Replayability in Strategic Computer Games
Abstract
The idea for this master thesis originates in a curiosity concerning why so many of the strategy games from the 1990's are still being played today. Many of the games still have very active fans that modify their old favourite games for online play just so that they can share their passion with other fans around the world. What aspects about these strategy games is it that promotes the level of replayability that has kept them fresh while so many other games have disappeared from play. Out of this curiosity came the question: How do rules and aspects of narrative affect the replayability of a strategic computer game and why are some games replayed even after they have been completed multiple times? To discover what creates the replayability in the old strategy games a thorough analysis of Master of Orion II: Battle at Antares (MicroProse 1996) has been carried out. This analysis was compared with the responses from a qualitative internet survey posted on the fan forums of numerous of the most famous strategy games of the 1990's. The theoretical foundation of the thesis is in hermeneutics, ludology, narratology and flow theory. Together the analysis and the survey have yielded much information on how replayability is created in a strategy game. My conclusion states the nature of that information and suggests a few points that should be included in the production of a strategy game to make it replayable.
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