Rollercoaster Tycoon Summary

Hany Kim
WR150 Paper 1 Final Draft
Report: 7/17/2012

Rollercoaster Tycoon: Enjoyment from the Mixture of Challenges

Abstract: Jesper Juul wrote the book Half Real: Video Games between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds (2005), which discusses game structures and explains the related impact to the players. In the chapter three of the book, Juul emphasizes that different rule structures provide different kinds of challenges in games. Accordingly, there are two distinctive ways of categorizing games: “games of progression that directly set up each consecutive challenge in a game, and games of emergence that set up challenges indirectly because the rules of the game interact” (67). Further, he claims, “[m]any games can be found on a scale
between emergence and progression” (71). This paper will expand upon Jesper Juul’s argument which points out games may hold both emergent and progressive challenges, and will argue that this mixture of challenges strongly promote players’ pleasure to play.
Drawing upon the evidence in the game Rollercoaster Tycoon and Juul’s claims in Half-Real, the paper will ultimately proves how Rollercoaster Tycoon attempts to increase players’ enjoyment with exciting experiences through emergent and progressive challenges. This paper will also raise larger questions about the cardinal role of the game rules and effective ways to enhance the quality of games by creating sophisticated challenges.

In the book Half-Real, Jesper Juul analyzes rule structures in games, applying his arguments with diverse illustrations of games. Especially in chapter three, he describes rules as the most contributing element to the enjoyment of players’ gameplay. Through different rule structures, players experience varied challenges to overcome. Sometimes the players encounter self-defined challenges with very simple set of rules, and sometimes they deal with series of challenges by specific case-by-case rules. Juul refers the former as “games of emergence” and the latter as “games of progression” (67). However, most games combine both structures, as Juul states that “[m]any games can be found on a scale between emergence and progression” (71). Unquestionably, the game Rollercoaster Tycoon, a simulation game of developing individualized amusement parks, embodies both emergent and progressive components within its challenges. Open-ended scenarios allow the players to exploit varied strategies in the ways they want. Thus, they build their parks with wide diversity of outcomes and attach themselves to the outcomes. At the same time, the game requires completing missions for each scenario encouraging the players to feel great joy in accomplishing goals and overcoming consecutive challenges. Ultimately, Rollercoaster Tycoon successfully increases the players’ enjoyment of their gameplay, since it provides great opportunities to experience both emergent and progressive challenges. As one of the simulation games, Rollercoaster Tycoon thrust the players into a fascinating adventure of self-designing amusement parks; the players apply only simple rules but have a huge number of emergent choices to manage their parks. In Half-Real, Juul states, “[e]mergence is the primordial game structure where a game is specified as a small number of rules that combine and yield a large game tree” (73). He believes that emergence games are based on quite easy and simple rules which eventually lead to surprisingly diverse gameplays. Similarly, emergence characteristics in Rollercoaster Tycoon induce every single player to conduct different plays in managing his or her park with personal preferences. There are tons of ways to decorate the landscapes and to build constructions including roller coasters, other interesting rides, bathrooms, food kiosks, and etc. By offering numerous possibilities of choices, the game lets the players accomplish a great work of interesting outcomes. Moreover, Rollercoaster Tycoon attracts players to voluntary participate in creating various strategies. According to Juul, “emergence games give the player freedom to play a game using different strategies” (77). Using their own strategies, the players create their special amusement parks with different perspectives. As a result, they become strongly attached to their achievement as well as the game. In addition, Rollercoaster Tycoon also presents progressive challenges, as every scenario has specified missions to complete.
For instance, the goals might be given to fill a required number of the visitors or to exceed a certain amount of profit. These required missions are in sequence and become more difficult as the level rises. The players should complete the consecutive missions in time, and if they fail, they cannot unlock the next scenario. Corresponding to this, Juul poses that “[i]n the progression game, the challenges presented can be explicitly designed on a case-by-case bases, and the designer can work with the players current expectation and current repertoire” (97). Consider Rollercoaster Tycoon, for example. The game designers develop the pre-defined order of progressive challenges in Rollercoaster Tycoon to make the game more challenging as the level of scenario goes up, and they are able to match the difficulty of the missions as well as possible to fit the players’ standards of repertoire. This effort to offer gradual complication keeps the players from getting bored, but motivates them to complete the challenges with towering ambitions. Hence, the progressive missions encourage the players to truly enjoy the game in parallel with their enthusiastic completion of the
requirements. While the players experience several scenarios, they become deeply involved into the combined challenges and their strategies are getting better by degrees.
They realize the faster ways to complete the goals and make fewer mistakes. This means, the players actually learn effective ways to perform their gameplays during playing the game. In respond to this phenomena, Juul says, “[i]f games are challenging, they are also challenging in a way that players often learn to surmount” “To play a game is essentially a learning experience where the player acquires the skills needed to overcome the challenges of the game” (95). In other words, Juul believes that challenges in games enable the players to advance their performance by “expanding and refining the repertoire” (96). In short, Rollercoaster Tycoon not only satisfies entertaining objective, but also it provides exhilarating “learning experience” to the
players. Indeed, this very well-structured game captures many players’ interests and exceeds their expectations by constructing the mixture of emergence and progression within various challenges. The players take great advantages from the combined gameplays getting deeply involved in the game. Emergent challenges allow them to use individualized strategies in their favors, and progressive challenges let the game be always properly challenging instead of boring. In addition, these integrated rule structures ultimately leads the players to improve their skills through exciting adventures. In short, Rollercoaster Tycoon proves how games with combined challenges of emergence and progression attempt to increase players’ pleasure. The game obviously suggests an important clue about the role of the game rules and effective ways to enhance the quality of games with diverse challenges.

Words Count: 1098