Universal Paperclips is incredibly engaging for a game about producing paperclips. There are a number of aspects of Universal Paperclips that make it as effective and engaging as it is and I will try to mention a two and what this can teach us about elements of engaging video games.
Immediate and Constant Feedback
Universal Paperclips opens with the play clicking a button to produce paperclips. From the beginning, it seems arbitrary. Paperclips don't matter. The player shouldn't care. But the number has a magical feeling. Watching the number go up: your actions directly producing a result and advancing you feels good. It provides an immediate feedback as you see a number increasing. A number which is an immediate reward for your efforts. This number on it's own isn't engaging, but it's the ability to look back on where you were and immediately see yourself moving forward that makes even this clicking so engaging.
Then, later in the game, every millisecond there's feedback. You see your paperclips increasing every second and your income increasing and your operations and creativity increasing. Your eyes are overwhelmed with feedback, gluing them to the screen for more. This constant, unyielding stream of feedback further compounds the effect.
Unpredictability and Exponential Progression
What keeps the player playing is the prospect of seeing the numbers go up. However, if the game was only to click the button to produce paperclips it wouldn't be nearly as engaging. In Universal Paperclips, the player can't predict how many clips they will be producing in the even 5 minutes. There are spikes that always seem to be just within our grasp, which will make all the effort they're currently put in so far meaningless since it will be able to be done in minutes if not seconds.
These power spikes make every minute playing the game count and make them reluctant to put down the game. Other games have elements like this but Universal Paperclips uses the exponential progression of production to produce the unpredictability and make the player want to play those last few minutes. The marginal benefit always seems so incredible and so putting the game down is not worth it.
I'm very curious if you guys noticed any other interesting aspects of video game design that universal paperclips points towards that can teach us about what makes a game engaging.
Totally agree with the two main things you pointed out! I think I would add how the basic premise and vocabulary of the game are very understandable to us: we know what paperclips are, we are aware of supply and demand, the dollar signs next to some of the exponentially growing numbers give them an even greater connection to real-life rewards. The joking thought "is this what working in finance is like" came to mind as I (someone without much knowledge of finance) played. Also, the inclusion of so many options and mechanics that help make those numbers rise helped keep players glued to the site (I must have clicked on the photonic chips so many times...). Lastly, the simplicity…
Thank you for sharing! I like how you directed your post toward what makes a game like Universal Paperclips such an engaging video game, since on the surface it looks like one of the least engaging video games, and I'd been trying to figure that out for myself. Personally, I feel the two reasons you offered really hit the nail on the head for Universal Paperclips, but it definitely isn't a one size fits all thing. Unpredictability in Universal Paperclips makes it engaging, but can certainly be a hella annoying aspect in another game that might even detract from the engagement. If anything, I think what Universal Paperclips says is that it is possible to make any video game engaging––especially…