The 40 Seconds Rule and Points of Interest in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Sammanfattning: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is one of the best selling open world video games in recent years. Thanks to the game’s popularity, other game designers might want to replicate its world design methods. In an interview from 2017, the game’s developers have explained that they have used a system called “the rule of 40 seconds” to ensure that the player stumbles upon something interesting every 40 seconds of exploration. In this research, the authors conducted a test to check how accurately the rule was implemented; they did this by analysing footage of gameplay from four different YouTube content creators, on two of the game’s maps. The research found that a Rule does exist, however, it is greatly influenced by playstyles and only accurate for certain players. It concludes that designers looking to implement the rule, can reliably do so, but they should take playing styles and player movement speed into consideration when testing their rule.