Have you ever wondered why some games last forever while others are a mere flash in the pan? You could probably think of a dozen timeless games that you’ve played for decades, as well as many more games you played once and then forgot about.
It’s something we’re seeing more and more in the general games industry. The last year alone has seen two pretty big new games shut down within a few months. XDefiant and Concord both held the elements of successful online games – the former mimicked much of what makes Call of Duty popular, while the latter was in the style of Overwatch.
So, why weren’t these games successful? More specifically, what’s the secret to creating a timeless game that never goes out of fashion?
Classics like mahjong have nailed this down for generations, and it’s a lot simpler than you think. It turns out that games like these contain a mixture of the following elements to keep people coming back for more:
Cheap or free to enjoy
Think about some of the other timeless games apart from mahjong:
- Chess
- Uno
- Monopoly
- League of Legends
- Counter-Strike
That’s a good combination of classic board/card games and online video games. On the face of things, these games couldn’t be any different. They all involve different elements with different ways of winning the game.
And yet, they’ve got one key thing in common: they’re either cheap to buy or completely free to play.
Classic board or card games have one upfront cost and then you play them for eternity. The same is true for chess, mahjong, and other similar games – though you can also find these online for free! That’s also the case for League of Legends and Counter-Strike: the games are completely free to download, install, and play.
This is where a lot of games fail – they’re either ridiculously expensive or force you to keep buying add-ons to progress through the games. Often, the simplest solution is the best: make the game free or make it cheap to buy.
Mentally stimulating & challenging
Games will never stand the test of time if they’re too easy. That’s why you don’t tend to play Go Fish when you’re an adult – it was fun as a child, but it doesn’t present a challenge to adults. All of the games we’ve mentioned above are mentally stimulating and challenging in their own ways.
Take chess, for example. It’s a strategy game based on out-thinking your opponent and moving pieces on a board. There are loads of moves to make, and it’s a game that starts hard, gets easier, and then continues to challenge you as you play against tougher opponents.
This is also why puzzle games like mahjong or solitaire outlast many modern games. They make you think – and you can set difficulty levels to alter the challenge. You’ll never reach a point where mahjong or solitaire becomes too easy.
That’s why people love games like Minecraft, too. It’s probably the most popular game of the last two decades, and this is largely down to how mentally stimulating it is. The game revolves around building things, mining for resources, and going on adventures. It has no endpoint, which encourages you to challenge yourself and try new things continuously.
Some games fail to captivate their audience for more than a couple of months/years because they’re not challenging enough. Personally, that’s why a lot of new online games fail – like XDefiant. It tries too hard to replicate what comes before it, but its audience is already adept in shooter games like Call of Duty. There’s no challenge when this game comes out because they’ve been there and done it.
Provide a sense of progression
Timeless games constantly give you a feeling of progression. You never feel like you’ve met your limit – there’s always something else for you to do or a new challenge to attempt. In games like Counter-Strike or League of Legends, progression comes from the in-game ranking systems. You’re encouraged and motivated to keep playing so you can climb the rankings. Even when you reach the highest rank in Counter-Strike, you’re motivated to hold onto it.
Looking at more traditional games, they offer progression in different ways. For mahjong, it’s about increasing the puzzle difficulty – or trying to solve puzzles in a faster time than before. That’s also what makes chess so replayable; you either find harder opponents or increase the computer’s difficulty.
Another classic game that’s been popular for decades is Pokemon. Some would argue it’s perhaps not the most challenging game ever, but it does give you a sense of progression. There are the main story missions to complete, and then you have to fill your Pokedex. After that, you can try to catch shiny Pokemon or take part in battles against other people from around the world. The fact you have many things to do means it’s hard for the game to grow stale and boring.
Give you different ways to play
The Pokemon example is also an example of this point! Great games give you many ways to play and enjoy them. You have the normal way, but you can also switch things up and try something different. It means that if you start getting bored of playing one way, you can play another and get a whole new experience.
This is why games like Uno and Monopoly have dominated the gaming scene for so long. Both provide the “base-level” game to play, though you can also introduce House Rules to complicate them and change things around. For example, if you get bored playing normal Uno, you can introduce the 0s and 7s rule to change what happens when these cards are placed.
It’s a similar situation with mahjong, solitaire, and other games like these. You may start playing one version of the game, but another is available if you tweak the rules or alter how the playing board is set up.
In conclusion, timeless games may not contain all of these elements, but they will contain a few of them. It’s what sets them apart from the rest and holds the secret to creating a game that stands the test of time.
