One of my favorite games is Minecraft. Though Minecraft is a complex game which exhibit many different types of fun, the one I’d like to focus on is discovery.
Minecraft takes place in a vast open world full of opportunities for discovery. But of course, the game doesn’t just rely on your own drive for exploration. Rather, it includes many intelligently designed mechanics to help players unlock fun in the form of discovery.
To advance in the game, the player must get rare resources such as diamonds to make better gear. These resources, because they are rare, require players to go to new areas of the world to find them. As the player explores new parts of the world to find these resources, they also come across random generations such as mineshafts, dungeons, or just interesting looking caves and mountains. In this way, Minecraft’s designers incorporate the fun of discovery into their version of a “leveling” mechanic.
This sets Minecraft apart from the many other games who used different tiers of equipment to create a leveling system. While many utilize abnegation in the form of grinding, Minecraft’s progression is constantly dynamic and exploratory.
