What's my motivation?

Abstract

The instantiation of interactive artworks typically requires the actions of a performer who in many cases is also the principal audience of the work. In the case of videogames this performer is the player. While much of the performance of a videogame is automated, by being generated by the game’s algorithm, the player’s performance also contributes significantly to the content of an individual playing. This might lead us to question the motivations that drive the performance of players. Are gamers like actors following some kind of script? Where there are player-characters in a game, do players identify in some sense with the motivations of their gameworld characters? How does the unfolding narrative motivate the player to act in the gameworld? How does rule and objective gameplay—presumably a powerful motivating feature in many games—relate to the genre conventions, narrative scripting, and roleplaying motivations? This example-driven paper examines the notion of performance motivation in videogames. I argue that the question of what motivates players is itself an ambiguous one, and that as well as involving the interests, emotions and goals of players, performance motivation also draws on the algorithmic and artistic structures that embody gaming interactivity. The paper illustrates these issues with examples drawn from the games, The Last of Us, Minecraft and Grand Theft Auto V.