FUNDAMENTALS OF GAME DESIGN, SECOND EDITION
Risks and Rewards
Risks and rewards as sources of entertainment are most familiar to us from gambling. You risk money by placing a bet, and you are rewarded with more money if you win the bet. However, risk and reward are key parts of any kind of competitive gameplay, even if no money is at stake. Whenever you play a competitive game, you risk losing in the hope that you will get the reward of winning. Risk and reward also occur on a smaller scale within the game. In a war game, when you choose a place to begin an attack, you risk the attack's being detected and repulsed, but if you are successful, you are rewarded by controlling new territory or depleting the enemy's resources. In Monopoly, you risk money by purchasing a property in the hope that you will be rewarded with income from rents later on.
Risk is produced by uncertainty. If a player knows exactly what the consequences of an action will be, then there is no risk. In gambling, the uncertainty is often produced by chance (which way will the dice fall?), but other features produce uncertainty as well. A game might have hidden information (where are the enemy's troops hiding?) revealed only after you take the risk. Even in a game such as chess, which has no hidden information and no element of chance, not knowing what your opponent will do produces uncertainty.
The risk/reward mechanism makes gameplay more exciting. Gameplay is entertaining all by itself because it lets the player attempt the challenges and perform the actions, but adding risks and rewards raises the level of tension and makes success or failure more meaningful.
A game should always reward achievement, whether it was risky or not. The more difficult the achievement, the bigger the reward should be. Rewards can take various forms. Usually they advance the player's interests somehow, either by giving him something tangible that helps him play (such as money or a key to a locked area) or something intangible but still valuable, such as a strategic advantage. However, rewards don't have to affect the gameplay. Games that include a story reward the player's achievements by advancing the plot of the story by presenting a little more of it, often in a noninteractive video sequence. Games for children often reward achievements with flashing lights and ringing sounds.
Players' attitudes toward risk-taking vary. Some take an aggressive, inherently risky approach, whereas others prefer a defensive approach in which they try to minimize risk. You can design your game to suit one style or the other or try to balance the game so that neither really has an advantage.
A risk must always be accompanied by a reward. Otherwise the player has no incentive to take the risk.
