God or Hero: How Video Games Engage Us to Play Them (eBook)

Essay from the year 2012 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Other, grade: 1,3, University of Dortmund (Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik), course: Academic Writing: Video Games, language: English, abstract: The action adventure game "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time" and the life simulation game "The Sims 3" are two of the best-selling video games ever produced. Although both are very popular, they differ strongly from each other, not only concerning their structure but also in the game experience they offer their players. Video games are primarily developed and produced to entertain people and to make them enjoy their leisure time (Dickey), however, people have different desires and views of fun, and as a consequence their requirements on video games differ as well. To meet these requirements, game designers developed various genres which use different methods to engage the player to play and especially to keep playing. In this essay I will compare some of the game play strategies used in "The Sims 3" and in "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time" by investigating how they engage the player to keep on playing.