CARROT ON A STICK

There's a saying that good game design is like holding a carrot on a stick in front of the players. This came from the idea of dealing with mules, an infamously stubborn creature. When pushed and shoved, yanked and tugged, mules refuse to go where they're told. However, by tying a carrot to some string and hanging it from a stick in front of the mule's face, the mule will walk straight toward it, of its own accord. That way the mule driver gets the mule to go exactly where he wants to go, and the mule thinks that he's the one going where he wants... In many ways, players are a lot like mules, and game designers are the drivers. You create this experience for the players to see, but you have to make them see it. The more you try to force the player to go somewhere and see what you want them to see, the more they resist it. But by manipulating the world around them, letting them decide where to go, you can dangle carrots in front of them, and they will naturally see what you want and..