I got a PS3 for Christmas (thanks, Sarge!) and one of the first games I purchased from PSN was Flower from thatgamecompany.  I highly recommend it for anyone who appreciates games as art.

It’s truly a beautiful game, and I enjoyed it for many of the same reasons I enjoyed Braid. The journey it takes you on is undeniably evocative, and has an incredible climax that paints a picture of harmonic coexistence between technology and nature.  The people I’ve shown it to–most not video gamers in the slightest sense–took to it naturally and were all impressed by its simplicity and beauty.

The only thing that I think was really missing from Flower was some kind of sandbox mode.  It seems to me that this game lent itself well to an infinite landscape in which the engine could randomly generate blooms, music, etc.  But I suppose that would have detracted or otherwise spoiled the very poignant story the game tells.  Still, there’s something there.

Anyway, about rewards…

This post began life as a long diatribe about the one thing I didn’t like about Flower: the reward it gives for finding all the secret flowers, which is to say “none”.

I described in detail how it Flower “robbed” me of the effort it took to find those secrets and how Trophies are inherently worthless, and ended with a description of guidelines by which game designers should integrate Trophies / Achievements into games.

But after writing it and re-reading it I decided that I was being a little harsh on both the makers of Flower and those who think that “Accomplishments” (PS3 Trophies, Xbox 360 Achievements) are worthwhile rewards.

I tried to prove that Accomplishments are in fact worthless, and that it’s only wrong-thinking people would pursue them.  I couldn’t.  Won’t try that again.  For whatever reason, lots of people think Accomplishments are worth collecting.  It’s exhausting and ungratifying to try to argue with that.

So from that exercise I distilled these bits about collection and Accomplishments, which I think do have merit despite my finding myself in a minority of gamers that feel that collection without reward is a gigantic waste of time and that Accomplishments just aren’t any fun:

1. Upon gathering all the “collectibles” that a game may offer (e.g. Flower’s secret blooms, Batman: Arkham Asylum’s Riddler challenges, GTA’s hidden packages), the game should award the player with something material; the player should be rewarded with something capable of affecting their in-game experience.  Accomplishments aren’t sufficient because they don’t allow the player to do something they couldn’t do before.
2. Accomplishments shouldn’t be awarded for doing something the game already considers an accomplishment.  For example, never award an Accomplishment for completing a level, mission, or any other section of a game.  In this case, the Accomplishment confers nothing: it’s no more a meaningful indication of progress any more than the progress itself, so it has no value in that respect.
3. Accomplishments shouldn’t be awarded for reaching an in-game milestone that’s also a prerequisite for the game’s completion.  That is, don’t reward me for doing something I’d have had to do anyway to reach a bigger and more satisfying reward: finishing the game.  If I reach that bigger reward then the smaller one seems meaningless by comparison.  If I don’t, then was the game really good enough for me to care about what Accomplishments I earned?
4. Accomplishments which are the sole reward for in-game challenges are dry. To be good conversation pieces, there should be a lot of them.  I think Borderlands had the right idea here: it has dozens of challenges but a smaller number of Accomplishments.  For those who care about Accomplishments, isn’t quantity much more important than quality considering that quality is really inapplicable?  Maybe provide a (big!) in-game reward for collecting all the game’s Accomplishments.  This is an easy way to add value to Accomplishments, either individually or as a set; just make sure that the reward is commensurate with the effort required to earn it.
5. Favor awarding Accomplishments in response to in-game acts that are outside the game’s mainstream; think “fourth wall humor” for games.  When Accomplishments betray a sense of humor on the part of the game designers, I find them much more gratifying.  I liken it to that feeling you get when you catch an SNL performer crack up during a skit.