Why it's OK to suck at games
by Alan Rose 
{ Jul 17th 2006 at 12:30PM }
Clive Thompson over at Wired wants us to know that thrills can be experienced in defeat when it comes to certain video games. A study conducted by psychologists over in Helsinki (the same place where they produce that hair restoration formula) shows that gamers experience a measure of joy even when failing to complete an objective in a particular game. While playing Super Monkey Ball 2's bowling mini game, test subjects hooked up to biosensors elicited "positively valenced high-arousal" after rolling gutter balls. In other words, watching a trapped monkey plummet to his death is cool. Thompson validated these results by playing the game himself and experiencing the same loser high.
Is it a sign of good game design when positive feedback mechanisms accompany all possible outcomes, or do these studies simply underscore our ability to laugh at ourselves in the midst of failure? The article also mentions Burnout Revenge and GTA as examples of games that provide pleasure even when you're failing to accomplish your goal. What other games succeed in this way?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
RiskyChris @ Jul 17th 2006 12:39PM
Failing the 12th mission on the ambulance in GTA because my last patient died from my 1mph sliding on the sand did far from invoke pleasure. I don't play that game anymore.
GTgamer @ Jul 17th 2006 12:52PM
Life Rule #1 : Failure is never an option...
...but when you are an idiot and f' up, it's nice when it's a pleasant failure. The Burnout 3: Takedown aftertouch for wreaking revenge on your enemies during demise was an excellent concept. Though it seems damn near impossible to aftertouch in Revenge, which kind of ticks me off.
LunarDuality @ Jul 17th 2006 12:53PM
I think this effect is inversely proportional to the amount of energy/time that you've invested in getting to a certain place in a game (and also, how much energy/time it will take to get *back* to that place if you die/lose/etc).
Meaning, if you're playing a mini-game that you can try again in about 10 seconds, it's easy to laugh off a gutter ball. If you're trying to get a Platinum on Nurburgring on PGR3 and you are 15 minutes into a really tough race and the AI spins you on the final corner, you're likely to get extremely pissed off. At least I would.
Burnout is the same way...I can be playing Road Rage and laugh off a spectacular crash here and there. But if I crash on the last corner of a really tough Burning Lap I get a little peeved, to say the least.
Petrie @ Jul 17th 2006 1:03PM
I find that because of the games I choose to play, I generally do not enjoy failure. Sometimes it's because I've invested time and energy into perfection such as the case with Trauma Center and to fail with seconds left is devastating.
Then there's the case with games like halo 2 online. Most people take it far too seriously. I used to play with 2 guys, Les and John being their names, and Les and I wouldn't care if we won or lost, we enjoyed winning, but only if we did it in a manner we thought was cool and funny. If we lost in the same manner, it was just as fun. Problem was John took it way too seriously and would actually get angry and refuse to play with us because "it isn't any fun to lose". I have to disagree, it can be fun to just fool around and play for amusement, problem is many people take games WAY too seriously.
Thomas Crymes @ Jul 17th 2006 1:04PM
Burnout Revenge: Try winning a two lap race without crashing in Angel Valley and understand my frustration. I finally did it, but not without much gnashing of teeth.
Keeping with Burnout, Try stopping after getting a Gold and Awesome rating in a Traffic Attack and have the rating slip into Great before time runs out.
Any game with a difficult objective is going to create severe unhappiness when you repeatedly fail trying to achieve it.
Levi @ Jul 17th 2006 1:05PM
Oooh! I do not feel any pleasure from GTA when I fail a goal. I too stopped playing GTA:SA after finishing a long mission, then failing after I accidentally ran over a cop on my way to a save point. Somehow I turned over my car while trying to escape the pursuit, and got busted trying to flee the wreckage.
However, Super Monkey Ball is super sweet. Though hearing my little monkey buddy scream as it plummeted to its death wasn't too pleasant, I always felt I had this big grin as I played the game.
kelekod @ Jul 17th 2006 1:06PM
I wouldn't go as far as its "ok" to suck at games. I think that's considered more of the replay value of the game, or also known as "messing around". Sucking at games is different, usually when you suck at a game, you stop playing. You don't usually "mess around" playing it trying to lose or have fun. At least that's how I am. After I beat vice city, I'd fend of the cops a few times, but that gets old. After Mario 64, I'd fly around the castle, or fly around the first bomb-omb level. Goldeneye I'd play with a variety of different cheats/settings.
But I admit, there are games out there that I sucked at too. Legacy of the Wizard(NES) rings a bell. Duck Hunt (when not at point blank with the screen). Those are really the only 2 that come to mind now as I sold games that I sucked at.
Now if you really wanted to be "ok to suck at" Duck Hunt, they really shoulda allowed you to shoot that dog. You could try for minutes and it'd never fire till after he was safely down and usually you wasted a shot depending on how many times you attempted to shoot him.
GTgamer @ Jul 17th 2006 2:00PM
"If you're trying to get a Platinum on Nurburgring on PGR3 and you are 15 minutes into a really tough race and the AI spins you on the final corner, you're likely to get extremely pissed off."
I can definitely agree to that...or the guy who often seems to come magically rocketing out of nowhere in Forza near the end of a long race. The same guy that will often brake WAAAY to late and slam into your rear quarter panel at a 90-degree bend. My tires aren't that depleted, so how did Johnny Rocket suddenly regain 1/2 of a lap on me and take me out.
...or that water level near the end of Psychonauts. I made it almost all the way through that game while only loosing a few lives, but that damn level just killed me repeatedly until I finally put down the controller and walked away. A friend warned me about that level, but I thought "how bad could it really be?" The thought of replaying the game on my 360 is kind of appealing until thinking about having to go up against that level again. I generally despise losing and that level is brutal...it's like you've unexpectedly warped into Ninja Gaiden.
vince @ Jul 17th 2006 2:32PM
i think people really distort games as something really serious sometimes and really it doesnt matter if you suck or not a game shouldnt be taken so serious you should be having fun playing it thats what a game is for
Ramen Junkie @ Jul 17th 2006 2:37PM
When I got my wife to play SSX Tricky with me she had more fun watching Kaori tumble down the hill sceaming explicatives in Japanese than the did actually playing the game.
It is pretty funny.
Azrael @ Jul 17th 2006 3:07PM
I think it depends on the game and how serious you are playing, I really dont mind at all when I get fragged playing Halo 2 or Splinter Cell online. There are people who are virtually unbeatable, and Is all part of the fun. (actually getting a single kill against those guys can be pretty exciting)
What I cant really stand is games that kill you on time limits (that aparently were drawn from a hat), if you think GTA is cream of the crop, try the Simpsons clone, theres a level where you get killed if you dont pick up littered ketchup bags under 2 minutes, Or if you fail to bring a donnut to Wiggum under a minute or so, I mean seriously in what universe can that be considered fun?
At least in GTA you can relief pressure by killing off guys who sent you in stupid errands.
Nick James @ Jul 17th 2006 5:42PM
This article is just wrong. Two words: MEGA MAN. Go play the original. Get all the way to Dr. Wily. DIE. GAME OVER. You're fucked. Oh, here's another fun one... and quite possibly the most difficult thing I've ever done in gaming: God of War's Challenge of the Gods.
Yeah, I actually broke into a sweat doing that shit.
Seriously, what kind of a loser enjoys sucking at games? If you suck at driving a car, you crash. Would someone enjoy that? If you suck at your job, you get fired. Would someone enjoy that?
If you suck with women, you play the right hand knuckle shuffle all night long. Would someone enjoy that?
Well. Bad example. But you get my angry, poorly-written point.
Now back to Super Mario Sunshine... fucking camera.
Ignore my profanity. I'm a tool.
The3rdNuisance @ Jul 17th 2006 6:51PM
The best games to lose in are ones that give you a "Holy sh*t" moment. Super Smash Brothers is one example, getting hit by a bat, bouncing off a few walls (Hyrule Temple level) and flying off the side. Also Quake 4 where you get shot, and somehow go into a sequence of back flips. Another good one is Killer Instinct Gold, after watching your person (Presumably that damn sweaty ninja in tight ripped leather, Jago) fall off a bridge, you get to feel the pleasure of trying to break your friends arm.
P.S. Nick James, we can suck at games because when we crash a virtual car, we don't get a virtual C-Pillar spiked through our head.
zero @ Jul 17th 2006 10:33PM
Resident Evil 4 when you get your head chopped off with a chainsaw. The first time I saw it I told my sister to come check it out. She didn't think it was as cool as I did for some reason...
Nick James @ Jul 17th 2006 11:09PM
...good point, on that virtual c-pillar thingus. Although.. maybe the Nintendo Wii2 will include such functionality!
Gonzo @ Jul 18th 2006 2:01PM
Of course the whole point to (my favorite portion of) Burnout Revenge is to cause the biggest pileup possible which is usually what you're trying to avoid in a driving game. Even when you fail to do that, you usually end up causing a spectacular crash anyway.
This win if you do win if you don't quality is what (I feel) makes the Burnout series so engrossing.
Erik @ Jul 18th 2006 4:41PM
@Gonzo
I agree. Before Burnout came along, racing games were frustrating because if a computer car got ahead of me on a cheap/cheaty move, I'd really want to hurt the virtual driver. Now I can!
While I've always been a fan of losing in games where you can laugh it off (Burnout's beautiful and deadly crashes as well as Monkeyball's screaming cartoon baby being good examples), try suggesting permanent death for provate MMO servers. In fact, MMOs don't really even have objectives. Doesn't stop people from going off the deep end if they find out their virtual persona is mortal, fallible, etc. Something tells me that if you made their EQ or WoW character death incorporate a more negative effect to stats, virtual posessions, etc, a more comedic death sequence probably wouldn't make them any happier about it.
Andy @ Jul 18th 2006 9:15PM
Why is it ok to suck at games?
I was recently frustrated to the point of (almost)nose bleed when I got stomped repeatedly in a Battlefield 2 server. It's draining to take such a beating. But I was even more shocked that a squadmate illeged they had been using hacks, aimbots and such.
I ran a google on bf2 hacks and there it was.... Bold writing, that the program was undectable thru the security software DICE and EA uses.
I am very competitive. It destroyed my heart to think about how many people I fought against that used hacks.
Same DAMN thing in Counter strike.
As a true gamer.... (going back to the Commodore64 with 64 bit plug in carterage) I can find relief in saying it's ok that I suck at these games...
Because I am playing legitly. And I never thought the honor system would give me so much pride for such a little play, but it does.
Ps - Burnout Takedown was enough.
Psp - Track N field for the nes sucked cuz I couldn't pound on the mat as fast as everyone else.