Clarifying the Problem: BRINK’s Implementation of an Extrinsic Reward System:
The problem is that Splash Damage implemented in Brink an Extrinsic Reward System that failed to have sufficient longevity (i.e. Level Cap of 20).
Study after study has shown that when you ‘reward’ players for activities that they would have already found intrinsically motivating, the participants eventually reach a state where they will cease to perform said activity without sufficient extrinsic rewards. Moreover, they are no longer intrinsically motivated to perform said activity or find it satisfying.
What We Can Learn from Children Who Lost the Will to Draw or Colour:
There is a famous study involving Grade School children who were paid to draw and colour. Ordinarily children love this activity and its creative expression. They will draw and colour for hours, and they do so when they feel like it or have an opportunity to participate.
The children who were paid, however, failed to be motivated to colour once there were no longer sufficient extrinsic motivators in place (i.e. they stopped getting paid). This study’s results have been replicated over and over in various fields with the same outcome each time.
Rank 5 is the Way That BRINK Was Meant to Be Played:
The real irony, in Splash Damage’s case, is that Rank 5 is the way that the game was ‘meant to be played’. In other words, rather than being a deliberate Variable Reward RPG progression Level Cap (maxed at Level 20), Rank 5 is the ‘training-wheels-off’ mode.
It Looks Like ‘Variable Reward’ and Feels Like ‘Variable Reward’, But Where’s My ‘Variable Rewards’?
The problem with the way Splash Damage implemented this feature of their game design in Brink is that, to the player, rewards are distributed in what feels like a Variable Reward system (i.e. the psychologically proven most motivating of extrinsic reward distribution system [as opposed to predictatable reward, etc.]).
That is, every so often, I hear a satisfying sound-effect thud in the post-game recap screen and the thuds just keep coming as new unlocks scroll across the bottom of my screen. Among the unlocks, I might get a “cool, new” outfit or an audio log in addition to the Ability Point that I’ve just earned. At this point, I can go and customize my character’s Appearance or assign myself new Abilities.
THEN, all of a sudden, THE REWARDS STOP COMING…
As Splash Damage, you just violated the fundamental principle of a Variable Reward system.
An Aside on Why You Might Be Blissfully Unaware:
[I]As an aside, if the permanent dry spell of unlocks and abilities doesn’t bother you in the slightest and you are blissfully unaware of their absence at Level 20, then you obviously weren’t extrinsically motivated in the first place. That is, you’ve been playing the game, because you were intrinsically motivated to do so.
Good for you.
This doesn’t discount, however, that Splash Damage directly encouraged players to embrace the extrinsic motivators in Brink and then left them high and dry.
As I imagine it, it is an oversight, but it is a significant one, nonetheless. Splash Damage’s system in Brink is an emulation of other game’s Level Progression systems, but without the understanding of why the others work in the first place.
You almost never run out of things to do in CoD, because it takes an eternity to grind through CoD’s Prestiges. The extrinsic rewards just keep on coming.
You may hit Level Cap in WoW, but that’s not the sole instance of extrinsic motivators in WoW. A key feature of WoW is the collection of Loot, and Loot, as an extrinsic motivator, is distributed by Variable Reward.
Splash Damage has made a tremendous oversight with their Level Cap in Brink.[/I]
A Proposed Fix: An Imperfect Solution to a Problem That SPLASH DAMAGE Doesn’t Even Realize That They Have
It seems to me that the only fix is, as the OP suggested, to implement a Leveling System that exceeds the Level Cap of 20. The obvious flaw with this design, though, is the mechanic of Re-Specing your character past the Level Cap of 20.
The Re-Spec feature was designed so that the act of Re-Specing gave you the flexibility to try out different abilities, and it made your progression significant by moderately punishing you (via Ability Point and Level demotion) when you gave it a try.
If players were granted the opportunity to Level-Up their characters past the current Level Cap of 20, then I propose that admission to Additional Leveling should impose another penalty*:
Leveling-Up past the current Level 20 max Level Cap should come with especially severe Re-Spec’ing Penalties
* - more for the sake of the Game’s Mechanics and Game Balance rather than because it is necessary in a Level Progression system
It would be necessary to demote player according to the following scheme:
Level 20 --> Level 19; Lose 1 Ability Point
Level 21-24 --> Level 19; Lose 1 Ability Point
greater than or equal to Level 25 --> Reduce 5 Levels per Re-Spec; No Loss of Ability Point
Given the geometric sequence of experience points required for Leveling, the demotion of 5 Levels past Level 25 would be a severe deterrent to players who were trying to Level-Up, but it would not be prohibitive if a Re-Spec’ed loadout were required by virtue of some revelation on the player’s part. (Additional “Are you sure?” prompts would probably be prudent when setting Ability Points in Re-Spec mode past Level 25.)
Otherwise, without the penalty of a 5-Level-Drop, Re-Spec’ing could be easily abused by players who have surpassed Level 20. A 5-Level plummet limits the number of Re-Spec’ing opportunities that you will have, so, as a player, you will be forced to be judicious with their use.
