoW take use of the "Law of Association" with it's celebrity endorsed commercials. they show famous folks such as William Shatner or Mr. T talking about how great WoW is and how great their characters in it are. Heck if people like Shatner are playing WoW then how could one not want to play?
MMOs also effectively demonstrate the "Law of Friends". A lot of MMOs encourage players to join parties and work with others. The idea is when you're playing with others your less inclined to leave the game. Heck, if you're venturing the world alone questing only for your own good then the excitement in the game can die rather quickly. However, if you're playing with friends and all using teamwork to achieve a much higher goal, then the pleasure can last much longer. All in all the gameplay is the same regardless of whether you're playing alone or with friends. The only difference is when you're playing with friends you feel more compelled to keep playing. I was a big fan of the game Guild Wars for a while...in fact one of the big reasons I played it was because I had a guild with a bunch of friends in it. However, once all my friends stopped playing I did too. Although the game didn't change at all, the lack of community was suddenly enough to make the game seem dull.
Finally I believe a great example of scarcity is the Nintendo Wii. The Wii has successfully installed this image in many people's head where it seems like a very rare and hard ot get object. The truth, however, is that they're probably not that rare at all...and they're not nearly as exciting as they're portrayed. nonetheless people go out of their way just to get it. This same idea is once again demonstrated in MMOs. Often, players are compelled to keep playing so that they can keep going and try to achieve that "ultra" rare item.
Cynthia T. Hsu 06:17, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
I think I agree with Buda Chiou that many of the aspects of gameplay to which these principles are relevant are largely based on the human interaction, not the actual game itself. This is probably why MMORPGs are popular - the power of persuasion, in terms of reciprocity, friends, association, conformity, and power is exhibited as people interact about different game strategies or compare rankings. The power of persuasion is definitely motivating in terms of playing a games - most people start playing games like Starcraft or Counterstrike because of the comraderie they achieve with friends. This could also tie in to the Law of Conformity.
I think the Law of Consistency is an interesting features of games, not in terms of persuading other people but persuading ourselves. I've definitely played a lot of flash games (Bejeweled, Alchemy, Tetris, TyperShark), where I've kept telling myself, "One more time; that's all it'll take to beat my current score.
Haosi Chen 06:56, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
I don't think all of these rules can be applied to games. But certainly some of them can be applied may be not directly in the game, but it could be in some part of the game and the rest can be a social aspect. I think one of the reason why PS3 is getting so popular is because of the law of Association, friends can play each other in the game, but not only that friends ask friends if they have PS3 and then the next thing if you don't have one, you'll buy one because your friend recommended it to you. Also the Law of Power can be applied here, like when someone is playing a basketball game and they have the ball in front of them they are in control of the ball. It is like a greater authority over the ball, on the other hand I can't see how the law of scarcity can apply here, it doesn't fit since there is no sense of money or physical sense of the game.
KevinFriedheim 07:03, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
Many of the Laws of conformity that were described in Hogan's paper can be applied to many (if not all) games. I played a game called Diablo II: Lord of Destruction which uses quite a few of these laws; in particular, "the law of scarcity." Players are driven to continue performing a task known as "magic-finding" to search for rare items that would better their value or their character's value in the game if found. The law of Reciprocity comes into play also in this game -- when I help a player out by performing certain game-related tasks, I do so for a certain price which I expect to be paid and more often than not, is paid as the "guilt" that Hogan talks about takes its toll otherwise.
I must say that these laws are quite common, not only in games but in everyday life -- as Hogan indicates -- so it is quite natural that we find them in games that we play as well.
Jeffrey Rosen 07:11, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
MMORPGs employ the Law of Conformity. Many people play WoW, for example, because all of their friends do. It is hard to say no when your buddies are always asking you to go raid with them. This falls under the Law of Friends. When your friends ask you to do something, it is really hard to refuse. This is similar to the Law of Expectation and the Law of Association. Your friends tend to do things that you like to do, so naturally you instantly feel like the game is probably worth playing. You can analyze the actual gameplay of MMORPGs. They are careful to keep the good items scarce enough so that you feel like they are special due to the Law of Scarcity. Of course, given enough play time, you are are able to get them.
Witton Chou 07:21, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
All the while I was reading, I was thinking "Wow that is so true" or "Oh man, I've seen that happen a lot." The game that immediately came to mind when reading the article was an MMORPG called World of Warcraft. All of the laws mentioned can characterize some aspect of the game. For example, the law of scarcity applies to items/powerups of a particular type - a weapon/armor that is particularly rare will be worth a lot of gold. In fact, some items are valued so much that players are willing to pay real money to obtain them. The law of friends and reciprocity reflects how players will often help their friends or return a favor to someone who had helped you earlier. These are just a few examples that fall into these laws and is nowhere near close to describing the complex relations MMORPGs have with these laws.
These laws very well characterize the behavior of everybody. Many of these ideas stem from what we have been taught since we were kids. We expect friends to help one another and we expect a favor to be repayed whether or not we declare it to the world.
Kumar Garapaty 07:35, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
I think a lot of strategy games whether they are board games or digital games involve the rules of persuasion between the players when they interact with each other. For example, through the law of friends a person may try to ally with another player to fight against another opponent. Or the law of scarcity, when you are trading with someone to get the maximum possible money out of that particular item you sell. Perhaps, the rules of persuasion are also needed in an RPG where the game designer has to use these principles in a game for the game to make logical sense. For example, to price an item appropriately based on its scarcity, or the rarer the item to be found - the harder the quest. The law of reciprocity works in games, where an individual asks you to perform a certain quest and get certain reward for that quest.
Bing Wang 08:00, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
Several games come to mind when I read through the article regarding different persuasion principles that they used. I have not played that many games in my life and the last game that I touched was Red Alert 2 and its expansion Yuri's Revenge. Since it is a strategy game, it always involves getting resources for your troops to attack other players. The "Law of Scarcity" definitely is demonstrated in the game. There are limited resources in the game, and when you try to build better and more power troops, you will have to gather more resources. Once the scarce resources run dry, you will have to attack other players to conquer their territory in order to gain more access to the resources. Some of the resources were in different parts of the map or can be gained through very special tasks which ultimately makes you feel good that you have access to them or you are able to build scarce units that others do not have power or resources to build.
Another idea that is demonstrated in Red Alert 2 or any multiple player game is "Law of Power". You want to gain power through upgrading your units, you hope to gain more power through territorial disputes with your enemies. Crushing your enemies in the game which demonstrate your ultimate power gives much satisfication. Sometimes, I would build more units than necessary to destroy an enemy to just show off the power that I have over them.
Another idea that involves another game Age of Empires II is "Law of Reciprocity". I was given a demo on a CD which attracted me to buy the game eventually. They let me play a few scenarios which hooked me up with the game, and I bought the game in return. However, "Law of Reciprocity" seems to be popularly used in all industries to market new products not just games.
Wenda Zhao 08:05, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
Game that I think of that applies to law of scarcity is world of warcraft. Everybody starts with same kind of gears. You can differentiate with others by aquire aswome gears. And There is no end to the game. You can try to beat the same monster over and over, but different items will drop. Sometimes a rare one will drop if your lucky. So players will try to beat the same instance hundreds of times just wish some cool gears will drop. It is a very addicting game.
JoshuaKwan 08:19, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
For me, the law of contrast reminded me of RPG games. Often you will go into an armor shop and they will offer you two kinds of armor: the kind of armor that's one notch below the best you can get at that moment in the game, and the best kind. The difference is usually only several hundred gold pieces. Often, you can afford the cheap one, but not the expensive one, but the delta is so small you are compelled to go back into battle to earn enough gold to pay for the dwarven mithril-coat instead of the battered orcish ring mail.
Karen Tran 09:03, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
I certainly think the 9 laws of persuasion are very true and they are the very basis of our human nature. In particular, the law of scarcity applies across all games. When people feel like something is scarce, they tend to feel more attracted to it, feeling that if they don’t act now, the item will no longer be available. The Nintendo Mario game comes immediately to mind. There are special mushrooms that increase mario’s lives hidden and sometimes even invisible. The users have to know the game really well by playing it countless times to figure the secrets of these hidden mushrooms. I remembered I was really addicted to the game just because of that feature; and in the process, waiting a lot more lives by exceeding the time limit. Turning to the laws of power, conformity, and association, I think of the game monopoly. In my experience, the person who won the most properties seems to hold the most power. The other players turn to that person because they believe s/he can save them from going bankrupt by borrowing money from him/her. However, I’m not sure if I can imagine the laws of friends and reciprocity apply to games. In real life, if someone does something nice for you, you’d like to repeat and “pay back” the gestures. But in games, the only purpose that matters is overcoming all obstacles to get to your goal. It’s like you against the world. There’s no one to help you and you learn to help yourself by obtaining better weapons, eating more money coins, etc. The superior items that you earned from playing does not mean that the game “decides” to be nice to you, and therefore making you feel obligated to be nice back.
Jimmy Nguyen 09:05, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
I think an easy game that incorporates many of the laws of persuasion is the Final Fantasy series. From a really high level point of view, people conform to the popularity of game in this RPG, in which the player takes uses his role to have power over other monsters and characters. From a lower point of view, there alliances/friendships and there are scarce items, in which, when a player plays the game enough, then they are capable of finding the most interesting facets of the game (or using walkthroughs). I've noticed that a lot of people have made RPG references, for example, buying armor when compared side by side (law of contrast)... RPG's just incorporate stories and different ways of gameplay, thus the great amounts of laws of persuasion.
Frank Yang 09:24, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
As other people have stated, MMORPGs seem to exemplify a number of these persuasion principles. While I have not personally played any MMORPG for an extended period of time, the law of scarcity and law of power are clear in the MMORPG worlds. If the best gear was available to everyone for little effort, no one would be excited to have it. From the "power" viewpoint, everyone with the same stat bonuses would again equal everyone out. However, when you have a new character and some other much more experienced character with crazy gear walks by, you will have some respect for the player (if you know the game, that is). In fact, this is not limited to just MMORPGs. I believe that any game that has some multiplayer aspect behind it will exhibit a lot of these laws in effect. For example, the popular Super Smash Bros. series exhibits a few of the laws. When playing just the computer in single player mode, the law of consistency will come as soon as you begin playing. You expect the beginning levels to be easy, and you expect the game to get progressively harder in difficulty as you continue through the game. If the difficulty scales up too fast, the player will get frustrated and blame the game. Furthermore, from a multiplayer point of view, when you watch someone else play a game, you will respect a player that is good because of his skill, thereby following the law of power. However, it is important that you attribute the person's ability to the player's skill, and not luck. On a completely different note, a simple board game like Monopoly can exhibit some of these laws as well, but perhaps to a different extent. Since everyone's main objective is to win, the law of reciprocity may or may not apply, depending on how driven the player is to win. While players may be friends in the real world, in game world, they are adversaries, and the law of friends may not apply.
Jacekmw 10:09, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
The laws discussed in the reading have clear application to many different types of games. The application to RPG games is pretty obvious, but what I kept thinking of were the applications to first person shooter games, for instance Goldeneye 007 on the Nintendo 64, a classic game I enjoyed in my youth, or Max Payne 2, a PC game a friend of mine recommended and I played very recently. The law of reciprocity and the law of friends is clear in Max Payne as there are sometimes NPC characters who will fight alongside you, giving you an incentive to defend them from enemy fire as well. The Law of Contrast was interestingly applied in the Goldeneye multiplayer mode "The Man With the Golden Gun" in which one and only one player may have the 'Golden Gun' which kills in one shot. When compared to the rest of the guns in play, this gun was superior, which would inevitably force the other players to band up on the more powerful player. The Law of Expectancy likewise functions for team battles in which your teammates assume you will fire at the other team and not your own. Moreso than the other laws, though, the Law of Scarcity applies here. Goldeneye featured two levels in which you could ride a tank. If the tank was in every level, the game would be easy and not as fun, as everyone would use it all the time, but as it stands, it is a coveted vehicle. Likewise in Max Payne, the M5 is the best gun, yet its ammunition is quite rare in the game, and as such we are rarely allowed to use it, ratcheting up its value even more.
nathanyan 10:55, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
I don't know if persuasion applies to all games. In most cases, the rules and objectives are clearly laid out, and there is not much "persuasion" for the game to use to affect the player. The subset of games where persuasion is important is in open-ended games, where players have some choice in their objectives and the final outcome of the game.
One law that readily applies in open-ended games is consistency. Especially with role-playing games, once a user picks a "role" for their in-game character (i.e. an "evil" character or a "do-gooder"), they tend to stick with it, and throughout the game take action consistent with the role they've chosen.
Scarcity is also a commonly seen element in game. For example, many real time strategy games feature a "super unit" that is both much more powerful than any other units, but also much costlier. In terms of cost-utility, it may very well be more efficient to build vast numbers of weaker units, but the scarcity of the super-unit (it takes many resources, and usually can only be acquired late in the game) causes many players to strive for it and even base their entire strategies around acquiring it.
Another example where scarcity is a dominating element in a game is collecting games. Pokemon is a prime example - one of the goals in the game is to collect all of the pokemon. Naturally, the "rarest" pokemon are most difficult to find and most desirable, even if they don't provide any extra utility (there are many stronger pokemon which can be more easily found)
Trinhvo 12:31, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
I think the point of this reading is to understand more about human natures and behavior. So when a game designer creates a game, he/she gives in and takes away resources to persuade users to get attracted to his/her game and decide to play game till they achieve the objective. For example, The games that exploit Laws: 9, 7 5, 3 the most are series Age of Empire, Warcraft or many other strategic games.
Kevin Lam 13:32, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
Some of the principles presented here are prevalent in games with "economies" or financial systems in which users have some type of currency and have the ability to purchase items. What comes to mind is rpg's like World of Warcraft and Diablo in which the law of scarcity really comes into play. In games, some items are more difficulty to obtain and are thus rare in the "economy." Because of this scarcity, players tend to give these items higher value and are willing to do or give more to acquire these items.
Often times in RPG's, players will need to work together (as a team). In such cases, leaders will usually emerge. If these leaders have reputations for being able to complete tasks/quests, others tend to follow their lead (Law of Friends).
On the contrary, players in rpg's are not inclined to "give something back" as described in the first principle unless it is part of a trade. Because people tend to fend for themselves, there is often no perceived value in returning a favor if something was just handed to them.
Antony Setiawan 14:52, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
MMORPG sure does implements some of the rules that kevin lists. It strongly uses the "Law of Friends" since that is one of the strong points of playing mmorpg. A online game player who doesn't have friends in the game will eventually stop playing for sure. The second law that is being applied there is the "Law of Scarcity". Imagine how much player would want to have their character fully equipped with rare equipments and show them off to the mass. MMORPG also applies the "Law of Power". Let say, if the GM said in the forum that to defeat certain monster players would have to do certain things, guess how many players believe that?
Juanpadilla 15:37, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
For me, the number one principle that is used in many games is the Law of Scarcity. It seems quite simple to make health and the really good weapons scarce in order to keep the player intrigued with them. Moreover, in many games you can buy these items, though usually at a higher price and in limited quantities. This is, in fact, where the Law of Contrast is also incorporated into many games. This is because you can simply buy the aluminum sword for 500 gold coins but for only an additional 200 gold coins you can purchase the steel sword. Also, reciprocity plays into many games, especially board games. It is very natural to want to help someone out, in say scrabble, if they’ve given you a bit of help fitting in a word, you’re more apt to try and help them fit in one of theirs.
Geoffrey Lee 16:13, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
The Law of Reciprocity only holds when a human relationship exists. For example, consider a recruiting booth that is offering free candy and has a sign-up sheet for interested job-seekers. If there's a recruiter standing at the booth, it's uncomfortable to take the free candy without signing-up on the interest list. On the other hand, if no recruiter were standing at the booth, you wouldn't feel guilty for taking the free candy without reciprocity. Even though the "perceived value" of the free candy is the same regardless of whether or not a human recruiter is present, you only feel guilty when the human recruiter is there.
Kai Lin Huang 16:38, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
Law of reciprocity: Many MMORPG attracts players by free download of the game's copy and a certain period, such as a month, of free trial time. Many players will establish relations with other players online and become more interested in exploring more about the game, thus they are very likely to subscribe the game after the trial period. There are too many examples that give the free trial period, including MapleStory, Mabinogi, World of Warcraft.
Law of Friends: Nowadays, it is not only the feeling of guilty for not paying anything for playing a game, but it's a guilty feeling of missing all friends who played with you the last month during your free trial period, and of course, all the real friends who played with you in the same game. If some friends around you are going to continue playing a game, it is very hard to reject them to stop playing a game with them. An old online game, Ragnarok online did this as an example, and many others. It is one of the most effective ways to retain players and for the game companies earn money.
MuQing Jing 16:56, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
Many strategy games are built on aspects that tie in with the Laws of Persuasion. For example, in Settlers of Catan, the Law of Friends is strongly evident in that you will usually help your friend (or whoever is being friendly with you in the game) by cooperating and forming alliances against others that are too close to winning. Both you and your allies/friends share a common goal; prolonging the game so that you may win. The Law of Reciprocity is also prevalent; trading and bartering among players usually leads to giving someone a good deal if they have done so in the past. This also overlaps with the Law of Friends in that people inherently become friendly when given something more than they were expecting to receive.
Paul Im 17:08, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
Any mass multiplayer online game uses most of Hogan’s laws of persuasion. When you see a weapon or an item that you want, you immediately want to trade something out of your inventory for that item. Also, you may not realize the pros and cons of a particular item until you actually use it for yourself. Thus, this makes the item seem drastically different from anything you already have (law of contrast). The laws of friends, association, conformity, and power all come into effect when you communicate and negotiate with other people. You begin to form relationships; some of these are out of respect, some just because of other people, and some out of fear. People begin to associate and conform to whatever their friends tell about in the game. All of these laws of persuasion draw the player into the game and determine whether or not they will be successful in completing their game objectives.
Yuta Morimoto 17:12, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
I think that the second principle "Law of Contrast" is often adapted to games. I think one of the good examples is “HIGH SCORE" or "TIME TRIAL" in term of game. I think it is used to encourage player to play game more and more. If a user achieving a high score is often greeted with a congraturative message and can input own name as one of distinguished player. the player also can see and compare any other player's high score. Furthermore, his/her score and name will remain there until someone who achieves a higher score overwrite or kick out As result, the user has motivation to maintain his/her name on score board. This is the similarity to "Law of Contrast", because this feature is taking advantage of nature of competition and contrast.
Anthony Kilman 17:16, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
Interesting reading. The two particular laws I could pick out that I could think of as being the most applicable in games were the laws of (1) scarcity and (2) friends. I pretty much stopped gaming altogether in high school, so many of my examples are outdated. A couple of examples that came to mind were from a popular RPG back in the day, FF7. Valuable items were always entirely scarce, with good reason. They unlock some type of special ability or previously unavailable part of the game, providing motivation to explore the game enviromnent to the fullest. Which, allows the video game to get more use out of the product and also provides more entertainment for the user. The law of friends as well directly applies to the same game. Although it's not an MMPORG, the premise is that a group of characters are following a plot.
Jonathan Fong 17:27, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
In a very important way, the Grand Theft Auto (GTA) game series relies on the Law of Conformity within the gameplay (i.e. not just to convince you to buy the game). I think it is an accurate assumption that most players of GTA are not violent thieves, gangbangers, or murderers. The game, however, has set up an environment where the player's cohorts are criminals, and the player's goal is to fit in with them. On top of that, success is determined by how well the player can assume power in the criminal underworld (Law of Power).
James Yeh 17:46, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
I think in an RPG game like World of Warcraft exhibits many of the nine laws of persuasion. For example, the law of scarcity can clearly be seen in the game, as with any rpg; the high level items and equipment are usually very rare (low drop rate from boss monsters) and difficult to acquire, making them very valuable. As has been proven, people are willing to spend a large amount of their time on obtaining these items. Furthermore, the law of power also comes into play in a game like world of warcraft. People who have a powerful character and valuable items will be respected and admired by lower level players. Moreover, these characters are usually the leaders of a guild in the game, further demonstrating the fact other players are willing to follow their direction. In addition, the law of consistency by the alignment facet of certain roleplaying games; usually, the player will choose one path (good or evil) and act accordingly in order to increase their alignment higher in one direction. Finally, the law of contrast is shown in the amount of time required to reach higher levels; leveling up a character the first few times is usually very fast and easy, but once the player gets to very high levels (usually spending hours just to level once), the time needed to level once isn’t that great a percentage of the total time the spent overall on the game.
Volodymyr Kalish 18:06, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
Aside from computer games a game from the movie “Cry Wolf” comes to mind. In that game within the group of players there are wolves and sheep. And no one knows who is who, however everyone can persuade all others into believing that someone is a wolf. So, a lot of the principles from the reading can be applied or seen in this game. As the matter of fact, the game from the movie was such a success that a lot of people wanted toplay it, so someone made it available as an MMORPG.
However, unfortunately, as I just learned, the real purpose of this game was only to increase the movie sales, since it was recently shutdown: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071227140120AAu4LMg
Which prroves that the game was good enough to attract a lot of players for quiet some time.
