What Deus Ex Human Revolution's Malik Mission Taught Me About Player Efficacy

I completed Deus Ex: Human Revolution a couple weeks ago, but from time to time I still play a mission which is, besides from being extremely cool and thrilling, a very interesting illustration of game design and player efficacy: Without spoiling it too much, it involves Captain Malik, the loyal and brave pilot who has (I'm pretty sure) a crush on the game's hero, Adam Jensen. You can complete the mission in many ways, but only one way is totally satisfying in an emotional and moral sense. Unfortunately, it also seems impossible at first. Until, that is, you see prove that it is possible. SPOILERS AFTER THE BREAK.

I'm talking, of course, about the ambush on Malik's airship. You have the option of just escaping, but if you do that, Malik is slaughtered. But seeing as she's besieged by nearly ten heavily armed commandos and a battle bot, it seems impossible to rescue her. After several tries where I just got slaughtered myself, I assumed that her death is what game designers call "forced failure" -- a game resolution that the player has no control over. But then my friend Howard Berkey told me no, you really can rescue her. And pointed to YouTube videos like this, in which other players documented their success:

After watching this, rescuing Malik suddenly and instantly became relatively easy. I mean, it still took ten tries without dying, but I was almost successful with every attempt. (And I did it a bit like this video above, with little or no kills, using the PEPs and tranq gun, and face-punching takedowns.) And the funny thing is this: I think I was finally successful, simply because I saw video proof that it was possible to succeed. I didn't really change my strategy much. Just having the reassurance that I wasn't wasting my time gave me enough confidence to do so. I think this experience with player efficacy is relatively true to gaming, and perhaps more generally (you know, like in life): Often, it's not enough to give people incentives to complete a difficult but desirable task; you also want to assure them it can be accomplished.

Comments

[skribe]

I've noticed that the further along I played Deus Ex:HR the more violent Jensen got. Started out non-violent, then occasional killings especially of Belltower. However once we were shot down he went ape. Actually went hunting for BT the second time in Hengsha. Not sure if that's the character getting psyched or the player getting bored. Probably a bit of both =).

[Extropia DaSilva]

Typical play session of Deus Ex: HR goes something like this:

Try something, fail, get ass kicked. Try again, fail, get ass kicked. Try another approach. Fail. Get ass kicked. Try a completely different approach. Fail. Get ass kicked. Try to recall what it was I was trying to achieve when I started two hours ago...buried somewhere in the logs...oh yeah..find someone...try again. Ass kicked. try again. Success! Move forward one inch.

For **** sake and this is on the EASIEST setting! If I wanted goddammed hair-ripping frustrating make no progress whatsoever without severe hardship I would choose a 'difficult' setting for my game. When oh when will game designers realise that this is no longer the 80s when it was consisdered essential that every game had to be a bastard? Come on, I chose easy to let me just enjoy the game will you?

[Extropia DaSilva]

Typical play session of Deus Ex: HR goes something like this:

Try something, fail, get ass kicked. Try again, fail, get ass kicked. Try another approach. Fail. Get ass kicked. Try a completely different approach. Fail. Get ass kicked. Try to recall what it was I was trying to achieve when I started two hours ago...buried somewhere in the logs...oh yeah..find someone...try again. Ass kicked. try again. Success! Move forward one inch.

For **** sake and this is on the EASIEST setting! If I wanted goddammed hair-ripping frustrating make no progress whatsoever without severe hardship I would choose a 'difficult' setting for my game. When oh when will game designers realise that this is no longer the 80s when it was consisdered essential that every game had to be a bastard? Come on, I chose easy to let me just enjoy the game will you?

[Extropia DaSilva]

Typical play session of Deus Ex: HR goes something like this:

Try something, fail, get ass kicked. Try again, fail, get ass kicked. Try another approach. Fail. Get ass kicked. Try a completely different approach. Fail. Get ass kicked. Try to recall what it was I was trying to achieve when I started two hours ago...buried somewhere in the logs...oh yeah..find someone...try again. Ass kicked. try again. Success! Move forward one inch.

For **** sake and this is on the EASIEST setting! If I wanted goddammed hair-ripping frustrating make no progress whatsoever without severe hardship I would choose a 'difficult' setting for my game. When oh when will game designers realise that this is no longer the 80s when it was consisdered essential that every game had to be a bastard? Come on, I chose easy to let me just enjoy the game will you?