What Creates Longevity in a Game?

Yes, hello, my name is Dan, and...uh... I play Animal Crossing.  It feels so good to admit this to all of you and finally get this enormous weight off my chest.  I can't even get out of bed in the morning without digging up fossils, and at night I can't sleep without knowing all of my precious hybrid roses are watered and safe from accidental trampling.  I used to tell myself that I could stop anytime; that I didn't need to play.  But its become more than that.  Playing is my responsibility and obligation.  I am the sole reason that entire town runs and I'm the only thing preventing it from descending into a weed covered anarchy.

If you play Animal Crossing, this probably sounds eerily familiar.  No one can deny Animal Crossing's longevity.  It has enough charm to be a great escape from the stresses of ordinary life; a place you can go where hard work pays off and you're always needed.  Plenty of options await you as well.  Whether you're fishing, catching bugs, hunting for new furniture, or interacting with the village residents, you'll always find a task awaiting completion.

But, Animal Crossing has longevity for another reason, and its a common trait among other games that people can't help but play for years and years: fear.

Now you may laugh; "Animal Crossing?  You mean the child friendly game about befriending cute animals and decorating your house is so addicting because of fear?"  Yes, I realize how daft it sounds at face-value, but with some explanation you'll find it to be just as true.

In Animal Crossing, neglecting your town, for even a few days, means the start of decay.  Your flowers will wilt and die if not watered, weeds begin to spring up all over town, and worst of all, your beloved neighbors might decide to just pack it up and move away forever.  Plus, a slew of new furniture, clothing items, wallpaper, carpet, and shoes come to your town's shops daily, meaning that not picking up your 3DS today could mean missing out on that Roccoco dresser you've been waiting to pop up for months.  Whether its seeing your in-game buddy disappear for good or coming back to find your flower garden in ruin, its this fear that relentlessly grips you and draws you back in every time, ensuring that the cartridge never leaves your system.

Animal Crossing isn't the only offender; this is a very popular mechanic across other life simulators and even MMO's.  With games like World of Warcraft, the fear is more centered around being left behind and not being able to keep up with the competition.  When you have millions upon millions of people playing a multiplayer focused game, playing becomes a race; who can level up fastest, grind for the best gear, and create an unstoppable clan while everyone else is still getting a hold of the basics.  You want to outplay the others, so you're forced to log in as many hours as you can to ensure you stay one step ahead.

Now, this form of longevity is not necessarily a bad thing.  Obviously enjoyment is at the basis or people would not continue buying WoW expansion packs (and I would have quit Animal Crossing after the Gamecube installment).  But, its interesting look at a different, more single-player oriented approach to longevity and an example of it I find so blatantly well-done in Dark Souls.  This longevity stems from mystery.

I realize that Dark Souls has come up a lot recently, but the reason that I really can't stop talking about it is because the game continues to stay relevant despite primarily being a single-player experience and having been released two years ago.  Dark Souls has a story to tell, but it does not read it to the player like an audio book on a road-trip.  Instead, the story is almost hidden from the player, locked away in the details of the environment, meaningful NPC conversations, and in the item descriptions.  If you just pick up the controller to hit bad guys with swords, then you'll find a great, challenging game with a harsh, but fair combat system.  If you, however, go into the game and begin to absorb the little hints of lore the game presents to you ever-so gently, you'll be gifted with one of the most rewarding lore experiences of this generation.

Within the game there is an opening cinematic, a few short, voiceless cutscenes before bosses, and two ending sequences.  Other than that, you are left to decipher the words of other characters to discover clues that lead to a much bigger painting than initially imagined.  And with this vague story telling comes plenty of secrets to find and a lot of theory crafting and speculation that has kept fans of the game extremely busy even two years since its debut.  This type of tale swapping with other players via online forums and Youtube channels has given Dark Souls a life that will breathe well into the birth of its sequel.  I just hope that Dark Souls II gives us plenty more to stay occupied with.

Of course, Dark Souls, isn't the only title to use this form of narration.  Games like Bioshock Infinite and the Last of Us give the player plenty of hidden gems to find within the game world that can open up new ideas for story hypotheses.  Places like Columbia or the post-apocalyptic city-turned-jungle become characters themselves, delivering information to the player through observation as opposed to dialogue.  Its this sort of story-telling that makes the second, third, and fourth playthrough more gratifying every time.

There are plenty of other forms of longevity to be found across the many genres of gaming, but I consider the duality between games like Dark Souls and Animal Crossing particularly amusing.  Its a battle between wanting to play a game and needing to play a game, and both methods are equally viable.  In fact a lot of games have become mixtures; wanting to experience a story, but needing to grind out more levels.  Wanting to explore more of the world, but needing to forge better gear.  I think all games contain some form of each and its these elements that keep tied down to a series through the long waits between installments.