Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs For a while now I have been thinking about character development as the central focus of a game. In this domain all gamplay would be a means to an end to achieve character growth. If the player was driven to gain wealth they might do it by capturing wanted criminals, robbing banks, or hard work, all would be valid means to pursue the characters goal, but each method would also shape the way the character develops. In looking for a way to design a game around character growth I have repeatedly come back to the idea of modelling the core game mechanics around Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. For those who don’t know Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is a theory of human motivation. “Maslow posited a hierarchy of human needs based on two groupings: deficiency needs and growth needs. Within the deficiency needs, each lower need must be met before moving to the next higher level. Once each of these needs has been satisfied, if at some future time a deficiency is detected, the individual will act to remove the deficiency. The first four levels are: 1) Physiological: hunger, thirst, bodily comforts, etc.; 2) Safety/security: out of danger; 3) Belonginess and Love: affiliate with others, be accepted; and 4) Esteem: to achieve, be competent, gain approval and recognition. 5) Cognitive: to know, to understand, and explore; 6) Aesthetic: symmetry, order, and beauty; 7) Self-actualization: to find self-fulfillment and realize one's potential; and 8) Self-transcendence: to connect to something beyond the ego or to help others find self-fulfillment and realize their potential.“ Could effective gameplay be derived from these levels? Here is what I have come up with as possible translations of those levels into areas of gameplay. 1) Physiological - Hunger, Thirsty, fatigue and temperature stats. Hunger and thirst increase over time and are decreased by eating and drinking, different foods would modify these stats in different ways and may modify other character aspects. Fatigue increases over time and as result of activity, it is decrease by sleeping. Temperature is a measure of how far from optimal temperature the character is clothing and environment change this. 2) Safty/Security - The need for shelter for can be abstracted in too two stats moral and health. The more adverse the conditions and the longer the character is exposed them the more detrimental the effect on moral and health is. The inverse would also be true. 3) Belonginess - This would be a social driver in the game, the need to socialize with npc and develop friendships. Rather then a stat as seen in the sims this would be reflected by the need to interact with others to develop the character and purse goals. 4) Esteem – This is recognition for the characters achievements by those around them. Whether it be fame or infamy the desire to be recognized by others and the effect of that recognition will motive the character to accomplish things. 5) Cognitive – The growth of knowledge, the improvement of skills, and the simple desire to explore the world around them. 6) Aesthetic – The desire to enhance the characters surrounding, the improvement of their home and encouraging the growth of order around them. 7) Self-actualization – The pursuit of what motivates the character and the attainment of this single driving goal. 8) Self-transcendence - I’m not sure about this one, in theory a character who has reach this point has developed to their final state it may even be the end state for the game. But somehow the player improves them self by aiding the development of others. These stages would be the core mechanics of the game that in turn motivate the player to play. It’s raining, you’re hungry and alone. Player must now find food to feed there character. Once fed they need shelter to stop their health from dropping. Now fed, and dry you can rest till the rain stops and then look for a town. Now in a town you need money if you want to continue to have food and shelter. Finding work not only provides money but it can provide recognition if you do the job well. Is there a better way to build a game around character development? What ways can this rough model be improved?

This is essentially how the Sims works. You run around going to work and stuff so that you have enough money to fulfill the hunger need (and higher paying jobs make it easier to fulfill the sleep need). The further up the hiearchy you go, the more difficult it is to achieve that need. Consequentially, it's easier to find a mate in the game than it is to get the character to the exact state you desire.

the sims is created in mind that the player tries to identify themselves (or the their alternative "I") with the characters in game, therefore, it got also those factors as hunger, thirsty, need for entertainment / social environment etc.. I think, that why that game is also such popular even without any internet playing possiblity (at least not in the basic version). "Just try to play and make your little puppet as happy as you can and let him do things you always wanted to do yourselve in the reality and see how it works". That's also a reason why a very high percentage of players of that game are females (a lot higher than statistics can say as a big part of the players never goes online to be taken part into the statistics).

But for a "normal" RPG, with the standard audience, i think that the model can't be completely adapted into the virtual environment. A Player goes play games, not to satisfy his needs, or the hunger / thirsty of his character, what players want (at least those playing online) are those higher needs, respect, glory, communication,acceptance etc. through their characters. Therefore, at least the basic needs can't be applied 1:1. Some aspects of some games (like stamina affecting your duration of keep running) can be intepreted as physical comforts / thirsty, but indeed they are only some stats making the game more funny, or keep it balanced (warriors runs faster than magicians e.g.).

Just my thought.

I think many parts of it could be used in RPGs and to a lesser degree FPS and RTS (enemy AI).

One thing that's been bothering me is that the enemy don't act rationally. In FPS games they usually swarm at you just to me mowed down. They also usually have infinite ammo (I've never seen anyone run out at least). By using the three primary elements of of the pyramid (Physical, safety/security and belongings) it could be imrpoved. Physical is health, safety is wether or not he's being shot at and if his team-mates are alive, and belongings is weapons, ammo and armor. Love could be put in there as well, but in a more team-spirit kind of way. He'll try to protect his team mates. If he's running low on health he should retreat and try to get healing or use medipack. If he's being shot at he should take cover so that he doesn't get hurt (prime need), and if his team mates are slaughtered he should try to help them or retreat (many options here). If he's running low on ammo he should conserve it and find more. The same goes for armor. If he can get a better weapon than the one he has he should get it.

This could also be used for RTS games, wether the unit is controlled by the player or the computer. If his needs are not met he'll not do as he's commanded, panic, or desert.

In RPG games it could be used for enemies and NPCs.

Enemies will try to kill the player to gain esteem or belongings, but will try to escape if they feel their safety or health is in danger. It's up to the player if he wants to pursue. They're probably weak enemies (low rewards for killing him), but if he manages to escape he might come back with some of his friends.
Other enemies might follow a baser need - hunger. They'll be less inclined to try to escape, but they might try to flee if they're pounded enough. Again other enemies might try to defend their territory (belongings), but they'll retreat if they feel unsafe, or if they get hurt.

I think there should be a "berserker-mode" as well though. If the enemy get's pissed enough he'll not try to flee no matter what. His only need at that point is to kill his enemy, belongings, safety and health be damned.

NPCs could have a more or less simple set of scripts that gets executed according to his needs at any given point. When they're tired they go to their house and sleeps, when hungry or thirsty they go and eat or drink. If a horde of monsters invade their town or farm they'll fight or flee. If all is ok, they'll try to get more belongings by working at a shop or in the field, and they help out their loved ones.
All of this could either by done on the fly based on their current status and needs, or it could be simulated by creating a list of things to do at what time of the day. Anything is better than the normal life in RPGs - they just stand around and wait for the player to come over and say hi.

I'm not sure if the higher needs are at all possible to model in, but if it is then it would be cool. Esteem might be simple enough as well - they'll try to impress their peers. Especially visible among soldier NPCs.

For the players part the various needs could reflect on his characters performance. For realism he might have to bring rations and water bottles with him when he goes on a quest, and his health and stamina has obvious consequences if they're neglected.
The rest of the needs comes more or less naturally in the course of an RPG. Some care could be taken in the design of the story and quests though.
Belongings - looting enemies and looking for treasure.
Love - At the very least, being able to get people on his side. Many games lets the player recruit NPCs to join his team. In SW:KoTOR 2 the player has to make sure that he has the team mates approval.
Esteem - Completing quests, killing monsters and generally kick ass.
Cognitive - Most RPGs have a lot of books you can read and non-combat skills that is very helpful to know.
Aesthetic - Very notable in WoW. Trying to get a combination of armor pieces that looks good seems to be very hard [smile].
Self-actualization - Kill the boss, become the new ruler, win the game.
Self-trancendence - no idea, though often the quest is to rescue someone or saving the world, so it might apply.


In summary: In my opinion any game could benefit from basing the reactions of the NPCs and enemies on Maslow's Hierarchy of needs, or a custom list along the same lines. If done right it will add a tremendous amount of realism and the feeling that you're actually in another world, not sitting in front of your computer playing a game.

You don't necessarily have to *give* the enemy AI things such as esteem points among their peers. You can short-cut that by building the perception of comraderie between opponents.

The only flaw in maslows theory of needs is that it is prioritized by what people will do first in a pyramid structure, when in reality the model is flat. People can worry about being loved by family at the same time that they worry about finding the next meal while living in complete chaos (no safety). My point: people can multi-task.

You can implement parts of maslows needs into a game design. The most commonly used need put into games is "self-actualization" -- Be the hero and save the world from evil!
Eatting food is a realistic idea for an RPG game, but it shouldn't be something that distracts people from the main objective of the game: saving the world.
The need for eatting food can be a critical strategic consideration in strategy games however. If you burn a towns crop feilds, the citizens will starve to death.

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Original post by JoeDB But for a "normal" RPG, with the standard audience, i think that the model can't be completely adapted into the virtual environment. A Player goes play games, not to satisfy his needs, or the hunger / thirsty of his character, what players want (at least those playing online) are those higher needs, respect, glory, communication,acceptance etc. through their characters. Therefore, at least the basic needs can't be applied 1:1. Some aspects of some games (like stamina affecting your duration of keep running) can be intepreted as physical comforts / thirsty, but indeed they are only some stats making the game more funny, or keep it balanced (warriors runs faster than magicians e.g.). Just my thought.

Why not? Remember Maslows Heirachy of needs is a method for modelling human motivation.

The player sees their character is hungry that motivates them to find food for their character. Once they know their character is no longer hungry they will conciously or subconciously progress up the pyramid until the reach the next unfufilled level. If that was Esteem then the player would decided that they need to perform more "quest" to increase their characters fame in that city. Doing quest in the same city with the character at the same "level" will only motivate the player for so long then they must decided to either improve their character in some way or find a new city to become accepted in. Like wise once the player feels they have seen as much as they want too at the momement and developed the character as far as they desire at that point, they turn to improving the wold around them. Whether it be by creating a home for their character or by improving the place there are now. Eventally after they have done that for a while they will reach a point where they either go back to exploring or forward in pursuit of their goal.

That all sound like it can be effectivly transformed into RPG gameplay to me. Am I wrong?

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Original post by frostburn I think many parts of it could be used in RPGs and to a lesser degree FPS and RTS (enemy AI). ... In summary: In my opinion any game could benefit from basing the reactions of the NPCs and enemies on Maslow's Hierarchy of needs, or a custom list along the same lines. If done right it will add a tremendous amount of realism and the feeling that you're actually in another world, not sitting in front of your computer playing a game.

Your right Maslow's Hierachy of Needs could defintly be used as you have described to great success. By modelling AI behviour around this system then that elusive notion of realisim could indeed be added to games.

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Original post by slayemin The only flaw in maslows theory of needs is that it is prioritized by what people will do first in a pyramid structure, when in reality the model is flat. People can worry about being loved by family at the same time that they worry about finding the next meal while living in complete chaos (no safety). My point: people can multi-task.

But its not flat, people exist to some degree in all levels of the pyramid but they are always driven by the most base of levels that they are lacking. No one ever thinks about learning quantum physics if they are starving or living in an a constant state of fear for their very life.