Guild Wars 2

Common scenario: Someone (OP) posts a thread about unjustly losing a hard-earned pip. They claim they were a consistent PvPer, but now they are quitting PvP altogether!

That OP is right to feel upset, but this is what really happened.

Let’s say OP was a consistent PvPer playing 5-10 (or more) TPVP games per day. His motivation is intrinsic because he does it for the fun and we all know PvP in it’s current state is arguably unrewarding in any tangible sense (better with recent changes, but still).

Introduce Leagues: The concept of a reward system (the notoriety of an icon next to your name, leaderboards, and possibly golden angel wings) changes OP’s intrinsic motivation into extrinsic motivation — or reward driven motivation. Unfortunately, the reward system is arguably flawed and therefore the reward(s) are not valid. The removal of a perceived award nullifies OP’s motivation altogether.

Instead of playing the 5-10 TPVP games OP normally plays and shrugging off the flaws of a day-old system, they want to quit PvP totally.

OP is not wrong to feel this way; it’s human nature. My point is, we could all do better to understand how motivation works when you introduce rewards and try to remember this system is only hours old. Of course it needs work and it needs your help and constructive insight to be fixed.

A textbook psych 101 example would go like this. Let’s say the neighbor’s kid is very helpful and likes doing yard work in your yard and you let him for a period of time. You feel indebted and start to pay him for his services for a period of time. You run low on money and have to stop paying him for a period of time. The kid will stop mowing your lawn forever due to the introduction and removal of a reward.

I’ve been that OP! Except I have made an “I’m quitting” post yet because Overwatch is not yet out. I did make a guild named “Overwatch Hype [cya]” with the team named “Leaving for Overwatch” so I hope that counts.

To me though, my anger is not directed entirely at rewards, it is directed in the fact that I could play for 3 hours in a progression league system and end up worse than I was previously. The fact that you are severely punished for having a high mmr is unjustifiable; when it comes right down to it, they need to rework this system in its entirety.

Gav.1425:

OP is not wrong to feel this way; it’s human nature. My point is, we could all do better to understand how motivation works when you introduce rewards and try to remember this system is only hours old. Of course it needs work and it needs your help and constructive insight to be fixed.

A textbook psych 101 example would go like this. Let’s say the neighbor’s kid is very helpful and likes doing yard work in your yard and you let him for a period of time. You feel indebted and start to pay him for his services for a period of time. You run low on money and have to stop paying him for a period of time. The kid will stop mowing your lawn forever due to the introduction and removal of a reward.

This is along the lines of a criticism I have always had about anet since the game was about 4-5 months old and it became apparent how much the reward systems in the game were driven by purely economic considerations rather than good game design driven by gamer psychology.

The PvP league system doesn’t affect the economy but anet are seemingly locked into all their systems being designed along similar lines. Its reflected throughout HOT and why its considered so grindy.