Enhancing Player Engagement in Games using Design Patterns

Abstract

The video game industry is one of the fastest growing and most competitive areas of creative activity, and the challenge of keeping players involved far beyond the initial digital experience and decreasing player churn continues to be one of the consistent concerns of developers. Many games acquire players quickly, but struggle to keep them engaged over long times due to the absence of a plan that creates an ordered, systematic approach to player retention. In this paper, we maintain that there can be a practical and efficacious design related solution to decrease player churn by creating an ordered approach through the use of game design patterns that have been well justified in the game design or player interaction literature. Looking directly at patterns and their potential for fostering player psychology, motivation and interaction a more careful scripted application of patterns has profound implications on player experience building engagement. Illustrating in this article how patterns can facilitate or formalize the developers efforts to create more orderly approaches to engagement increases the experience and provides better opportunities to create more meaningful, rewarding - fun gameplay. Ultimately, the use of game design patterns provides opportunities to create more engaging, interactive and immersive experiences that greatly contributes to player satisfaction and long term engagement.