Mechanics

There are three main types of mechanics in video games:
- Inventory
- Scoring
- Win condition

Inventory

Inventory are used in video games to allow the player to see a list of items that the player has or has gained throughout the game and that they can use to help them complete the game. These items often improve the avatars abilities or strength to boost them. For example, in League of Legends, players collect gold from killing minions or enemy champions to buy strong items that will allow them to have an advantage over the opponent and win the game that way. In other games such as GTA 5 you can hold many different guns and explosives in your inventory that you can take out whenever you need them in the game.

Scoring

Scoring is used in video games to allow the player to see how they are doing against their opponents and if they are ahead or behind. This is specially useful in competitive games where just 1 point or kill matters a lot. For example, in games such as Counter Strike: Global Offensive and League of legends you have a Kills/Deaths/Assists system and you can calculate a player's KDA. This is often important for players as it gives people an idea of the level of skill that you have in the game. In other games such as Fifa 15, the scoring is mainly how many goals you have scored in the match but it could get as complicated as number of shots and passes in the match. Scoring is important in video games as it gives the players an exact image of how they are doing in the game and they can quickly tell if they are losing or winning. If scoring was not available for players then it would be impossible to tell how they are doing and they would be surprised if the game suddenly tells the "mission failed" or "defeat" as they don't even know what was going on.

Win condition

Win conditions are placed within games to determine a winner for the match once it has ended. It is important that designers include win conditions since if a player wins out of nowhere they could be accused of cheating. Therefore win conditions must show clearly who has won the match as long as the match was fair. People can then see how close they were from winning and they can determine their flaws and can improve that way. Examples of win conditions are goals (Fifa 15) and killing all enemies or planting/defusing a bomb (Counter Strike).