I started this blog to think more about games in general and instead I ended up playing one game all the time.
I am currently looking at games using the taxonomy I laid in my previous post (many months ago). Briefly, I see about 4.5 features that games typically address: Skinner's box stimulation, simulation, narrative, and mastery; with social interaction being the slightly incongruous .5. Most games hit a few of these points but my feeling is that the more successful games have a core feature that they deliver on very well and may then include some ancillary features as well.
Hearthstone addresses these features in a very nicely balanced ladder of importance providing me with what feels like a rich experience. Of course the key part that makes it so likable to me is that the way it prioritizes these features agrees with my personal preference for them.
I would argue that the core value proposition of Hearthstone is mastery. The thing that makes the game compelling is that there are things to learn, to understand, to improve upon. You can climb in ranks of constructed play, you can strive to get good at the draft format. You can try to get good any of the dozen or more popular decks to play, you can try to succeed with more fringe archetypes, or get creative and try to make something weird work. That is a lot of learning and improving upon.
Additionally, I find that for me to have mastery as the most appealing feature of a game I need to feel very in-control of the decision space that a game presents. I have trouble getting this feeling from real time games. In real time games there are points where you lack the experience to identify the possible options that are afforded to you or there is a a lack of mechanical skill to execute certain things. I find the former to be a limitation of a game like LoL and the latter to be a limitation of RTSs like Starcraft. The solution to these problems is typically raw practice time. And personally I find practice without conscious learning to be less satisfying. It's still really cool to feel like you have fast aim, or great last hitting timing, or great build timing in in an RTS, I just don't find it as satisfying as actively thinking about choices. Hearthstone is all about your choices and your knowledge.
Hearthstone also affords a feeling of exploration. A feature that I would lump under simulation of experience in my taxonomy, but whatever. The randomness of the game ensures that very often you are thrust onto little islands of terra incognita. Just like it is statistically unlikely that there have ever been two identically ordered random decks of playing cards (52! is a really large number) it is really unlikely that there have ever been two identical games of hearthstone. Which is not to say there aren't far too many stales games of hearthstone (but I am not writing about problems with HS right now) but very often you experience situations that you have never experienced before. One of the joys that games can provide is the ability to generate novelty and HS does that.
Collectible Card Games are the historical skinner's boxes of hard core gaming. Getting random shiny rares is always a great way to feed that random reward addiction. It's often feels like a cheap thrill but the rush of dopamine from micro rewards is undeniable. I think hearthstone manages to provide enough of these pleasant pings without giving the feeling of hollow addiction. You get to open packs with their random goodness but they typically come as a reward for game actions. You get special cards with a fancy aesthetic with some regularity. You get to level up and get micro rewards. But none of these things dominate the experience of the game and so you never feel like your are mindlessly pressing a button just for that mini fix.
A brief aside on what I am missing in Hearthstone
By far, my biggest gripe with Hearthstone is that there isn't more Hearthstone. Some of that is coming: more cards and more mechanics. But I also want to see more game modes, tournaments, more spectating options (more deck slots) etc.
Then, I would also like to see Hearthstone do better with the two pieces of my game taxonomy I haven't mentioned yet. First, that .5 feature of games: the social aspect. I want more ways to screw around with the game with my friends and more ways to engage with the community. Again, more game modes (tournaments, friendly formats) would go a long way towards this.
Lastly, and this is the least important to me but also seems like the easiest from a design standpoint, I would like to see more flavor/narrative features. As someone with limited WoW experience (played before any expansion and only got to about level 40) I have very little lore knowledge. But I would love to see cards have more varied vocalizations based on the the game boards and game states and I would love to read the flavor text of cards in game. Without knowledge of WoW Hearthstone is a bit light on character.
In summary
Hearthstone rocks and it makes me feel guilty for neglecting other gaming.
I promise me to write about other games soon...
