A look at motivation - Mass Effect

What do players want? What do players need?

Okay, it's a hugely broad question that is impossible to answer in general.

However, take a look at your favorite game and how they attempt to answer these questions.
For me, the most recent game I have had the opportunity to delve into is Mass Effect, so I'll pick on that game for today.

Let's take one of the main features in this game -- Depth.

Today, let me focus on: Depth in Exploration

Symptom One: Side-Quest on the Empty Shells on Empty Planets of Emptiness

The major premise of Mass Effect is the unrivaled exploration of an entire galaxy worth of planets. An entire galaxy worth of worlds, buildings, alien races combined with a epic sci-fi plot-line that has the galaxy hang in the balance.

That is all well and good. But does Mass Effect actually deliver?

Imagine traveling across the surface of the moon.

It is incredibly vast. Infinitely expansive. And if you look up at the earth, shining away at you, it will be incredibly beautiful.

The moon is also devoid of life, structures, buildings, people. Would visiting 45 moons give you a different experience than visiting one moon?

Have you visited forty-five unique scenarios? or the same scenario 45 times?

Symptom Two: Your reward is this gun! That you already have!

Is there an extrinsic reward for completing a scenario? Is the player rewarded for completing the quest? Is the player rewarded for his action?

...No.

The reward for exploring all of these desolate moons is cash. Of which you have millions.

The reward for exploring all of these desolate places is weapons. Which you already have, or can easily purchase with those millions. Or are simply worse than the ones you already have.

The reward for exploring all of these desolate places is simply the intrinsic experience of exploring. Of which there was none. Because you went to a desolate moon that had one important building which had nothing interesting inside.

Again, are there really distinct scenarios? Or the same one over and over?

Symptom Three: No sight of the end. Or even your surroundings.

If I generated randomly a million moons that were all the same, would you explore them all? How many of them would you explore knowing that no hand was involved in their making. Nothing new, nothing fresh, nothing discovered, nothing found, lost or gained.

What if there was the appearance of having and endless amount of moons. Would that make you more motivated or less motivated to pursue them?

Would you run a million miles with no end in sight?

Even the largest of impossible tasks can be broken down bit by bit, but only when you have vision of the entire process. When you collect 120 shines in Super Mario sunshine, you know how many you have collected. You know how many there is to go.

If you had been on shine 97 without knowing how many shines were truly left, how many would have the strength to continue to simply finish and explore it all?

To sum it all up: What does the player want?

Let's say I give you a quest. The quest is like any other quest. It may be set in a different plane. But you will do the exact same thing as you have for anything else.

Let me give you a reward for undertaking. The reward you get is like the reward from any other quest. It may look slightly different. But it is the same reward you could get from anywhere.

Let me promise you that you will encounter nothing new, nothing novel and that it will have no effect on the main storyline.

It will reveal nothing about the plot. It will not have an interesting question on life. It will not tie into other plot lines or affect the universe in any way, shape or form.

I will also generously give you one hundred credits for completing this quest. However, this doesn't matter as you have 1 million credits on hand.

Would you still take this quest? It adds to nothing. Builds up to nothing. Leads to nothing. Unlocks nothing. With no new experience.

Is there any additional motivation for undertaking this quest than any other? Can this thing even hold your attention so that you come back to it?

You may need to rethink why your player would want to undertake your quest.