Why Video Game Players Keep Choosing Games That Show Constant Progress Even When They Say They Want Something Deeper

One of the ever-presents of video game design is keeping players motivated through progression milestones. Even in the very early versions of arcade games, the biggest motivation was to improve on your last score, or even better, to get your name onto the top scores list.

As technology advanced, game design became more sophisticated and progression remained at the core of all the top selling games over the decades. While new game designs have introduced other design elements that are important to players, such as deeper immersivity, there is still a strong desire for players to feel like they are constantly progressing.

Platform games were pivotal in establishing the psychological appeal of progression. It became standard for games to work through levels, showing clear milestones delivering a sense of achievement every time they reached the next one. Classics like Mario Bros. featured battles at the end of every level against an increasingly difficult opponent and overcoming each one released a big dopamine hit.

Many modern games include unlock-based progression, which gives players a deeper sense that they are improving by earning a higher player status and entering the next stage of the gameplay. There are also micro-rewards built into games, such as collecting coins as a side mission to completing levels, which works in tandem with level-based progression.

With innovative tech breakthroughs driving major enhancements to the video gaming landscape, gamers often want to feel something deeper than a simple progression reward. VR tech has allowed gamers to experience an even more immersive gaming environment, where they can step into the game world and interact with surroundings in a way that was never possible in the past. So, expectations for a deeper gaming experience have grown but the motivation driven by progression is still as evident as ever.

These are some of the key reasons that players are still seeking out constant progression when they play their favorite games:

Feeling a Sense of Achievement 

Even small amounts of progression trigger a sense of achievement for players and seeing progression bars, unlocking new areas or working through levels keeps players motivated to continue improving. It makes players feel like their time has been well spent rather than playing games for the sake of it. Game designers know that players are motivated by different progression elements, so they have continued to add new and exciting variations, such as in-game rewards for reaching certain stages.

Players can get bored if they are not seeing any obvious progression, so games are now designed with smaller signals of progression to keep players motivated in between the larger milestones.

It Creates a Habit Loop

The feeling of success that gamers receive when they progress through games creates a habit loop, where they are constantly seeking a repeat of the same rewarding feeling. This keeps motivation levels high and provides greater determination to experience even bigger levels of achievement.

Progression Provides Game Direction

Games like GTA, where there are no boundaries to storylines have proven to be popular, but gamers still like to have direction within their games. Side missions and fun elements of games that don’t contribute to progression offer greater freedom but players still want to have structure to follow and progression through levels is an important element of this.

Casino games have also started to incorporate progression structures into the game design. Games like slots can feel repetitive and the random outcomes mean that each spin does not count towards progressing to the ultimate outcome, which is to drop a big win. However, gamification features and progress boards have become standard, with players unlocking different rewards along the way to make players feel like they are getting something in return for their playing time.

You can see in the game selection available for anyone playing Silver Oak Casino online that there are now lots of games that include progression boards that unlock bonus rounds or other features. On games with progressive jackpots, the platform will also display where the jackpot amount is up to, giving players a further incentive to keep playing for a chance to win a significant jackpot before it resets.

Both video game and online casino game design heavily feature progression targets to maintain motivation so that players are not tempted to move onto another game. The feeling that you are getting closer to the outcome and that you are being rewarded for your efforts will always be important to gamers, even if they want to experience something deeper on top of progression.