It seems that with modern society, everyone's scared of losing. I could go on and on rambling about this, but I just don't quite have the time today.

Point is, almost everyone has this mentality where when you lose, it's no fun. Maybe in some of the more linear games like ED, it may not be so fun if you can't get to the next phase. However, here, losing does not necessarily have to be bad. So here's a few tips for you game designers...


Now when your players lose, give them at least something to cheer them back up. Frustration kills gameplay. Give a little poem at the end or a tip or something like what some of the old Sierra adventure games used to do so at least they have something to look forward to.

For RPGs or most other games for that matter, you can always have a side quest you can solve to 'regain your honor'. Say, for example, the player fails to save the hostage but the bad guy tells the player of his plans. You can make a seperate mini-adventure game where the player has to convince everyone of the plans. If not, the world is destroyed, etc. If the player succeeds, it leads to a premature ending where the player is still suspended for doing some stupid act to convince them, and it leads to a somewhat sad ending, but the world isn't destroyed. If you do it right, you'll only need about 10 extra minutes per level, and you'll be convincing players to play it the 'wrong way' and the 'right way'.

Losing is a lot easier for non-linear games. What I mean here is that perfection shouldn't be the goal, sometimes flaws could be just as good. Take Fallout for example - it started the whole idea of making it so that stupid characters have different dialog options. Gaming shouldn't be ENTIRELY about getting to the finish line, the gamer should also have fun poking at what he/she can within the game.

So, to sum it up in one paragraph, instead of focusing the gameplay on purely winning, give some little consolation prize to the loser if the loser works a little for it. Not only will everyone have fun, you'll also be doubling the replayability of each mission .