What is Player Investment?
What is Player Investment?
This article will look into the concept of player investment in games, detailing the kinds of things that cause players to become more invested in the outcome of a game, and what kind of effect this can have on the game in question - as well as subsequent future games. The way that player investment develops can change a lot from game to game, but there are also a number of notable, known factors that we can discuss too. These might help to widen out and improve your general understanding of how games work, and how to get more out of them.
So what exactly is player investment? Generally, this refers to the way in which a player is connected to the outcome of the game. The term player in this sense does not even necessarily have to be someone actually involved in the playing of the game, for it can also be a spectator who happens to have some reason to be invested too - for example, because they are betting on the outcome. But the players involved in the game itself are obviously invested because they each want to win - even in co-operative games where they are working together to win out over circumstance.
What Boosts Player Investment?
There are a number of things that can cause a significant rise in player investment. For instance, the betting example we saw above is a perfect example of how this can happen. It doesn’t even have to be for money, in fact. One of the clearest ways to see investment play out is to get into the world of DFS. Just taking a look at the DFS Terminology and trying out a fantasy team for yourself can show you how important it can suddenly become that a particular game ends up in a particular way. In fact, this can involve paying close attention to a number of games, which is a kind of meta-investment that can make it all the more powerful.
There are also a number of in-game factors which can make a game more attractive, and players more likely to want to invest in them strongly. The world of video games shows us some great examples of this. If a video game has a good learning curve, great graphics, and so on - then it is going to be much more likely that the player will be strongly invested in that game.
Personal Gain
All in all, much of this comes down to whether or not a player can get some level of personal gain. If they can, they are more likely to be invested in the game. If there is nothing to win or lose, then investment is much less likely. In this way you can see the important role that risk plays here - which goes a long way to explaining why risk in games is so popular and important, and always a central facet of the game.
With an understanding of player investment, you might come to a closer appreciation of games and how they work in general.