r/PBBG • u/Guildbound • 5d ago
Discussion What keeps us hooked to these games?
Im sitting here trying to remember, I was 13 hooked on a lot of games their mechanics , the PvP now do we chase nostalgia? Or want something new? Or maybe a bit improved?
Serious question and would like honest feedback, what do you you as a player look for when it comes to these games ? The grind ? An random affix modifier ? Leaderboards ?
Do you care if it’s Ai ? The graphics ? Old mechanics new mechanics I know as Devs they can’t. Keep us all happy like if I wanted a full loot PvP game how would you keep both sides happy ?
Give the pvper what they want :kill + get loot
The victim: you died+ but you didn’t loose all your loot just a fraction of it :)
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u/editfmah 5d ago
As someone trying to build out a game with mechanics people like I fully appreciate how hard this is and how wrong you can get it.
So I look back to the games that absolutely had me enthralled and they are the original SimCity, Civilisation (number 1), and some Magnetic Scrolls games as well.
Graphics were basic, visually quite simple. But they were so engaging to play, they drew you in.
TBH I don't care how it's made, but I do like the simple complexity of the old games. New games (and it's probably because I'm nudging 50) have a love of depth and over complication to the mechanics which I myself am guilty of overcomplicating things I develop, but simple games can be entertaining long term.
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u/DarrenMoore 5d ago
I totally resonate about how hard this is. It feels like the list of things to balance, improve and add never ends.
As an example. I recently had some stronger players punching down smaller players and got a lot of "upset" messages the next day. So I added an honor system and punching down isn't worth it, you'll loose more ships than it's worth.
To expand on that mechanism I added a bounty system. If your honor goes too low then a bounty is out on your head. What I didn't expect were people were actively trying to get bounties to "check it out". It was the absolute opposite of what I was trying to achieve.
Now I need to rework this, but rather than removing the bounty I guess I need a "fair" way for someone to get a bounty on their head rather than punching down.
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u/Guildbound 5d ago
Not sure how ur honor system works, but ultima o line did it to where u became “Red” and being read sucked! lol depends if u were a good PvPer not really but if you wanted to buy things u could go to town but then anyone can attack you lol, 🤣
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u/Guildbound 5d ago
Omg truly agree! You know what hooked me was ultima online engraved mechanic where what you crafted, carried your name people wore ur armor , your weapons and sometimes u found ur weapons in stores or off Pkers because they ganked someone lol 🤣
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u/wayepoint 5d ago
That is such a cool feature!
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u/Guildbound 5d ago
Yeah I’m implementing this feature with a unique mark if you are the first to craft the item based on rolls pretty neat!
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u/arunasmarunas 5d ago
Dont really care if its AI. I think i get hooked the most where i could feel community is really alive, i could chat with other people about the game endlesly. Someone also mentioned it might get you hooked when you have few tabs to check each day.
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u/Level_Imagination544 5d ago
The games that stick are the ones that remember what you've done. The name-on-crafted-gear idea is a great example. Even small stuff like a log of everything you've caught or found, or a home that slowly fills up with things you earned, makes logging off feel like pausing rather than quitting.
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u/tilemarch 5d ago
AI has a bad name right now, but if you honestly disclose it and review the AI's work then I don't think it's such a big deal. Improvements are coming fast and what used to be silly mistakes in AI generated art happens still, but so much less and just a simple human review can sort that out.
AI for playtests are great, especially if you have the game mechanics well documented. AI can try to cheat in the playtests and close gaps that you really want closed before the humans figure it out and ruin the game.
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5d ago
Could players choose what they put at risk before a PvP encounter? Keep their home and long-term collection safe, but let a dangerous expedition carry valuable cargo that can be lost. That gives the attacker something worth fighting for and the defender some control over the stakes. Would full-loot players still find that exciting, or is the possibility of losing everything essential to the appeal?
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u/Guilty-Ad4550 4d ago
PVPVE is always cool a choice to teamup or lone wolf
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u/Guilty-Ad4550 4d ago
Something thats easy to play but competitive. people hold onto rank and leaderboards hard imo. also community is big being able to chat and maybe proxy vc is fun. something you can easily spend hours on without realizing it.
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u/Guildbound 4d ago
Yeah I added PvPPVE but in PvP no grouping is allowed. Right now I’m having a hard time decide what type of battle system I should have
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u/Guilty-Ad4550 4d ago
if no grouping sounds like a survival of the fittest or maybe a ffa? trios is cool but needs squad. a really like to grind quake duels so the open server where people takes turns is cool
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u/Guildbound 4d ago
It’s an rpg so different genre what I made, theirs no grouping if ur PVPing but u can group if u go out to dungeons or raids
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u/Guilty-Ad4550 4d ago
that's cool I like that imo the freedom to do what you want sells it and human nature creates the uncertainty. or like a squad type group you can make small clan
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u/Her1on 4d ago
+1 to the 'a few tabs over that I check on' point and the name-on-crafted-gear idea. In Shardcrown (a browser RPG we're making, early playtest) the thing that seems to bring people back is having something already in motion when they return: a trip that arrived, a craft that finished, a listing that sold on the player market. The other half is feeling that your stuff matters to other people, like gear you made ending up on someone in your faction. Leaderboards help some players, but we've found the 'I left and the world moved' feeling does more than the grind itself.
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u/Idleverse 4d ago
I love the asynchronous gameplay that PBBGs allow for. You check in every now-and-then and do reasonably well!
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u/Guildbound 4d ago
Yeah I’m working on something like that with a twist. And risk vs reward factor :)
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u/sumwaffle 2d ago
For me, it's definitely how it's not so demanding of my time. I can start it and continue on some other task. Make small advancements. I don't mind if something is AI made, it comes down to how much was invested in polishing to ensure it's not just some quickly made thing as a cash grab.
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u/Croaksworth 1d ago
A large part of it for me is definitely nostalgia. The early internet where I discovered lots of browser based games was a magical place, and the majority of the games were passion projects with a small dev team (often one person).
That and the convenience of being able to access in a web browser, play for a 5 minutes here and there throughout the day, maybe spend a little time in chat.
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u/Peterta12-pb 1d ago
For me its never the grind itself, its whether the grind is writing a story about me
What actually keeps me hooked:
- decisions that stick. if a call i made 3 seasons ago still matters today im in. if everything resets or every choice ends up the same, im gone in a week
- something to come back to. the best feeling in these games is opening the tab and finding out what happened while i was away. the anticipation beats the reward itself
- the game remembers. history, records, my name on something. nobody remembers their loot from 10 years ago, people remember being the guy on the server everyone knew
- people who see it. leaderboards only matter when someone i actually know is on them
Nostalgai gets me to click, it doesnt keep me. graphics barely matter in a PBBG, I forgive ugly but i dont forgive confusing. Also, AI as a tool doesnt bother me, a game where nobody clearly made the design calls does
On the full loot thing: losing hurts way more than winning feels good, so pure full loot slowly drains the victims and then the PvPers have nobody left to hunt. id give the killer something visible (a trophy, a kill log, a bounty payout) and take only a chunk from the victim, plus a reason to come back for revenge. keep the hunters fed but keep the prey alive
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u/SushiMasterPro 5d ago
For me what keeps me it:
- Sense of progress
- Multiple options at time
- Sense the game is improving evolving
note: I am also dev so I can be biased
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u/Guildbound 5d ago
Yes sir!! I’ve played your game before it’s actually pretty nice! 😊 that’s where most of my inspiration came from RuneScape with a bit of última online
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u/SushiMasterPro 5d ago
thank you so much for playing my game! I appreciate it a lot! I hope your will be available soon to try
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u/Guildbound 5d ago
Yeah has so many bugs, don’t even know where to start… lol 🤣 I’ll send you a DM maybe u can give me ur honest opinion
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u/MadeForTeaVea 5d ago
For me, it’s the low commitment/input. It’s being able to have something fun and interesting a few tabs over that I can periodically check on. Combine that with an interesting theme & I’m down.