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[Humdinger]

Random question: why does everything in gaming always (or almost always) come in threes? Three jewels to complete the puzzle. Three stages to the boss fight. Three crystals to configure the magic gem that unlocks the special whatsis. And so forth.

Why? Because of tradition? Religious significance? Symmetry? Because 2 is too few and 4 is too many? Because everyone likes a prime number? Why always three?

 

[Holammer]

Trinity.

 

[Mr Moose]

Tri-hard.

 

[kikii]

threesome

 

[Danjin44]

Symmetry

 

[Boglin]

It's a common threshold before ADHD triggers.

 

[{insert code here}]

All good things come in threes.

If there's a cognitive psychologist in the house he or she might be able to explain it?

 

[poppabk]

Beginning, middle, end.
Or because 1 is the loneliest number and 2 can be as bad as one

 

[Topher]

Trilogy - People like that

 

[Sakura]

It's not always three though, you are just looking for examples that are three.
How many sages do you have to free in Ocarina of Time? How many divine beast things are in Breath of the Wild? How many switches do you have to activate in each dungeon in Tears of the Kingdom? Etc. (using Zelda as an example because you had the Triforce).

 

[ReBurn]

That's the highest number game designers can count to

 

[deriks]

Beginning, middle, end.
Or because 1 is the loneliest number and 2 can be as bad as one

Basically that

You start green, get the second thing with some work, and the third thing usually you can plan ahead and could be easier

 

[Griffon]

Once is chance, twice is coincidence, three times is a pattern.

 

[T4keD0wN]

That's the highest number game designers can count to

 

[danklord]

It's the magic number

 

[TerribleAtThisGame]

3+3 = 6...

3 6s = 666

 

[clarky]

Ask T Three

 

[A.Romero]

Coincidence and baader-meinhoff phenomena

There are many examples of stuff that is not in three. Just to name a few that come out of my head:

- Demons in Demon Souls
- Members of Foxhound (you could say Les enfant le terribles are three but it is related to bad/good/mixed genes)
- Characters in Octopath
- Endings in Nier Automata

So on and so on...

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

All good things come in threes.

total recall? if you know you know

 

[semiconscious]

2's company, 3's a zelda game...

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

1st. Unfamiliar/noob, trying to undertand.
2nd Familiar/you understand/comfortable
3rd Expertise/exploit/experiment/more challenging.

 

[ZoukGalaxy]

3 is "magic" and "logical/natural" number we can find everywhere in our universe in so many things and many believes since of the beginning of time (time ? Past/Now/Future, you see, 3 !), don't try to understand any further because you are going to be crazy, just accept it as one "law" of our universe, physics and our limited and poor perception of the everything.

Here 3 GIFs for you !

 

[cash_longfellow]

Friday…is that you?

 

[Antwix]

Valve doesn't believe in 3.

 

[Revolutionary]

Because 2 is too few and 4 is too many?

This, honestly.

 

[willothedog]

 

[EverydayBeast]

 

[phant0m]

Well, we know 5 is right out.

 

[IAmRei]

/\ = illuminati

nay, it's actually because three iteration, are the most basic for entertainment product progression such as video games. why? because one success could be raised to the second, and the last is third, but mostly cannot be continued to fourth, because modern style fatigue, people mostly lean over trilogy continuation rather than continuously progression.

it's a format known to most, which also worked well in term of production or marketing as well as time and cost.

of course it's not all need to follow this usual form

 

[Humdinger]

To the people pointing out there are times when games use quantities other than three - thank you and duh. Don't take "always" literally. I'm exaggerating. My point is that three is a very common choice - much more common than other numbers.

And the choice of 3 isn't randomly distributed, whereas other numbers are. For instance, the number of enemy or quest types might be 7, or 12, or 8, or 16, or whatever. There is no rhyme or reason to it, beyond what the developer wants to include in that particular game. But 3 is different. If you ask me to guess how many stages a boss battle will have in a randomly selected game, I could guess the number (3) and be right 90% of the time.

Three is chosen over and over again - much more often than chance would dictate. Other numbers aren't. Well, 4 probably is. That would be the next most common non-random integer.
This is starting to sound like numerology or something, lol.

 

[Dacvak]

Not always…

 

[Humdinger]

Well, we know 5 is right out.

Excellent reference. You win. lol

 

[intbal]

This thread is dumb.

So here's the movie poster for Under Siege.

 

[MujkicHaris]

It has to do with design principles. Ever heard about the rule of thirds and the rule of odd numbers? The rule of odd numbers says that using odd number of elements in a design is a good way to make it look and feel balanced but also interesting.

The rule of thirds is used in film, games, photography, painting as a a grid of interesting points. Often, important objects/figures are placed/guided to these points which makes the shot/scene a lot more aesthetically pleasing. It's used in many other creative fields, all from architecture, landscaping, lighting to home décor etc. It's important to understand that the rules can be applied in many different ways, not just as a grid or numbering of elements. Another thing, these are more like guidelines, not strict rules per se.

I also use the rule of thirds and the rule of odd numbers all the time, in my game and in my art. It just works. Also important --- breaking these principles can give amazing results too, depending on the artist's goal and intention.

Image source

 

[ReyBrujo]

In the case of Zelda, tradition.

In games, I would dare say it has D&D roots. The original set came in 3 core booklets, you could choose between 3 alignments (before there were only two, no neutral), you had only 3 classes (cleric, fighter and mage, the thief was added in the first supplement). However, there were 4 races (because there had to be one race specializing in every class plus the average human) and 6 statistics (so that there were two main statistics per class). And they draw quite a lot from Tolkien's books so the fact that there were 3 books in LotR could have influenced every fantasy setting.

In other words, who knows.

 

[lachesis]

Beginning - Escalations - Climax - Resolution.

Usually that is the traditional way of storytelling... and since Resolution part is usually brief and nobody wants to overstay for a far too long of an epilogue, Climax with brief resolution combined... it makes more financial sense in commercial storytelling... so 3.

Part 1 being beginning to early escalations, Part 2 builds up to Climax, then Part 3 with big bang with anticipation + resolution...

Game storytelling is more compartmentalized, but I think that rule still generally stands true to an lesser degree.

 

[saintjules]

3rd time's a charm.

 

[Clintizzle]

 

[ZehDon]

1st. Unfamiliar/noob, trying to undertand.
2nd Familiar/you understand/comfortable
3rd Expertise/exploit/experiment/more challenging.

The correct answer. The rule of three, as the OP outlines it, is about game design, wherein the player progresses after demonstrating competence. Doing something once can be achieved by luck, twice can be a coincidence, but three times is typically enough to discern that it was deliberate.

 

[Kumomeme]

 

[FoxMcChief]

Dick and balls.

 

[amigastar]

It's unbelievable that to this day Valve can't count to 3.

 

[Big Baller]

Fuck big three its just big me.

 

[Kabelly]

I wish Mario bosses had more than three health.

 

[DeaconOfTheDank]

Rule of three (writing) - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[MrTroubleMaker]

ask Miyamoto

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

I believe there is some psychology about using 3 statements to make a point, hence the 5 paragraph essay.

 

[Johnny Concrete]

Dick and balls.

2 fingers 1 but hole

 

[Boglin]

2 fists 1 butthole.

Fixed your typos.

 

[Northeastmonk]

Reminding me of Resistance 3 and KillZone 3. Two of the best shooters on PS3. The final entry into the Resistance franchise and the last good KillZone game.