[Theory] Reward Systems -- A Look at Experience Points and Advancement

[adamdray]

I had a discussion with some FiranMUX players about reward systems in gaming. There's also a Story Games thread brilliantly titled "The reward cycle - who else doesn't give a shit?" that addresses some of the same topics. I had some thoughts about the purpose of reward systems in a lot of games and wanted to share

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[eyebeams]

For example, in D&D there are rules for improving a character's combat and spellcasting abilities, but there are no rules for gaining allies or earning one's own kingdom. This is not a criticism of D&D, which is designed carefully to do what it does (combat and spellcasting), and not to do other things (social relationships and kingdom building).

There have been rules for these in most editions of D&D (particularly in BECMI), and probably will be for 4th, because the publishing model is designed to expand sideways like this. Keep in mind that this isn't in the rules yet because it's been less popular than everything else you do. This wasn't as true in the 70s and early 80s (when characters were expected to use assistants) but it's a given now.

Anyway, I stopped giving rewards linked to any form of player performance (aside from showing up) years ago and it's been an absolute success. If you're in it for the XP, you're not really in it.

Once you let go of the idea of performance or "desired behavior" advancement stops being phallocentric bullshit and starts being about adding variety and complexity over time. Basically, D&D advancement is garbage considered any other way, because your character never improved compared to the recommended outlay of challenges, because these increase too. 4e even stopped pretending that there was any real difference when it made some actions arbitrarily more difficulty for high level characters despite being exactly the same in world (at 10th level, slippery ice gets super-slippery).

Once you appreciate this, you can come to the table seriously, instead of because of the offer of an inane carrot that doesn't mean anything, that at best will rope in players who won't discipline themselves to appreciate the aesthetic of play, while doing nothing for people who can play RPGs anyway. People must let go of the idea that they are "owed" something outside of the opportunity to collaborate.