Friday, 14 May 2010 05:02 pm
(no subject)
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deckardcanineNew Super Mario Bros. Wii includes a minigame where you turn over cards and collect items for every two of the same card, until you turn over the images of Bowser and his Junior. This is not quite the classic memory game where you have to turn over two of the same cards in a row, turning them back over every time you fail, like in Super Mario Bros. 3 (the biggest inspiration for NSMBW). Also, you don't move to an adjacent card as easily as tapping the directional pad or joystick; you have to make Mario climb around the wall. He's faster than a real pro climber, but it can still try a player's patience before long.
After playing this minigame several times, I thought, "There's no place for strategy on my behalf. I have no reason to choose one card over another. Why don't they just make this easier for the player by having the machine select the results at random?"
The answer hit me soon enough: Illusion matters. If the CPU did all the work, the player would have no one else to blame for a bad hand. As it is, the player may instead think, "Dang, I should've gone with my gut choice." This decreases the player's anger, benefiting both parties.
Yes, I've been thinking more about the psychological side of electronic games lately.
After playing this minigame several times, I thought, "There's no place for strategy on my behalf. I have no reason to choose one card over another. Why don't they just make this easier for the player by having the machine select the results at random?"
The answer hit me soon enough: Illusion matters. If the CPU did all the work, the player would have no one else to blame for a bad hand. As it is, the player may instead think, "Dang, I should've gone with my gut choice." This decreases the player's anger, benefiting both parties.
Yes, I've been thinking more about the psychological side of electronic games lately.