Interesting article on Game Producer about seven things that make games fun. So, what is it that makes games fun to play?

1. Collecting stuff
Definitely! This is what made the Diablo games so great. The graphics weren’t too spectacular, the gameplay repetitive as hell, but the ability to collect and trade all sorts of kick ass items made up for that.

2. Personalizing stuff
Also present in Diablo II, although not that much. Best example in this category is The Sims. Let’s face it. This game is boring as hell, and still it’s a huge succes because you could personalize literally everything! And, of course, let’s not forget Second Life. Ugly, boring, slow and full of weirdos with some bizarre fetish. But at the moment, there’s nothing that’s more customizable.

3. Improving stuff
I think this is one of the top factors that makes a game great. Being able to improve and upgrade your equipment makes a game extra interesting. Examples: System Shock 2, Bioshock, the XCom games, and virtually every RPG ever made.

4. Challenging stuff
This is a tricky one. Of course nobody wants a game they can beat in no time, but sometimes game designers make something so ridiculously difficult it ruins the game. A while ago, I bought “Prince of Persia: Rival Swords” for the Wii. At one point, there was a chariot race through the city, followed by a battle that was nearly impossible to win. The chariot race was difficult enough already, and you couldn’t save between the race and the battle, so if you couldn’t finish the battle you also had to do the race again. There was a trick for winning the battle, but it was so complicated there was no way you could ever discover it on your own without looking at a walkthrough. And even if you know the trick, it’s almost impossible and it relies on pure luck. Never finished the game, put it on eBay and got rid of it.
An better example of a challenging battle is the fight between Leon and Krauser in Resident Evil 4. You are standing on a tower that’s rigged with explosives and you have only a limited amount of time before the building blows up and you get killed. Krauser is a tough bastard and it takes some effort to hit him and evade his attacks, but after a few tries you can get rid of him. Challenging but not frustrating.

5. Controlling stuff
Mmmm… Pretty obvious!

6. Creating stuff
Again, Diablo II. Crafting items, runewords, generating random magic items, … And again, Second Life. Or, building your own custom levels. Many games these days come with level editors, wich has led to huge amounts of custom game content.

7. Mysterious stuff
Loved the conspiracy and world-domination stuff in Deus Ex! Or the storyline of Baldur’s Gate, wich is in my opinion still one of the greatest games of all time.

Perhaps there’s one thing I would like to add to this list: destroying stuff! About ten years ago, there was this game called “Crusader: No Remorse”. Every level was full of things you could blow up. Graphically, the game was quite impressive for its time. It was also violent as hell. A few things you could do in the game was burning people alive (complete with the screaming and the running and the flailing their arms around) or melting their flesh off their bones. Ahhh, good times!