The Most Satisfying Reward Might Be To Remove a Problem

It is tempting to see progression in games as a process of gaining more and more resources and options. But options create noise. When players have many options, it takes more effort to decide what to do, and they risk making the wrong choice and regretting it. Rewards that instead remove constraints and liabilities empower players by freeing up attention to make better decisions with less effort. Subtractive rewards create relief, which can be a powerful motivator.

Deckbuilding games teach players the value of subtractive progression at the strategic level. In Dominion, you draw five cards per turn. As you add new cards to your deck, you realize that every weak starter card you draw is one less chance to draw something better. It gets even worse with curses, which not only prevent you from drawing something useful, but are negative victory points at the end of the game. Fortunately, the game has many ways to trash cards, such as the Chapel. Dumping four bad cards in one go is one of the most satisfying feelings in the game.

Unwanted cards in deckbuilding games have minor attention costs since you only consider them on a strategic level, but other games impose more immediate tactical concerns. In Bohnanza, you must plant beans in your hand in order. You have a limited number of plots and may be forced to harvest one type of bean early in order to plant another, preventing you from scoring points for it. However, you can get rid of beans in your hand by trading them away to other players. This removes an ongoing source of tension.

The relief felt by removing burdens is especially powerful when applied to permanent progression. In Spirit Island, the spirit Wounded Waters Bleeding must destroy one of its presence markers or forget a power card every turn. This creates tension because if a spirit loses all of its presence, everybody loses the game, and losing power cards makes a spirit weaker. However, once Wounded Waters Bleeding earns its second healing card, it stops hemorrhaging resources. This is a major milestone in its personal narrative arc, where it stops running damage control and turns its attention to the other problems at hand.

Subtractive rewards can operate at the strategic level, as in Dominion, the tactical level, as in Bohnanza, or the narrative level, as in Spirit Island. In all cases, they provide relief from sources of tension and distraction. I use subtractive rewards in my own game, Sprocketforge, where players generate exhaust from their factories and have various ways to get rid of it before it becomes a problem. Subtractive rewards simplify decision-making, and players like simplicity.