Correlation Between Player Type and Design Features of MMORPGs and

Loot Systems

A thesis presented to the academic faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the Degree

Masters of Science in Game Science and Design in the College of Arts, Media, and Design

by

Sri Bharadwaj Tolety

Thesis Committee

Thesis Advisor: Derek Curry, PhD

Northeastern University

Boston, Massachusetts

December 2019

1

2 ABSTRACT

Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) lets players live out their fantasies through their online avatars. The system that is used to distribute rewards to players is called the loot system. The aim of this study is to correlate player type to features of loot systems and define a framework that can help future designers. By focusing on the foundation of the game i.e the design of the activities, the rewards, and how these rewards are given to players and incorporate features such as randomness, misfortune mitigation, luck, etc. that increase satisfaction for the type of player they are designing the game for. This study used the player type defined by Quantic Foundry to analyze the player types for the 6 participants and found preliminary evidence that suggests that further research could be productive.

Keywords: MMORPGs, Loot systems, Rolls, Randomness, Misfortune Mitigation, Grinding, ​ Rewards, Loot

Northeastern University Boston, Massachusetts December 2019

3 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract 3

List of tables 5

List of figures 6

Acknowledgements 7

1. Chapter 1: Introduction 8

2. Chapter 2: Design Features in MMORPGs 17

3. Chapter 3: Loot Systems 31

4. Chapter 4: Results and Discussions 38

5. Chapter 5: Conclusion 48

Bibliography 50

Appendix A 52

4 LIST OF TABLES

Table 4.1: Participant survey data (All numbers are in percentile)

5 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1.1: Example of perks on the weapon along with other details such as impact, power level, reload speed, masterwork, etc.

Figure 1.2: An example of random rolls. Same weapon but different perks (indicated by the blue icons).

Figure 1.3: A weapon that has a static roll i.e can only drop with the same set of perks

FIgure 3.1: A common class item indicated by the white icon. (Destiny 2: Shadowkeep,

Bungie, 2019)

Figure 3.2: A rare tier item as indicated by the blue icon.(Destiny 2: Shadowkeep, Bungie,

2019)

Figure 3.3: A legendary tier item as indicated by the purple icon.(Destiny 2: Shadowkeep,

Bungie, 2019)

Figure 3.4: An exotic tier item as indicated by the yellow icon.(Destiny 2: Shadowkeep,

Bungie, 2019)

Figure 4.1: High-tier reward drop

Figure 4.2: Low-tier reward Drop

Figure 4.3: Situation in which player has low resources i.e health, ammo, abilities, etc.

Figure 4.4: Final reward drop after the completion of an activity

6 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First, I would like to thank Professor Derek Curry and Christopher Holmgård for their advice, ​ feedback, and counseling through this entire process. Your guidance through this process helped me shape my thesis and for that, I am extremely grateful. I would also like to thank Professor

Jennifer whose valuable advice helped me shape the methodology and got me valuable data for the study. Finally, I would like to thank Professor Casper Harteveld who has been a mentor and guide for the duration of my graduate study even before I started. He believed in my potential and gave me the opportunity to pursue this path.

I would also like to thank the participants who took time out of their busy schedules to help me out. Recording the video, taking the surveys and also participating in the interview. This study would not have been possible without your contribution. Thank you for all the help and hopefully my study can improve your much loved MMORPGs in the future.

To my parents, family and friends, thank you for the support through these years and believing in me and allowing me to pursue game design as a career. To my classmates over the past 2 years, I have learned so much from you. Collaborating with you on class projects or just talking to you regarding ideas and inspirations for games has made me a better designer.

Thank you, everyone. Words cannot describe the gratitude I feel for you all. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

7 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Massive Multiplayer Role Playing Online Games (MMORPGs) are a combination of role-playing games (RPG) and Massive multiplayer online games (MMOGs) which have created online ecosystems and have millions of players interacting with one another. The fantasy world that MMORPGs create has players coming back to it every day to live their fantasies through their avatars, interact with new players and form bonds with one another (Lim, S., & Reeves, B.

2009). Early examples of such games are DragonMaul, Kingdoms, Ultima Online, and World of

Warcraft. The core mechanic of MMORPGs is to give players the avenue to strengthen their characters and change their appearance (Maggiorini, D., Nigro, A. et al. 2012). The strengthening of a character refers to increasing the level of the character which increases the health points (HP), shields or inherent armor (SP), magic or mana capacity (MP), and award players ‘skill points’. These skill points are invested by players in various traits or skills of the character commonly referred to as ‘skill trees’. Examples of skills players can invest in are intelligence, stamina, attack, defense, magic power, etc. to create various combinations of skills and traits along with weapons and armor. These combinations are called ‘Builds’. Examples of builds for a character can be investing points in increasing the attack value and leaving the defense value low. This is known as a glass cannon build. Other examples include a healer/support build, mage build, melee-based builds and so on. Another way of changing an avatar’s in-game physical appearance and prowess is by gaining in-game items such as armor and weapons. This is implemented with the help of the ‘Loot system’. This system is in charge of

8 distributing the loot among players in a fair and balanced manner. Proper design of rewards and their association with appropriate in-game activities like quests, dungeons, exploration, etc along with the frequency at which rewards drop, known as drop rates, has an impact on the player's investment in-game.

Many types of loot systems have been used since MMORPGs were first introduced. Some of the most commonly used loot systems depend on in-game points the player earns by completing activities, defeating bosses, etc.. The point-based system is known as Dragon Kill Points (DKP) and it has many variants (Maggiorini, D., Nigro, A. et al. 2012). ‘Dragon kill points’ refers to a behind-the-scenes points system maintained by the game. These points are awarded to players each time they defeat a ‘Boss’ enemy at the end of an activity. The points are used by the group leader or players themselves at the conclusion of the activity to obtain rewards. DKP and its variants are discussed in depth in Chapter 3.

For this study, we shall focus on the loot systems used in games like Destiny, Division,

Borderlands, Diablo, Anthem, Monster Hunter, Warframe, etc. which involve the use of randomness or Random Number Generation(RNG) as a basis for distribution of loot.

Randomness ensures that the frequency at which rewards drop i.e drop rate is varied. This variation affects anticipation in players and the replayability of an activity. Items also drop with either random or static combinations of traits/perks. Examples of some perks are a perk that increases damage from a weapon after a kill, grants ammo for rapidly defeating enemies, barrel

9 or magazine type on weapons, scavenging or reload perks on armor, etc. A random combination of these perks is called ‘random rolls’ and a static combination is called ‘static rolls’.

Randomness is involved in determining what perks or traits a weapon or armor has when it drops and this encourages the player to chase the ‘god roll’, an item that has the best set of perks in the game. Examples of such perks are bonus damage against certain boss tier enemies, enhanced reload speed of for a certain weapon and so on. Search for a ‘god roll’ item and the varied frequency at which rewards drop encourages players to replay a certain activity multiple times.

Figure 1.1: Example of perks on the weapon along with other details such as impact, power

level, reload speed, masterwork, etc (Destiny 2: Shadowkeep. Bungie. 2019)

10 Figure 1.2: An example of random rolls. Same weapon but different perks (indicated by the blue

icons) (Destiny 2: Shadowkeep. Bungie. 2019)

Figure 1.3: A weapon that has a static roll i.e can only drop with the same set of perks.

(Destiny 2: Shadowkeep. Bungie. 2019)

Items can either be specific to an activity with average and above-average drop rates or part of a general loot pool with below-average drop rates and they can drop from any activity. Activities that reward players items with random rolls have more favorable drop rates for rewards as compared to activities that reward players with items with a static roll. This ensures that randomness decides when a reward drops or the combination of the perks or both. As we shall see in the study, randomness increases replayability of the game and its activities, and anticipation in players when playing said activities.

Due to the unpredictability that comes with randomness, it has caused players to be vocal regarding the involvement and extent of randomness in the system. Many online forums, reviews

11 and analysis for these games are filled with feedback regarding the unfairness of such a system as but also many players attribute this randomness for encouraging them to play the game for multiple sessions. The aim of this study is to correlate player type to features of loot systems and define a framework that can help future RPG designers to incorporate features in the foundation of the game i.e designing activities, including design features such as misfortune mitigation, luck, grinding, internal rivalry, etc. that increase satisfaction for the type of player they are designing the game for.

Background

MMORPGs allow for social interaction between players through persistent and shared virtual worlds. They are complex socio-technical worlds in which players interact to have fun and develop their online avatars. Mancini, T., & Sibilla, F. (2017) showed that a player’s offline personality is closely tied to the characteristics of the avatars they create online. Interest in a game depends on the class they can choose for the characters. Having different classes in games allows the player to choose a class they either identify with or sometimes having multiple classes in a game allows players to create unique playthrough experiences each time they choose a different class. Each class has its own unique set of skills, known as a skill tree, and various combinations of skills create a unique playthrough each time. Examples of classes are Tanks, mages, supports, healers, etc.

A player’s commitment also depends on avenues the game provides the players to level up their character. This combined with multi-class system creates opportunities for developers to create

12 activities such as raids in World of Warcraft, that require players of different classes to play together. This ensures players are included in activities regardless of the class they choose.

Having multiple classes also gives rise to class-specific loot items and rare items requiring players to team up regularly to accomplish these activities as many times as possible to increase their chances of getting the rare item (Maggiorini, D., Nigro, A. 2012). If the loot systems responsible for the distribution of the rewards are not fair, it can lead to a negative reaction from the player base and may also cause players to abandon the game. An example of players abandoning a game due to an inefficient reward system was ‘Anthem’ from Bioware. Fair distribution of rewards refers to the frequency at which rewards are given to players and the characteristics or traits that the rewards have. To a player, fair distribution is an acknowledgment of their investment. As the difficulty of the activity increases, the frequency at which rewards are given to players must also increase. Players are encouraged to do difficult activities if rewards are worth the time investment.

Fair distribution of loot inspires loyalty among the player base and prevents dissatisfaction among the community (Hibbert, A. 2010). This is achieved by making sure that the frequency at which loot drops while doing an activity or activities is satisfactory for the duration of the session. If a player played a session that lasted for a few hours and had nothing to show for it, the player may feel discouraged.

Maggiorini, D., Nigro, A., et al. 2012, describes loot systems currently used by various

MMORPGs. Some of the systems described are The Council, List, Rolling, DKP, DKP variable

13 prices, etc.. Gran, E. G., & Reinemo, S. A. (2008, October) developed a variant of DKP known as Roll DKP which depends on the percentage of DKP points players have. It has a complex implementation and management but was met with positive reviews from players.

In-game items and their distribution through loot systems play a pivotal role in retaining a player base and for the health of the game (Maggiorini, D., Nigro, A. et al. 2012). In the game, items ​ ​ improve the player’s avatar and their traits. The more players invest in their characters, skills or visual appearance, the more the game is going to appeal to the player (Ripamonti, L. A., & Trubian, ​ M. 2012). MMORPGs provide players opportunities for self-representation. The way players ​ choose and manipulate their characters may change how players interact with each other. Results of Lim, S., & Reeves, B. 2009, show that players may pick the character traits and an avatar that best represents them online and this leads to greater arousal i.e better immersion for a player in the game and a better online experience in games as the reputation for players among peers increases due to the strength, visuals of their characters and in-game accomplishments through achievements ( Maggiorini, D., Nigro, A. et al. 2012). If the player has a high reputation in the ​ game, the more other players are willing to play and socialize with them. These relationships are necessary to form teams to tackle endgame content in games. These activities drop the rarest loot for players (Hibbert, A. 2010). This creates a gameplay loop where players play for better rewards, ​ ​ customize their avatars to their liking, group up with other players and tackle harder content for better rewards.

Methodology

14 Participants were first asked to complete a survey that help determine the player types. The survey chosen was developed by Quantic Foundry. The company developed the survey using social science and combined them with data to create the gamer motivation profile. The survey is open to all and results can be shared via an online link or a PDF. The results are stored by using a pseudonym for each participant. No personal information or the answers to the survey questions are recorded. The final results of the survey were shared by the participants. This included the percentile scores in each category and subcategory along with the definition for each category and subcategory.

The participant is then requested to play one activity from ‘Destiny’. Destiny was chosen for this study as its a popular game and participants could be recruited easily. There are large communities built up due to the clan system, content creators i.e streamers, youtube video creators, etc. The game also has a free-to-play base version that does not include the latest expansions but the base version gives access to the activity playlist which is needed for this study. The activity participants were asked to do is called a ‘strike’. This is an easy and short activity that the player can launch from the game’s directory. The player enters a matchmaking queue after which they are placed in a team of 3. The activity has a few unique encounters with simple mechanics that players can complete without much communication. The player records their gameplay along with a think aloud. They are asked to describe their experience and expectations when they come across loot, and when they are running low on resources such as ammo, health, ability cooldowns, etc.

15 A total of 6 participants participated in the study. Video recording was obtained via online links or sent using google drive. The video was analyzed and screenshots were taken of specific in-game scenarios. As described above, the screenshots were taken when the player came across loot or had low resources. A screenshot of the final ‘loot explosion’ that happens after completing the activity is also taken. These screenshots are used to conduct a stimulated recall interview after the video analysis. This allows me to get an account of the experience the players felt during that specific situation.

The interview consisted of 6 categories. The first 4 were specific to the screenshots obtained, the

5th category centered around the participants play habits i.e duration of game sessions, how playing with friends affected their play sessions, etc. and the final category centered around questions regarding the involvement and extent of randomness. They were also asked questions regarding features such as misfortune mitigation, their thoughts on how difficulty affected the reward drop rates and more. The full questionnaire can be found in Appendix A.

16 CHAPTER 2 DESIGN FEATURES IN MMORPGs

Let us first look at the main focus of our study, MMOs. These are the games that allow anywhere between thousands to millions of players to inhabit the game world at the same time. These games are usually managed and mediated by a large number of servers. Many types of MMOs exist such as First-person shooter, RPG or even text-based. In this study, I will be focusing on role-playing games or MMORPGs.

In these games, the players inhabit game worlds that are known as persistent worlds. They are able to interact with each other through in-game actions such as accepting quests, teaming up for activities such as dungeons and raids or through the trading of loot. They can communicate with each other using in-game chat. These interactions happen in special areas in-game called social spaces. These are usually taverns, guild halls, quest boards, etc. where players gather in large numbers. This gives rise to players forming teams or even guilds. Guilds are essentially a gathering of a large number of players playing under a common banner. Guilds are a place for new players to mingle with experienced players. This feature allows social networks to be built in the game.

All MMORPGs have the following features so as to create a memorable experience for players.

17 1. These games have the capability to allow players to drop in and out of sessions when they

want. This allows players to extend their playtime over a series of sessions rather than

burning out in just one long session.

2. Playing multiple sessions over a period of time leads to emergent gameplay and social

interactions. These interactions lead to the formation of a guild or clans. These systems

give rise to internal rivalries among players.

3. These games always try to encourage return visits. One of the ways they do this is

through events tied to the real-world such as holiday events and seasonal events.

4. Most MMORPGs have combat as its central mechanic, These can include melee combat,

weapon combat including guns, swords, and shields or a combination of both

melee-based and weapon-based combat. Characters also have abilities. These abilities

have cooldowns i.e a time period for which they cannot be used. These cooldowns can be

anywhere between seconds or minutes.

5. All MMOGs have endgame content that is typically unlocked after reaching the

maximum player level. This unlocks pinnacle activities such as PvP, raids, dungeons, etc.

Players first participate in these activities with less than optimal builds. As they gain

better weapons and armor the activity gets easier. This leads the player to a feeling of

gameplay mastery. The game also allows players to experiment with different build i.e

different weapons, armor, character traits, and the character class which all increase the

game’s replayability.

Some drawbacks of MMOGs

18 1. Balance in a game where one player’s actions affect the other and the game world as a

whole is very important. If a certain item in the game is overpowered, it may cause an

activity to be made too easy and not fun to play after a while. It may also negatively

affect other players’ experiences. MMORPGs require constant monitoring and

deployment of patches on a regular basis. But this does have the side effect of making the

game different with each pass. With the drop in the use of an item, another item may find

relevance. This could make players pursue new builds.

2. Telling a story through this medium becomes really difficult as many instances of the

game world exist at any given time. This makes maintaining thematic consistency

difficult.

MMORPGs have some common design patterns that we shall discuss in the next section. These are characteristics found in most games and lend to the ability of these games being replayable and enjoyable.

Grinding

The act of repeating simple actions over and over again or replay an activity multiple times over a period of time to either collect resources or certain items and complete short terms or long terms goals such as achievements simultaneously is called grinding. Games let players choose which activities to do from a set of possible actions. When a game requires a player to repeat certain activities either trivial or time-consuming, the primary challenge becomes to endure.

Most MMORPGs require players to include grinding an activity in almost all sessions they play.

19 Resource collecting is a simple task. It may require the player to travel a certain route each time to collect them or do a certain short quest each time to collect them. To compensate for the time consumption due to grinding, designers include features such as fast travel or having NPCs help out. The former is used to help the player avoid traversing the same route over and over again.

The latter is done in the background. For example, in Monster Hunter: World, an NPC called the biologist “grows” resources like herbs, bugs, etc. that are used by players. Designers also include achievements related to grinding. Gathering a certain number of resources or reaching a certain level may grant the player an achievement or a simple reward such as a cosmetic to improve their character’s appearance.

Designers must keep in mind that this must have a minimal impact on the player’s game session and should be a gateway to more rewarding activities such as crafting, upgrading or trading. It also teaches players resource management and gives rise to complex gameplay. It provides players with an alternative to gameplay mastery since they can invest in character development i.e increasing skill points or improving the avatar’s appearance.

Grinding is used to create repetitive gameplay. Seen as a form of labor, designers must include incentives for players to engage in such activities. It should be used with caution as it may give players the wrong impression of progress or has little to no effect on actual gameplay.

Loot

20 The reward players obtain from defeating mob type enemies commonly referred to as ‘ads’ and bosses is commonly known as loot. The rarity/value of rewards increases as you defeat stronger enemies. Rewards are also granted for finishing certain objectives, goals, and quests. Loot includes:

1. Weapons

2. Armor

3. Tools

4. Materials required for upgrading or crafting

Loot first appeared in tabletop RPGs like Dungeons and Dragons. It was commonly referred to as random treasure. This system was then adopted by digital RPG games. Examples of single-player games are The Elder Scrolls series by Bethesda, Dragon Age series and Mass

Effect Series by Bioware and multiplayer titles are Quake, Borderlands, World of Warcraft and

League of Legends.

Designers should keep 2 key points in mind while designing loot.

1. When players should receive them.

2. What they should receive

Common sources for loot are generic adversaries or ‘ads’, bosses, and end of activities. Enemies drop items when they are defeated and NPCs or the game may reward the player at the end of successfully completing a quest. Designers usually use a checklist with additional objectives in a

21 quest. Completing this may increase the chance of receiving a high tier item or more items than before or additional in-game currency.

Important aspects of loot are:

1. Randomness is a core part of the loot. If it is known in advance of completing a certain

activity it becomes similar to general resources.

2. Loot can also have a balancing effect or support narration structures.

3. Thematic consistency may influence what type of loot should be given. It can be broken

if it contains tools or weapons which could have helped players but were not used.

Loot motivates players to engage in combat or actions in-game. When players know about the potential for loot and how they are distributed, it lends to creating anticipation and stimulates gameplay planning for how to get it.

Search for loot can become discouraging as it involves players wading through a lot of unwanted loot in order to even have a chance of getting the loot they want. Loot also gives rise to several types of social interaction such as negotiation, delayed reciprocity, or betrayal (taking loot without caring for other players). Social circles may also breakdown and replaced by only the race to get better loot which gives rise to the internal rivalry which we shall discuss next.

Internal Rivalry

Internal rivalry is a conflict between players in the same social network and is dictated by the rules of said network. These types of conflicts take a long time to resolve and may sometimes be

22 impossible to end. It may also lead to involving other members of the network. This sometimes leads to the dissolution of a network as well.

Internal rivalry can rise due to the following:

1. Players may have to work together for a single objective while also working against each

other. An example is get ‘x’ clan points and get ‘y’ points to be crowned as best in a clan.

2. It can also involve loot. Players may want the same loot. These rivalries can lead to open

conflict if loot is just picked up without consultation.

3. Internal rivalry can also exist between Non-playable characters or NPCs in a player’s

party. How the player interacts with one NPC may change how another NPC interacts

with the player. This is used in many multi-path campaign stories for games such as

Dragon Age, factions in a game such as Skyrim and so on.

4. Basic requirements are to have social network features such as factions, guilds, clans, etc.

A conflict of interest will naturally rise.

5. Quests are a way to draw players into conflicts or creating incompatible goals can lead to

rivalries as well. Limited resources and sharing can also play a major role.

6. Parties: Internal rivalry can emerge due to conflicting personal goals but are held together

by diegetic social norms. Eg: members can gain individual rewards by rushing ahead. In

persistent game worlds, it evolves over time due to continued social interactions.

Internal rivalries can be resolved in the following ways:

1. The simplest way to resolve rivalries is through negotiations. It is a good way to keep

rivalries and conflicts in check.

23 2. Internal rivalry shouldn’t be resolved with negative actions such as removal of player(s)

from clan or guild, friendly fire to prevent them from gathering loot, the bias of

leadership, etc.

Social networks lead to an internal rivalry between players. As stated in Mancini, T., & Sibilla,

F. (2017) talked about the relationship between players and in-game avatars. Players spend the endgame building their perfect avatars. Internal rivalries encourage this behavior even further.

Players go through replayable activities multiple times to create avatars that are better than other players.

Misfortune Mitigation

The possibility for players to take actions or behind-the-scenes features or code that designers include that lowers the risk of misfortune for them is called misfortune mitigation. This is implemented when games have randomness involved or affecting the players.

Misfortune mitigation gives players a sense of agency over the outcome of their activities to a certain extent. The random outcome may or may not be what the player preferred but an outcome nonetheless encourages players to take several chances.

1. Having a list called a strike-list. This behind the scenes list keeps track of the loot the

player has received and strikes it off the list. This ensures that players don't get duplicates

of the same item.

24 2. Designers can also implement a system which tracks the number of unsuccessful ‘runs’

of an activity the player has done. If the number of runs exceeds a certain threshold, the

player is rewarded with an item. This allows players to feel a sense of anticipation and

reduces the feeling of unlucky.

Misfortune mitigation does not guarantee avoiding bad results. It ensures the player feels there is always a chance of getting a reward even if they run into a bad streak. It naturally affects randomness in a game. It can cause players to feel lucky when they avoid misfortune. Luck can disappear if one player’s luck is another player’s misfortune. Being able to mitigate misfortune skilfully can be seen as part of gameplay mastery for a game.

Luck

The feeling that random effects are not random but working in a player’s favor is known as luck.

This includes many events in-game that are impossible for players to control in a predictable and repeatable fashion. Players feel they can affect these outcomes either through their actions or by performing better. The game makes players feel that they are more likely to succeed. Luck is hard to explicitly design in games. It is a subjective emotion and its emergent in nature. To maximize the chances for luck to manifest during game sessions, sometimes a simple form of randomness or uncertainty of outcomes is sufficient. Risk/reward situations is also a general way of supporting luck since players can choose what to do based on how lucky they feel.

Some of the ways luck is introduced in-game:

25 1. Critical hits, attacks that do more significant damage than normal attacks often

highlighted by flashy colors or visual effects, is a way of augmenting another level of

success players can achieve.

1. Near miss indicators i.e when players dodge. Players feel lucky if they avoid being hit.

The following are the features that work against it:

1. Extra chances negate the feeling of luck. The scarcity of chances can create a feeling of

luck when players get rewards or perform an unexpected action such as dodging a fatal

attack.

2. Fixed distributions, predictable consequences, and strategic knowledge make unexpected

moments less common and in turn, decrease the feeling of luck. Players know exactly

what will happen during events and activities.

3. Misfortune mitigation can indirectly affect the presence of luck in a game. It makes

players feel lucky when they avoid misfortune i.e getting duplicate rewards, getting no

rewards for multiple attempts, etc. But if there are other characters in-game such as NPCs

or other player characters that use misfortune mitigation as well.

Luck can be an unpredictable solution to providing player agency in a game. Feeling lucky in games gives players an exaggerated perception of influence in games. Large amounts of luck can be perceived as an exceptional event. Hoping for it can create tension and anticipation in players.

The outcomes are unpredictable and more likely when perceived in actions with delayed effects.

Luck can also ruin or lessen the satisfaction of goal achievements when it allows players to achieve goals through fortunate events rather than player skill. It can eventually negate a player’s

26 need for mastery of a skill. Players may value feeling lucky over mastering certain elements of the gameplay mechanics.

A good mixture of luck makes sure the game remains unpredictable and creates moments of surprise and anticipation. It also serves as a tool of encouragement for players to continue trying to get a certain reward. Luck in MMORPGs plays a massive role in creating replayable moments for players.

Encouraging Return Visits

Game structures that makes players return to certain places or activities in the game over several game sessions are used for encouraging players to return to the game multiple times. Some games cannot be finished in one game session. This may risk players not returning to the game.

Hence games must have certain gameplay mechanics that encourage players to return and players aided in deciding when they wish to return. Examples include activities that take a certain amount of time to complete such as crafting, harvesting, growing, etc. These are timed with the real world. The objects that correspond to these are only activated after a certain period of time. There is also a time limit within which players must collect their rewards. Persistent game worlds of games such as World of Warcraft, Destiny, League of Legends, Division, etc. have certain quests and items only available at a certain time for a limited duration. These are timed with real-world events.

27 Encouraging return visit game structures assumes that players will return to a game after they leave and join back when they wish to. The game would have drop-in/drop-out features that are implemented with the help of a persistent game world. These games must have a consistent number of players. Hence, it used predominantly in MMORPGs.

Several different ways exist to encourage players to return.

1. Give rewards for returning at certain intervals of time.

2. Increasing rewards for each consecutive visit. It can be done through a streak that keeps

track of the daily bonus. The intervals should be long enough such that players have

enough time in the real world.

3. Regenerating resources are another solution that makes players return to the game after a

time interval and also helps plan their game session.

4. Having events tied to real-world events is another option for encouraging players to

return. Players must wait for certain real-world events to happen for the events to start in

the game world. Examples include events tied to festivals and seasonal changes.

5. In persistent game worlds, there are 3 options:

a. Evolving rule sets helps designers add, remove or modify existing rules of the

game world. This makes the players come back to the game regularly to make

sure they keep up or be disadvantaged.

b. Actions and events have long enough delayed effects. These effects are not

noticeable during one play session such as harvesting or crafting.

c. They support actions that can cause delayed reciprocity. Players may return to see

if their actions are rewarded. These actions include examples such as helping a

28 player. The other player may send a ‘gift’ reward and can be received by the

player on a later date. Hence, the player must wait to see if they receive a reward

and this is called delayed reciprocity. This can also be implemented with NPCs

through quests.

These game structures lend to encourage grinding as well. Many of the modern-day MMORPGs use these design principles to keep a healthy player population for the game. If these structures are not tuned properly or are irregular, they may dissuade players more than encourage them.

Return visits are the backbone of persistent game worlds and should be finely tuned for the game to hold on to their audience.

Evolving Rule Sets

The way players interact with the world and the interaction between different objects in games define the rule set of a game. These can include gameplay mechanics, launching activities, or even how weapons, armor and skills are used with respect to the game world. These rules change with time. They are either modified or removed as time goes by through updates and expansions.

In this case, the game is said to have an evolving ruleset. They are two different time scales:

1. During game instances: By completing an activity, the player unlocks a new skill or

weapon. This changes how they interact with the world going forward

2. Between game instances: Through major updates and expansions. This can include the

addition of activities, changing the damage values on a gun, changing other characteristic

29 information such as increasing the extra damage a gun does on an enemy from 10% to

15% and so on.

Some changes affect gameplay while others affect the state of the world. Examples of these games include World of Warcraft, League of Legends, Destiny, Division, Borderlands, etc.

These games change when players are playing the game and this can sometimes cause friction between players or between players and the understanding of the game.

An evolving rule set automatically provides varying rules sets but does not allow back and forth between sets. This helps the game provide the player with varied gameplay because the rules change to accommodate player balance or modify gameplay more radically by adding or removing player abilities. New rule sets are also added through the addition of events that coincide with real-world events. It also changes the player’s existing knowledge of the game affecting their existing strategies. For persistent game worlds, they can change how players explore and interact with the world. This gives rise to complex gameplay. It also ensures that players have to constantly evolve and master new skills i.e improve their skills to match the change in difficulty these changes caused.

These rule sets make sure the world the players inhabit is ever-changing. This encourages the player to play the game for multiple sessions as they try to master new skills and gain more knowledge on the game. This keeps the world fresh and increases the number of ways players can improve their experience in the game.

30 CHAPTER 3

LOOT SYSTEMS

In this chapter, we shall briefly discuss the various types of loot systems used in MMORPGs.

First, we shall look at the loot systems described and extensively researched in Maggiorini, D.,

Nigro, A., Ripamonti, L. A., & Trubian, M. 2012, July. These systems were used in early games such as World of Warcraft, Dragon Quest and more. The loot systems are as follows:

1. Council: In this type of loot system, the player group is divided into a hierarchy

consisting of a leader, a council, and the rest of the group. The leader and the council

decide how the rewards are distributed among the players.

2. Rolling: This loot system decides the distribution of rewards through a roll of dice. The

roll is combined with the total number of points the player has accumulated during the

activity. Points can refer to the number of enemies defeated or accomplishments

achieved.

3. List: A simple distribution system with a first come first serve basis.

4. Suicide Kings: The same principle for distribution as a list but players have the option to

refuse or accept.

5. Dragon Kill Points: Players acquire points with in-game by defeating boss class enemies

in a team focused activities such as raid. These activities require players to work together

to defeat a strong enemy and involves many complex in-game mechanics. The boss drops

only a limited amount of rewards. The players can choose to use the points they have

accumulated to obtain the item the boss drops or save points for the item they need.

31 6. Dragon Kill Points with Auction: Players use the DKP they have collected to bid on

items they want. The winning bid takes the item.

7. Dragon Kill Points with Zero-sum: The player spends their points to buy an item. These

points are then redistributed among the remaining players.

8. Dragon Kill Points with Variable prices: Prices for rewards are determined by the

relevant percentage of players involved in addition to the total points.

9. Dragon Kill Points with Relational List: Order for the list is calculated on the basis of the

ratio between gained and spent points. This gives the occasional player a fair opportunity

to participate in loot distribution.

10. Dual Token: Pair of non-cumulative tokens is spent and the winner is chosen at random.

These systems have been used in many early MMORPGs such as EverQuest and Dungeons and

Dragons. The loot systems used in many modern-day MMORPGs are based on Random number generation. Rewards drop after activities with random frequency. They also have a random combination of traits or perks that decide if the reward is satisfactory or not. Now we shall take a look at how current MMORPGs are structured.

In the early parts of the game, the player must first level up their character to the max level available. This includes doing story and side missions. Items are divided into various tiers depending on rarity and the traits they can drop. The tiers are as follows along with examples:

32 1. Common

FIgure 3.1: A common class item indicated by the white icon (Destiny 2: Shadowkeep.

Bungie. 2019)

These items have low perk ratings as seen in the image. The item also looks basic and sometimes worn down. Common tier items are first used by the player during the introductory and initial leveling process. These do not affect the gameplay or the avatar greatly and helps the player familiarize themselves with the basic gameplay mechanics.

2. Rare

Figure 3.2: A rare tier item as indicated by the blue icon (Destiny 2: Shadowkeep. Bungie. 2019)

33 This tier of items have better perk values as seen in the image. The appearance also gets an upgrade. These are given to the player during the latter half of the game when the player is more accustomed to the game. At this stage the player is playing with the idea of a simple build and try out different abilities and fine tune them with the help of better gear. This tier of gear also allows them to access harder content, typically side missions that can give bonus rewards.

3. Legendary

Figure 3.3: A legendary tier item as indicated by the purple icon.(Destiny 2:Shadowkeep,

Bungie, 2019)

These items are usually accessed by players near the end of the game and in the endgame activities such as raids. Legendary tier has some of the best looking gear in the game. From vibrant colors to impressive stats. Players spend most of their time hunting for that perfect piece of gear, either a piece of armor or a weapon. They are also more comfortable with the gameplay mechanics and try to use various combinations of these high end gear in making builds.

34 4. Exotic

Figure 3.4: An exotic tier item as indicated by the yellow icon.(Destiny 2:Shadowkeep, Bungie,

2019)

Exotic items are unique items and have a one of a kind perk associated with them. This perk cannot be obtained on any other piece of gear. As shown in the above image, the unique perk is

‘Strange Protractor’. The visuals on the gear are also unique. This tier of gear hsa significant effect on gameplay. Some affect how you reload weapons, while some may affect how you traverse the game world or interact with the game world in general. They allow players to create unique and personalized builds if they so wished to make.

Many games these days use the above tier system with slight variations in the color used to indicate the tier. For example, in the above images, purple is used for legendary tier gear in

Destiny while the orange is used in Borderlands 3 to indicate legendary tier. Each game has its own color indication system but the tier list remains the same.

35 With an increase in the tier, the reward increases in rarity and efficacy. Better traits that make the avatar of the player stronger. The first 2 tiers of items drop during the initial leveling of the avatar. They help the player progress through the early parts of the game. Designers make the tiers drop at different points of leveling when an increase in survivability through armor and lethality through weapons is needed i.e as the difficulty of missions and activities increases, the tier of the rewards also increases. An increase in tier also includes an increase in the number of perks and traits the rewards have.

The endgame of an MMORPG starts when the player has completed the major story missions.

The player now attempts end game activities such as raids, dungeons, etc. Players spend most of their game sessions playing these activities and grinding these activities to get new weapons and armor. They use the new gear to improve their avatar’s power and attempt harder activities. This is a continuous cycle of getting gear, playing harder activities to get better gear.

The problem lies in the basic design of such activities. The designers must decide the difficulty, the tier of loot associated and most importantly, how the reward(s) are given to players. This can be either through random drops or through in-game achievements for that activity. Features such as luck, misfortune mitigation etc. must also be fine tuned for the target audience’s liking. Too much randomness may cause players to go without rewards for too long or too little may cause payers to get rewards they need much quicker and abandon the game as they see no point in continuing further if they already have the items they want. This study will try to show which features needs tuning depending on the player type. Each activity may cater to a different player

36 type and they may like different approaches to how it is designed and how the features listed above are implemented. I hope that by better defining these parameters, designers are able to build a strong foundation for the game.

37 CHAPTER 4

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The study focused on trying to find if there is any correlation between player types i.e gamer’s personality type. After analyzing each player’s playthrough videos along with their think aloud and the post-session stimulated recall interview the following data was obtained.

First, the following is a table that includes the scores each participant got in each section of the survey. The survey was developed by Quantic Foundry. Its a survey that can be taken online, free of cost and the results can be shared either via a link or PDF. This survey was developed using social science combined with data obtained to create gamer motivation profiles. The survey gives the participants scores in various categories as listed in the table below. Each category is then divided into various subcategories. Definitions and explanations for categories and subcategories is provided in the legend below.

Participant # Action Social Mastery Achievement Creativity Immersion

1 E:86 Co:95 Ch:72 Cm:59 Di:56 Fa:77 St:58 D:71 Cu:80 S:36 Po:36 De:41 T:70 T: 83 T: 93 T: 56 T:48 T:48

2 E:76 Co:71 Ch:83 Cm:98 Di:56 Fa:15 St:70 D:34 Cu:92 S:65 Po:66 De:83 T:40 T: 56 T:87 T:79 T:95 T:76

3 E:86 Co:38 Ch:83 Cm:93 Di:39 Fa:86 St:71 D:46 Cu:86 S:79 Po:92 De:25 T:82 T:70 T:65 T:86 T:96 T:28

4 E:75 Co:91 Ch:91 Cm:58 Di:14 Fa:24 St:32 D:61 Cu:77 S:47 Po:72 De:52 T:25 T:71 T:89 T:78 T:67 T:28

5 E:97 Co:92 Ch:94 Cm:70 Di:71 Fa:37 St:81

38 D:97 Cu:95 S:95 Po:89 De:72 T:63 T:99 T:96 T:97 T:84 T:76

6 E:86 Co:80 Ch:60 Cm:70 Di:14 Fa:64 St:89 D:82 Cu:92 S:35 Po:62 De:35 T:82 T:87 T:90 T:48 T:70 T:19 Table 4.1: Participant survey data (All numbers are in percentile)

Legend:

E: Excitement D: Destruction Co: Competition Cu: Community

Ch: Challenge S: Strategy Cm: Completion Po: Power

Di: Discovery De: Design Fa: Fantasy St: Story

T: Total

Players were shown the following type of screenshots from their own gameplay.

Figure 4.1: High-tier reward drop

Regarding what players expect from high tier rewards (see Figure 4.1), the answers ranged from wanting to be surprised to wanting specific items. Participants 1 and 5 wanted items that would help them in getting an edge over other players in competitive environments such as PvP. They

39 looked for specific rewards such as gear with high stats, a specific archetype of weapons that they prefer, traits on weapons or armor that helped them in a PvP situation, etc. These two participants scored high in categories that indicate they like the competitive aspect of the game(excitement and destruction). Participants 3, 4 and 6 said they were really excited when they received high tier rewards. They believed that these rewards would help them to strengthen their characters which would allow them to venture further in the game by tackling higher difficulty content. Participant 6 noted that getting a weapon or armor piece they didn’t have really excited them. Participant 3 scored high in the immersion category, especially in the fantasy aspect of a game. They indicated that having high gear allows them to explore more of the game world, progress through the game’s story and discover hidden lore. Participant 4 wanted the rewards to help their avatar grow in power evident with their high score in the power subcategory. Participant 2 indicated that they felt very little excitement when coming across high tier loot. Gear for them had to be unique enough that it would alter their gameplay style and make the game more fun from time to time. They would also collect as many different combinations of traits for the same weapon(s) and felt that this difference would change how they play the game with a weapon (high score in the sub-category, completion).

Participants indicated they wanted specific rewards fitting their playstyle i.e exploration (from completing difficult activities and unlocking more of the game world), PvP, gameplay mastery through endgame activities such as raids, and so on. But they believed being surprised was a good thing. They all averaged a 3 on the rating scale when it came to excitement over high tier gear.

40

Figure 4.2: Low-tier reward Drop

In regards to low tier drops, participants did not feel much excitement when they came across this loot drop. Participants felt low tier gear was more of a stepping stone during the early parts of the game used to quickly run through the majority of the story campaign of the game.

Participants unanimously stated that this tier of loot lost relevance once the player entered the endgame. Most saw this gear as a source for in-game materials such as ‘weapon’ or ‘armor’ parts they can obtain via dismantling them or selling them. Later they would use these items to craft or buy better gear. Participant 3 had a unique take. They believed low tier gear can be used by other characters the player creates to accelerate that character’s progression. Participant 6 indicated that after a point even dismantling to get materials has a limit since after a while you have more than enough of it. Participant 1 indicated that even blue armor had relevance for them since they sometimes had unique stats that would help them in PvP. They had a very low score with respect to power but very high in terms of destruction that may explain their inclination. For other participants, this emotion of indifference towards low tier gear can be explained by the high score in the power sub-category.

41

The participants felt that low tier gear in end game only played the part of being a resource generator that they could use to get better gear either through purchase or crafting. Most saw them as stepping stones to be used to quickly go through the main campaign of the game while some competitive players saw the unequal distribution of values in perks as a way to make fun builds.

Figure 4.3: Situation in which player has low resources i.e health, ammo, abilities, etc.

When participants 1,2,3,4, and 6 were running low on resources such as health, ammo, etc. they played cautiously. They would scour the environment for cover to shoot from, resources on the ground that they could pick up such as ammo pack or health packs. Participant 6 had a very low score in the strategy section but preferred to play cautiously in low resource situations. But participant 5 indicated that they like taking risks. When asked what they would have done in this situation, they stated that they would use abilities or weapons that would cause a lot of damage in

42 a short amount of time. This participant scored in the 97 percentile in the destruction category and this may explain their behavior. Participant 2, scored high in the challenge subcategory, and stated that for low difficulty activities such as exploring the game world or doing simple quests, they would play carelessly. But when it came to difficult activities such as raids, they would approach each encounter with caution and make sure their resources are adequate. This may be explained by their scores in the mastery category.

Participants stated that their approach to an encounter or activity depended on the difficulty.

Most of them scored higher in the challenge subcategory over strategy. One could infer that they lean more into tackling challenging content with a proper strategy in place beforehand. These strategies may include some they have come up with or strategies that other well known players have made.

Figure 4.4: Final reward drop after the completion of an activity

43 In regards to the moment when loot dropped (as seen in figure 4.4) at the end of an activity in the game, participants were asked how they felt when they witnessed this ‘explosion’ of loot and how they felt about randomness in the game. Many of them liked the explosion of the loot. It made them really curious regarding the rewards they may get. But the level of excitement would go down as soon as they realized the rewards were below expectations. Participants also stated that they look for activity-specific rewards if that is a possibility. All participants’ discovery subcategory scores were on the low end with only a few scoring above 50. This may explain why participants have a quick drop in excitement.

Players were also asked if they felt either performance or randomness should determine when players get rewards. Participants stated their opinions for both extremes. They agreed that a lot of randomness would result in players not getting a reward for their time investment and if players were rewarded based solely on performance it may lock lower-skilled players from certain rewards. They believed a healthy mixture of both would result in a fair system as a random drop rate would contribute to replayability and taking performance into account may encourage players to continue to grind the game

The interview covered a few other general questions regarding the participants’ thoughts on features such as misfortune mitigation, internal rivalry, the player’s ability to adjust difficulty that in turn would modify the drop rate of rewards and their general play session.

44 With regards to their general playtime, participants averaged between 2-6 hours. They played more over holidays and weekends. Participants 2,3,5 and 6 plan their regular game sessions while participants 1 and 4 either played activities depending on the time they had or played when they felt like playing. Participants 6,3 and 5 felt that the game in general helped them in planning their session. Many MMORPGs have certain activities locked either by having a requirement i.e do another activity before you unlock the one you want to do or depending on the power level of the reward. Players usually gravitated towards doing activities that granted low-level gear and then moved onto activities that granted more powerful gear. This helped them efficiently level up their characters. Participant 2 stated that they would play the activities that their friends played i.e join their friends if they are available during that session. If not, they would play with a specific plan in mind i.e, do a specific quest or as stated above, do activities in order of weakest rewards to strongest. The participants felt that internal rivalry didn’t affect their play sessions. They did not like competing with their friends for loot. They preferred playing with their friends rather than against them. Participant 5 did state that they do try and get an item, that both players wanted before them as a way of stating they reached the finish line before they did. This is quite evident when we look at their scores with respect to the competitive subcategory. Other participants scored high in community subcategory which indicates that they preferred collaborating with friends over competing with them. They did however like competing against other players.

Players believed misfortune mitigation played a vital role in keeping the reward system fair.

Going for hours on end without a reward can cause frustration for players and the participants

45 agreed but cautioned that it must not give players a false sense of accomplishment if its too much of a factor in determining the drop rate. This would defeat the objective of gameplay mastery.

Participants scored high in the mastery category and hence this line of reasoning makes sense.

At the end of the interview, players were asked whether they would do an easy activity, that takes a short time with a very low drop rate for reward(s) or do a hard activity, that takes a long time but has a good drop rate for reward(s).

Participants 1 and 2 answered that they would like to play harder content because of its challenging nature but they want to be more efficient with their time. The harder content gives better rewards but easier and shorter activities are time efficient if they have a limited game session. This line of reasoning can be explained partly by the score of challenge and strategy subcategories. This player likes a challenge but would like to strategize as well to be more efficient.

Participants 4 and 5 stated that they liked really challenging content. They would quickly lose interest in easy and short activities. These participants scored high in excitement and challenging subcategories. Challenging activities test the players and they revel in the difficulty of the activity. Participant 6 stated that they would like to do challenging content as the reward is more satisfying. But if they do not get rewards in a few tries, they prefer switching to easier content so that they walk away from the session with some rewards rather than empty-handed.

46 The above section shows that there is preliminary evidence that supports this study. Participants indicated the features they liked and why. By looking at their scores, we can infer that participants reacted in the way did due to their player type. The results and their implications are summarized in the next chapter.

47 CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSION

This study found preliminary evidence to support the study. There is a correlation between player types and features of MMORPGs such as grinding, misfortune mitigation, internal rivalry and randomness. Players were true to their personality types when it came to some features while for others they behaved in the opposite way. I suggest either using or developing a better player model. The Quantic Foundry model was used for convenience and since the scope of the study was limited, the gamer motivation profile was sufficient.

With regard to feeling powerful, players expected rewards to drop at a consistent rate. They wanted to get rewards that matched their playstyle but also hoped that the drop rate respected their playtime. Due to this, they felt like behind the scenes features like misfortune mitigation and the player’s ability to adjust the drop rates indirectly through either changing the difficulty of the activity or through in-game items such as runes that increase the drop rate or make sure a certain reward i.e weapon or armor drops.

One of the most important features of the game is the random frequency at which rewards drop at the end of an activity. In my study, I found that this encouraged players to return to activities several times hoping to get the reward they want. The participants indicated that they liked this feature in moderation. Too much would discourage them and too little would not be enough reason to play the content several times. This was in line with their mastery score. Players indicated they wanted to feel that they have made progress in the game and this is measured by

48 players through their avatar’s power. Having to go too long between drops, caused players’ avatars to stagnate and this discouraged players. They hoped that the system would improve and not entirely depend on random drop rates but also take into account their performance in an activity.

In conclusion, there is preliminary evidence that some features strongly resonate with player types and others don’t. If designers have knowledge regarding this correlation, we believe that the foundation they lay while designing the game’s activities, designing armor and weapons, and other factors, the game will have a good base to improve on rather than incremental changes through expansions and updates over the life cycle of the game. Many games these days fail to take into account what players like or dislike but also the why behind them. With further study, a deeper analysis of the players’ personality, and linking it to more design features not investigated in this study that are being used by the developers of a particular game, the development of the game can begin on the right foot.

49 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Andrew, S.F. (2010). The Guild leader’s Handbook Strategies and guidance from a ​ battle-scarred MMO veteran. No Starch Press. ​ Bartle, R. (1996). Hearts, clubs, diamonds, spades: Players who suit MUDs. Journal of MUD ​ ​ Research, 1(1), 19.

Björk, S. (2019, August 8). Game Design Pattern Wikipedia. Retrieved from ​ ​ http://virt10.itu.chalmers.se/index.php/Main_Page . ​ Chen, C. H., Sun, C. T., & Hsieh, J. (2008). Player guild dynamics and evolution in massively ​ multiplayer online games. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 11(3), 293-301. ​ De Felice, D., Granato, M., Ripamonti, L. A., Trubian, M., Gadia, D., & Maggiorini, D. (2017).

Effect of Different Looting Systems on the Behavior of Players in an MMOG: Simulation

with Real Data. In eHealth 360° (pp. 110-118). Springer, Cham. ​ Destiny 2: Shadowkeep. Bungie. 2019.

Gran, E. G., & Reinemo, S. A. (2008, October). Dragon kill points: Loot distribution in ​ MMORPGs. In Proceedings of the 7th ACM SIGCOMM Workshop on Network and

System Support for Games (pp. 100-101). ACM.

Hibbert, A. (2010). Fair Game: An Anthropological Study of the Negotiation of Fairness in ​ World of Warcraft. ​ Hurwicz, L. (1973). The design of mechanisms for resource allocation. The American Economic ​ Review, 63(2), 1-30.

Lim, S., & Reeves, B. (2009). Being in the game: Effects of avatar choice and point of view on

psychophysiological responses during play. Media Psychology, 12(4), 348-370. ​

50

Maggiorini, D., Nigro, A., Ripamonti, L. A., & Trubian, M. (2012, July). Loot Distribution in ​ Massive Online Games: Foreseeing impacts on the player base. In Computer

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Maggiorini, D., Nigro, A., Ripamonti, L. A., & Trubian, M. (2012, September). The Perfect ​ Looting System: Looking for a Phoenix?. In Computational Intelligence and Games (CIG),

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Mancini, T., & Sibilla, F. (2017). Offline personality and avatar customization. Discrepancy

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Yee, N., Ducheneaut, N. (2019). Gamer Motivational Model. Quantic Foundry. Retrieved from ​ ​ https://quanticfoundry.com/#motivation-model. ​ Yee, N. (2005). Motivations of play in MMORPGs. ​ ​

51 APPENDIX A

Link to Quantic Foundry survey: https://apps.quanticfoundry.com/surveys/start/gamerprofile/ ​ If the survey results are required, please contact the author.

Interview Questions: Category 1 (For screenshot 1): When a high tier loot drops from an enemy 1. Describe how it felt? 2. On a scale of 1-5, 1 being least excited to 5 being very excited, what would you rate in relation to the gear you already have? 3. What are you looking for in the drop? Category 2 (For screenshot 2): When a low tier drops from an enemy 4. Describe how it felt? 5. On a scale of 1-5, 1 being least excited to 5 being very excited, what would you rate in relation to the gear you already have? 6. When does low tier loot lose its relevance? Category 3 (For screenshot 3): When resources such as health, ammo etc. are running low? 7. What do you feel? 8. What are you planning and what resources are you looking for? How does it affect your gameplay? 9. Does an encounter affect which resources you want? Category 4 (For screenshot 4): Final loot drop i.e at end of activity 10. What are you looking for in the drop? How does it compare to your expectations? Category 5: Questions regarding their play sessions 11. How long do your game sessions last? 12. Do you plan your session and does the game help you in planning or do you play as you go? 13. Does internal rivalry affect your play session and plans? Category 6: Questions regarding randomness in loot system 14. To which extent should randomness be included? 15. To what extent should misfortune mitigation be included? 16. How does having control on drop rate feel? 17. Would you prefer doing an activity that is hard, takes a long time but has a good drop rate or doing an activity that is easy, takes a short time but has below average drop rate

Interview Transcripts

Participant 1: Answer 1: Well, basically not expect it to be more than a one-point upgrade. As I am close to the level cap. After the activity, I saw what energy stat it rolled with

Answer 2: Well, probably a 3

52

Answer 3: Well, since I mainly like playing PVP I am looking for high recovery stats and void affinity since it allows me to use HC and shotguns.

Answer 4: Well, the way they have set up is that the blue can give you power bump. I don’t even look at it till later on. It’s just a blue drop. I infuse it into another piece for the bump in power

Answer 5: Id say 2

Answer 6: They do. But some pieces of gear have crazy stat rolls. So they do have some relevance, but putting energy back into them you don’t have many mod slots so its not the greatest thing to do. It depends on what u play. If you play PVP u may like better stat rolls over mod slots.

Answer 7: I would probably go for the melee. You get an over shield on kill., I am bit scared hoping not to miss any shots and kill this guy

Answer 8: So, if I am running low on health and stuff like that, I scour the environment so I don’t miss any ammo before I go into an encounter

Answer 9: Yesh, so if u are playing the subclass that I am, so I can get a damage buff. So if I go into a boss encounter I see if I have a super over ammo so I can buff my teammates over the ammo. I value that over the other

Answer 10: Well, let’s see since this a regular strike, I am looking for a strike specific armor or weapon but there are a few resources that have dropped along with the blues. Not gonna be too valuable. That drop was kinda worse off one of that chest

Answer 11: Delete all the blues and get glimmer out of them and for legendary check them out and dismantle them into resources Answer 12: I will play for like 3 hours or so. If holidays I will double that

Answer 13: Yeah. I play as I can. As time allows me.

Answer 14:

53 it doesn’t affect it too much tbh

Answer 15: I like the idea of rng. It makes the game replayable. A lot of RNG is good. But the reward has to be good. RNG should def be a top priority

Answer 16: So, getting no drops is bad. You should get some reward after an activity. Keep it to stat package or rolls they get. They should have that in-game. That way you don’t feel like your time was wasted

Answer 17: That should always be a thing. Increasing difficulty. Like diablo. Upping the difficulty increases gold, exp, and chances of getting a reward

Answer 18: In terms of farming for loot, in that case, I will always look at what is efficient. It depends on how the mechanics are set up. I prefer to do hard ones to get a better chance. But sometimes, the easy one you can do more. I would look at which is more effective and rewarding.

Participant 2: ​ Answer 1: Well, I think there is a distinction between prime and legendary. Legendary will decrypt themselves, granting an item on the spot. Prime is decrypted later. For high tier like prime engrams, those I will pay attention to and I am hopeful. If it was low tier, I know more often than not it's not useful. With prime, I know its something useful or something I didn’t have stat-wise or different weapons or different rolls

Answer 2: I would rate that a 3. I feel like there is some anticipation that is something good. Its not really my main focus when I am playing the game. While it is good to get a good drop or piece of loot. I don’t get overly excited. I don’t put too much value in that itself. If something does drop, I can use something different something useful, that is fun, but I am generally not that excited.

Answer 3: In a game like destiny, pretty indifferent. Those kinds so loots or resources, are easily obtainable. There is very low or no excitement.

Answer 4: For a game like destiny, it loses its relevance, the higher your level. Generally what happens is these loot drops are more impactful when you are leveling up. When you power up or level up past a level it becomes obsolete.

Answer 5:

54 So in an activity like a strike, especially if its the regular strike. I tend not to worry much about it. I use them bounties. I have a carefree and careless approach to them. I use things that are not effective but make it different. If its like abilities, there are some abilities that are just fun to use them. If it’s an endgame activity, I am more cognizant of what I am doing when and what I am using, in order to optimize the experience.

Answer 6: I would say I generally look around to find more resources. Primary is more free-flowing so I don’t worry about that too much. I try to scavenge for resources before an encounter unless I am doing a high-end activity. I am not that worried, I know I can find resources in the next arena. If I don’t I think when is a good time to use my heavy ammo and when to conserve it. It depends on the type of activity and difficulty. In harder activities I try to micromanage and cognizant to how I use resources.

Answer 7: To be honest, I am hoping for something I don’t already have. It necessarily not a different weapon or armor piece. Different useable rolls. Be stats rolls or weapon rolls. I am looking for something that is exciting to use. I tend to hold on for more loot in the inventory on the off chance I want to use it in the future. If its a weapon I already have but a different combination of perks and use it a later date and see if I can have fun. Of course there is always that excitement that the highest tier loot. I consider myself a collector. There is still that excitement that what is this drop and what I can get.

Answer 8: Performance-Based? There have been points where I have been playing, I have leaned between both extremes. Now I am in the middle. The game rewards you for playing. But I have not gotten a loot that is tied to a specific activity and I as a veteran have not gotten it but other newcomers that I have helped have gotten it. There are moments where it can be frustrating. It could be a challenge to implement it fairly. The correlation between performance and the reward you get. If u are not strong players u are locked out of certain loot. It would not motivate somebody to play the game. You also have hardcore dedicated players who are very efficient at high-level activities, they may not get the loot because of rng. This is a very difficult predicament and designers have to tackle properly. Destiny may not be perfect, it is more appealing to both sides. There is a sort of balance, you have a shot of getting loot.

Answer 9: Between 14-20 hours a week.

Answer 10: I plan my game session, I should say I don’t plan them well. If I do a specific plan, I tend to play more socially. So, what I mean is. I get online and gravitate towards what my friends are doing. What I want to do takes a back seat. If I am by myself. I usually plan out what I want to do. Do that and call it a day.

Answer 11:

55 I don’t have a rivalry when playing with friends. My approach is, I am always trying to improve myself and fun with that. I don’t pay attention to try and be better than my friends. I do take pride in performing better than my friends. My general outlook is improving my skills and having fun. If I am not having fun I am not motivated for that session.

Answer 12: I think it depends on the game. And the general sort of themes the developer is going for. In MMORPGs, u do need that randomness. It plays a big role. Its good to have random rolls. There needs to be a very thoughtful approach to how rewards are given out. If the frequency is very low, it doesn’t motivate players to play. Certain activities need to have certain rewards. I don’t like static rolls unless exotics that have unique perks that make them unique. Ritual weapons have static rolls but they are curated such that you have a choice between 4 perks you can interchange. I like this approach. It puts the dev in a predicament, they have to pick perks that are good but not game-breaking. I like that idea but same time I feel like they are setting themselves up for failure. Games would benefit that have a clearly laid out reward system, Drop rates cant be too high or too low. Random gives replayability and makes players chase after thins. It gives them hope and excitement that they can find something new. On the flip side, they made these activities made them really enjoyable if the rewards are good or bad could motivate players regardless. These games should have some level of randomness. The developers should keep in mind the quality of the loot. If they like the loot and come back or leave.

Answer 13: It ties into the initial drop rate. If it has a specific loot attached to it, if the drop rate is too low, it makes sense for them to put in some level of player determination. Performance increases drop rate. If it’s too low, they may not want to play. If its too high, they may not play after getting the reward. If you did, a specific amount of runs, you would get a drop after 4 runs. They had to implement systems that allowed players to decide what they wanted to go for. There needs to be that system where the player is helped in the event that the player is unfortunate in getting the loot they are going for. It should not be too forgiving. There should be some control so that players know they are guaranteed to get something in a certain number of tries. Performance may be a good factor. It may not be needed if the dev can figure out the balance better reward and drop rate.

Answer 14: It depends on the player. How much time they have? If u have two hours and the master nightfall takes one hour. That two chances. If its lower level, you can speed run it and have more chances. It also depends on if you are feeling up to being challenged. If you can be careless as you want to be. If I wanted to casual experience. It really depends on multiple factors. There is time. Do u want to be challenged? Or have a casual time. It depends on the social aspect. Do I have friends who want to join me? Do they want to try these difficult activities? If I had to pick, I would go for the harder as it’s satisfying on many levels. Its more satisfying and have a higher chance of getting a reward. Its the prestige of finishing the harder difficult rather than mindlessly going through activities.

Participant 3: ​

56 Answer 1: Curious. when I am leveling, I am more inclined to be excited. In shadow keep u get a lot of blue gear. It’s exciting to get legendary. Better gear better stats. Focusing on item level and item stats. I feel excited to level up your character to get better stats. The more powerful you are there is more to discover. Better lore and story. Better customization.

Answer 2: Probably about a 4

Answer 3: Generally I am looking for a specific stat relevant to my character needs to progress through the game. Varies per game. Some are more critical and more focused and difficult to grind than others.

Answer 4: Generally unexcited. Its more like you get materials from that. It’s more of a management kind of thing. Use that gear to level up other characters. Mundae act of monitoring than exciting.

Answer 5: A 2

Answer 6: If you focus on a single character, they lose their value they cease to offer value towards character stats. They do not offer tangible rewards, components, materials. Most gear can be dismantled or sold.

Answer 7: Generally I have to be more cautious. I have to be more concerned about how I am moving. For this instance, it was respawned restricted moment. In a group setting, I have to be more of the surroundings, I have to be more cautious. I need to have broad awareness. Keeping the group alive and progressing through the activity.

Answer 8: The first thing I look for is cover and means to get health back. And then once I get health I choose how to engage enemies. Hide or kill enemies. Get ammo. Take stock and assess my inventory and cooldowns and finding where I am. I am at point a and how do I get to point b

Answer 9: Yes. an event will dictate the resources I am looking for. In the endgame, it becomes repetitive. Level or whatever it is your grinding. For. in that mind you know what’s needed. I would say it is, depends on the game. In ffxiv, support type of resource like mp to keep group members alive. It’s about mp control. In destiny, it would be around the ammo. Power ammo to quickly gun down enemies any ability resources are the primary thing.

Answer 10:

57 I get excited. The explosion of rewards. The identifying names. With this particular event, it quickly loses its relevance as its blues. More broadly, end rewards, it’s generally exciting. It’s mysterious as there is a general explosion of rewards. Pending on the value or reads it fluctuates depending on the possibility of rewards.

Answer 11: I spend 2-4 hours on weekdays on weekends, i will spend most of the day if I have nothing else going on. Its the default kinda thing.

Answer 12: There is a little bit of planning. Locked by daily and weekly activities. Those kinds of dictate what to play. It is good to knock out all this stuff. It leaves you to do stuff later on.

Answer 13: Generally depending on the game. For those ones, in terms of stats. How much damage, healing is done. Its good to see higher numbers as compared to players.

* Additional answers were lost due to loss of recording data for the interview.

Participant 4: Answer 1: I guess I feel good I guess. I guess I just want to see if it’s good. If I can progress and get better stuff.

Answer 2: Probably 4

Answer 3: I am looking to see if its a higher level than the gear I have currently. Maybe stats. Seeing if it has some hidden perk like more damage, better reload.

Answer 4: I guess, I guess like whatever. I don’t really care that much. But I am curious to see if it higher level than the one I already have. I am still gonna be curios but mainly looking for legendary

Answer 5: Probably 3

Answer 6: Probably at the end game. If its destiny, probably endgame. For other games it depends. So, for like loot systems like this, borderlands, they also have a tier list for rarity. Goes from white to orange legendary. Blue is kinda where u wanna start looking at. They can be good. It’s definitely good to look at them. But in destiny blues are good in mid-game but endgame they lose their value

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Answer 7: Feels good. Ready to take on whatever they throw at me. Maybe I have to play safer than I usually would

Answer 8: You know. It’s gonna force me to play safer than I am used to. If I had my abilities up, I would rely more on them. And scan the world for ammo

Answer 9: So it depends. If its smaller enemies, not looking for resources, as they are easy to take down. But for bosses and stuff, I will try to save more ammo for the fight.

Answer 10: I guess I am just looking for any engram. Blues or purples. Mostly purples, you get a higher level and better rolls.

Answer 11: Performance should dictate reward? To some degree but I know honestly I don’t a bit RNG grind I can print more. I wouldn’t mind if some were dictated by performance.

Answer 12: I would probably say between 2-4 hours

Answer 13: I don’t do any planning. I play when I am in the mood to play.

Answer 14: I mean, I am pretty competitive. I will look at some competitive PVP and look at that side for the game. I don’t compete with my friends

Answer 15: hmm...I mean I think there should be some kind of RNG. I do want to like, with whatever I am doing. I want to get rewards for something I put my time into. RNG should be there for some but not for some particular stuff.

Answer 16: I guess it should be there but I think there should be..there shouldn’t be enough of it to make you feel like you are getting better at the game. But if u are having a really bad day, then yes, but I want to get better at the game.

Answer 17: I do like it when games offer better rewards for difficult activities. I think it makes it worth it. I think they should for at least certain activities they should have it. I don’t have a problem with that.

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Answer 18: So, I think I would... Its gonna depend really on I could see myself getting bored doing that activity in a short time. I like challenging content. The one that’s longer is more challenging I would do that.

Participant 5: ​ Answer 1: Uhmm...in this chest piece, I am not too happy or upset about and more along the lines of something that wasn’t needed.

Answer 2: I’d say probably like a 3. I can pick this one off the ground rather than go looking through my inventory.

Answer 3: Ahh...Usually weapons. Mostly hand cannons.Going for certain items.

Answer 4: I am not too indifferent about it and look at as glimmer..resources.

Answer 5: Loses its relevance once you reach a soft cap during power leveling since they can’t go beyond that.

Answer 6: Basically, I knew I was dead and had to revive.

Answer 7: Did I give up? Survival aspect after seeing your health low and basically anything u can dish damage out and start running around.

Answer 8: Oh for sure. If I don’t have my grenade cooldown, low on ammo, try to hit the correct amount of shots and go for melees or retreat and go behind rocks or something.

Answer 9: Resources drop randomly? It makes me feel good. I don’t have special ammo and see it drops, thank god and do so many more things with my arsenal as compared to 2 seconds ago where I couldn’t do anything.

Answer 10: It probably was my melee, I could get multiple kills with it and use the gun that I had equipped and use my damage buff bonus from my hunter class.

60 Answer 11: uhmm...because of rng, it’s kinda indifferent. I said I wanted a duke HC, so thinking that I could get it off this drop was excited but I was thinking this is not how it works and not how we get loot.

Answer 12: uhmm...i say between maybe 5 to 7 hours? Per day? 5-6 days of the week after work?

Answer 13: The game helps me with my planning.

Answer 14: uhmm...when we get a gun that they want before they do its a funny thing and u feel like a jerk.

Answer 15: Its always the loot. If I don’t get what I want, I keep trying.

Answer 16: I do like RNG. I find that it is a driving force. Not a lot of people enjoy it but I do. If it’s strictly based on traits. I would like to know what I am getting but not rolls, I would like that.

Answer 17: If I had total control over rng. I would get exactly what I want. I would say, like 30% control.

Answer 18: I would rather do the difficult aspect, getting quick loot is fun but it quickly becomes with easy activity has 7-8 items that could drop but with difficulty you have limited drops and you know what you are getting.

Participant 6: Answer 1: I feel more excited. Especially exotic engrams since I don’t know what I am getting. It could be something I don’t have already and with how they drop as an engram, it makes it more exciting. You don’t expect what u get

Answer 2: I would say 4. Not totally excited but it could end up something I already have but its a really low chance

Answer 3: Presented as an engram make u more excited? I would say I prefer the engram type of things. I cannot expect what I get it could be whatever it could be and I enjoy the little surprise. I expect it to be a good piece of arms or not

61 Answer 4: Low tier reward? Uhmm...hontestly blue engram doesn’t make me excited since it’s not something I am looking for. I am looking for higher rewards but I am looking for things like glimmer since its a very valuable resource in the game.

Answer 5: I would say 2

Answer 6: It depends on the game itself. They are useful when you are a low level as they scale. And after a certain, you don’t need them anymore and they start to lose their value.

Answer 7: Can they be used as resources? Yes. but after some point for a long time, at some point that I have enough mats that I don’t know what to do with them.

Answer 8: Yesh it does make me feel more stressful from some encounters and I have to play carefully. It blocks the way I want to play since my health is low. I cannot play it more enjoyable and blast straight through the enemies.

Answer 9: Well, for the health part, just play carefully, because I can be damaged and be really weak and taken out real quick. For ammo its just randomly drop from enemies. When i come on an encounter and carefully select what gun I use like use heavy for boss etc.

Answer 10: I don’t think there is an encounter that will affect that much. If it’s like a really difficult encounter that I need help from other players, I expect to get a good reward. I am hoping to get a reward. It depends on the activity. If its a strike on destiny. Not a lot of mechanics, you only have to take out the boss and you can take it out with any weapon. But for a raid you need specific weapons for each boss and such. Preserve ammo and such. It depends on the situation itself

Answer 11: Honestly I am hoping for a legendary engram. Maybe a exotic one but there is a lot of percentages. And glimmer since its a good resource but not the blue engram

Answer 12: When you see an after activity screen and see different results and rewards tailored to your performance good or should. There are some activities that are not difficult and not a huge margin of diff in performance for players. Maybe for harder ones, maybe some skills that are needed. They should be rewarded by performance but for others, it should be random

62 Answer 13: In a week I don’t know on a free day between 4-5 hours

Answer 14: That kind of depends on the game I am playing, in destiny, there are activities that reward a powerful engram. So I plan my activities for that day. For those kinds of games, I plan but for others, I just play and do whatever I want

Answer 15: In a way, there could be some problems. If one of my friends is playing a different game or friends are playing at different times. Some make more progress and others lag behind

Answer 16: Randomness should affect only weapons and armor. But not the weapons and armor traits since that’s too much rng and grind. It will increase the grind and only cause frustration. Just the bare minimum. I would say it should be more frequent because some activities have really bad rng and get bad loot. But they should also be careful cause weapons could be too op cause if it’s too frequent its bad especially for good rewards.

Answer 17 : I would say in a percentage, like 60%. Not too much control. If you had that power to control to get the loot you want, at one point you will get all of it and you are op and have nothing to after one point. You shouldn’t have full control of the loot you get.

Answer 18: It depends on honestly. I would try the harder one. For the exp as if it more difficult the reward will be more valuable at the end. But the drop is not 100%, and if I don’t get it after a few times I switch it to an easy one and do it faster to get the reward.

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