Spiral Knights - Is SK using the Skinner Box?

Is SK using the Skinner Box?

3 replies [Last post]

Mon, 07/29/2013 - 13:16

Usevnsevnsixfivfor

First off, this http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tWtvrPTbQ_c&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DtWtv...

Now that I put that up, I want to add on. While there is no level system (aside from heat which doesn't really count) to,keep the player on late at night, I feel like it has the Diablo system where you just mashmashmash crowns. Not to mention the only skill involved is knowing the enemies' attacks. Take FSC for example. Most players bring a blitz (and chaos) and elemental sword along with the party bomber and all that is needed is charging your Skylark-powered brandishes and blitzes or swinging your DA like a flag or moving your knight's arm in a circle while grabbing a gun, firing it, and swapping it out or placing black holes with electric power or flash freezing zombies and voila! Best crown source. No offence to anyone who uses these methods as I too spam Combuster and Blitz charges. The only time something different happens is when someone doesn't bring a blitz or has only pierce resist and no fire or stun resist. The 22500 daily crowns is like the reward for players who feel needed to spend the 100 mist or use their ele pass to their full advantage to spend the crowns on CE or accessories.

By this was intended before the gigaupdate coming in (planned to be) two days from this post. Give your thoughts if you agree.

Mon, 07/29/2013 - 13:48

Batabii

Why is your url SO LONG? It doesn't even show the whole thing!

http://youtu.be/tWtvrPTbQ_c

Mon, 07/29/2013 - 16:09

Traevelliath

The problem with any MMO is that it takes less time to play through content than it does to actually make the content. With an MMO, you NEED to have some incentive to repeat the same content. I do agree with the "Skinners Box" type effect in Spiral Knights. For me FSC is just too boring to run anymore, yet it's one of the few reliable sources of money, which is required to upgrade/acquire gear (ignoring the whole "I can make 5000+CE a day as a merchant!").

However, SK does have the "mastery" element to it, which is something a lot of MMOs lack. The difficulty escalates incredibly quickly as you go from one tier to another. In tier 3, the brute strength of most attacks rewards player skill over player equipment. In addition, because of SK's three weapon types, you have three completely different playstyles, in addition to hybrid builds. The problem of course is that, in order to get said equipment, you need to farm a lot. The price to acquire a variety of equipment discourages players from branching out. Hopefully the new Alchemy Orb system will change that, and it sounds like it will.

Mon, 07/29/2013 - 17:19

Broxaim

First of all I <3 Extra

First of all
I <3 Extra Credits
and you can also look up the micro transactions episode.

to answer your question
Yes, SK uses Skinner Box, but a lot of games use skinner box.

Off the top of my head ...
the UV system is probably the biggest offender, when crafting the reward is quite random
the mist system (which they are getting rid off) which is a routined reward system, to get people to play daily, or they feel that they have wasted free mist.
the daily missions
and any form of randomised stuff really like
lockboxes
the end of level awards
randomised dungeons even, but I don't see it as a detriment
randomised loot, but they do allow you to exchange tokens for materials, and also have AH so it is mostly negated.

I'm sure there's more skinner box techniques, and also player conditioning techniques.

Not all of it is BAD...

Search

Is SK using the Skinner Box?