I’ve always found myself bouncing off hard on “make your own fun” type games like Minecraft or the newer Zeldas. This extends to any type of game that has no clear goals or motivators.

Turns out I’m just an extrinsically motivated gamer. For me, it’s about the destination, not the journey. I enjoy games that keep me going with rewards promised at each step of the way. When given the choice to be creative with the tools I’m given, I’ll just find the most efficient way of getting it done.

I’d like to hear what type of gamers y’all are. What type of games bring you joy?

  • “Extrinsically motivated” games I like: I’ll play it once, beat it, play a bit of post game, drop it.

    “Intrinsically motivated” games I like: make my own stupid-ass goal, spend dozens and dozens of hours on it, finally do the stupid thing, progressed 1% further through the game, get bored, drop it, but then I pick it up again thinking about doing another stupid-ass thing.