What drives you forward in a game?

When you're involved in your favourite pass time, what compels you to keep playing more than anything else? Is it strong and engaging gameplay or is it a narrative to follow? Maybe it's competitiveness. I am curious...

Personally, I need good gameplay to keep me engaged. Without it, I cannot begin to enjoy a game.

Next is competitiveness. I spend a scary amount of time with time trial leader boards or just trying to out do myself. I always have that "I can definately shave off a few milliseconds here" mentality. It's somewhat of an addiction of mine

lastly it's story. A good narrative is always welcomed as long as it does not heavily diminish the gameplay. I hate it when the story forces the gameplay in bad directions or controls your pacing. This gen is pretty bad for that.

it's got to keep me interested and not be too hard.

If a game is too hard I will quit and probably never play it again.

A good example of this for me, is FFX. I made it all the way to SIN and I couldn't beat the darn thing and so I gave up and never touched the game again.

I really need to feel as if I'm working towards accomplishing objectives which will drive the story forward in a meaningful sense.

OCD.

I think for meit's a complete package deal: graphics, music, characters, story, atmosphere, and gameplay.

Atmosphere and a general sense of immersion, mainly.

My need for digital entertainment.

Atmosphere and a general sense of immersion, mainly.

broken_bass_bin

This. Some games I play for gameplay, but I can fully enjoy a game that isn't "fun" if the atmosphere can really draw me in. Killer 7 is one of my favorite games. Is it fun? Not really. But it's a twisted and surreal experience that I've played through many times. This gameplay was chosen to complement the style and story, Suda said so in an interview. It was an artistic choice, and I fully support it.

So I suppose I disagree about not letting story control the gameplay. I think it works for some games at least. Mainly, I play games to live another life. The immersion does something that movies, comics, anime, etc can't. So if it achieves this, it doesn't need to be fun. It just needs to be interesting.

Good gameplay of course and also the story (no matter how good or bad it is)

I agree with the story and gameplay. It also need the right amount of difficulty, not too easy but not impossible either. Even if it's really difficult, as long as I still want to keep playing because of other factors, I'll keep trying until I get past it.

For me, I tend to be driven forward in RPGs by the sheer desire to better my character and optimize gear. Having an engaging world that peaks curiosity beyond the main quest is a driving factor as well.

In other games, it is either the desire to win, or the following of a story that keeps me going.

What drives me forward in a game? Good gameplay. That's all that matters to me, plus how much fun it is. It also depends on the game and the genre, so for example, as long as it has a good story with characters that you grow to love or hate, but you can't imagine the game without them, good gameplay that's varied and that's good for me!

it has a good story and gameplay multiplayer free roam ahhhh the love of them or just the randomness of a game.but in all honesty freeroam hits it home for me.

Different game have different draws.

I could mention a list of specifics, but when it comes down to it, I'll continue playing if I'm having fun. Usually this is derived from a combination of elements coming together the right way, so it's no one thing more than another. Gaming is first and foremost about fun....if I'm not having any, I lose my motivation to continue.

Atmosphere and a general sense of immersion, mainly.

broken_bass_bin

something that is not overly frustrating.

Trophies first and foremost then the replay value of it keeps me playing after i have the platinum. It must have fun multiplayer and good long story mode with fun characters.

A good story. It's why I prefer JRPGs over generic shooters. I love the focus on story telling and the memorable characters.

Gameplay is my second motivation. In games like Tales of the Abyss or Persona 4, I like getting into battle encounters because the battle system in those games are so much fun. (It's quite the opposite in shooters. A battle encounter in a shooters feels more like a chore, and there's very little emphasis on the story. One of the reasons I hated Resistance so much was because the longest cutscene was about half a minute long. -_-)

For me it's storyline hands-down.

If I'm going to invest time in sitting down and playing this game, I want a story that grabs me from the get go.

Then as you go along the other factors make their way into the equation and the then holds slightly less significance.

Once I'm hooked good gameplay can excuse a plot hole or two in my mind.

But if we're talking from the second I'm asked to 'push start to play,' there had better be a good intro scene just around the corner.

I am shocked at the overwhelming tilt towards story in your guys' answers. After all, we are talking about video GAMES... I was fully expecting that GAMEplay would be the biggest driving factor for GAMErs.

Colour me surprised

The story. If theres no story or the story sucks,I see little reason to care about why I'm doing anything in the game. The story provides motivation.