Why do we play CoC? What motivates us?
<tl;dr>
Why you play?
</tl;dr>
Figured I need to shorten my tldr to keep the interest of at least 80% of readers for at least that long :rolleyes:
A wall of text incoming so brace yourself, if you made it this far.
Topic of the day is "Why do we play CoC?". Not just to scratch the surface and say "cos its kewl", which could be enough, but I plan to dig in a bit deeper and also point out few issues I'm having in the system. And, as always, this whole thing is written from my perspective.
So why do we play? Well, obviously I am motivated enough to return to the game again and again to have stick around this long. Maybe even motivated enough to take my time and write long (and boring) posts on the forums, such as this. That tells, that there has to be at least something done "right" in CoC, right? But what is this spark that keeps bugging me enough to come back, day after day, to this rather simple iOS game?
The two types of motivations that drive us, intrinsic and extrinsic play their part here. Intrinsic, the force from within and extrinsic, the force from outside (usually stuff like reward / punishment). One can also refer to the motivation as a need for something. And needs ought to be fulfilled and when they aren't... S#it hits the fan.
For me, I think it's a combination of things, where buddies in the clan (need for connection) is maybe the biggest driving force. Sure, it's a neat game, but it's issues would have gotten the better of me quite a while ago without the social parts of the game and also same thing factoring on the forums as well. Also the sense of accomplishment is a factor, looking at my village grow slooooowly stronger from my own actions. Being able to raid the noobs is just a bonus, but definitely factoring in ;) Hm... What else... For me it's also a way to escape from all the carp from RL, here I got my own village and command armies (or at least throw them to the grinder), what's there not to like? And on top, it's very convenient to have such a game on the iPad. Always, at moments notice, a different world at my fingertips. Competition on the other hand has zero value for me, but I'm sure this is a huge motivator for some.
What about the extrinsic motivations? Fame and fortune isn't my cup of tea, but is a big factor. There are also many other motivations, and here also comes my issues about the game. I'm ok with how the game works, as in, beat up the smaller ones to gain advantage and grow, but there are some oddities that I'm having harder and harder time to accept and that is severely cramping my style. From the start, I am rewarded with all kinds of goodies. The more I advance, the more rewards I get: better units, bigger village, bigger cannons, better loot. It all goes well, up to Th7.
Then, for some reason, the extrinsic motivator of rewards is all the sudden changed into punishment. The more I advance, the more I am punished. Sure, I get bit better units and defences, but the progress is pulled to almost complete stop. I am being punished for my hard work? What the hell, dude? Surely it's because I'm just butchering the newbs so I have to step up my game even more and go for cups, as that's what this competition is all about... But nooo... I get punished even more? Not only is my progress in complete stop, I'm losing ground all the time, so the nice feeling of accomplishment is crumbling down.
So the intrinsic motivators are keeping me in game while the extrinsic ones are pushing me away. Well, that and the freakin' builder lag bug, which is really ticking me off.
Ideally, both kinds of motivations should drive people to play & pay, but that isn't the case... For me at least.
So then comes the commentators part... What's your damage... Errr... I mean what motivates you to keep on playing or has the game already gotten the better of you? (And if you already did quit the game, why are you still here on the forums? Dude, that's just creepy. )
