‘Save-scumming’ in role-playing games: A call for further psychological exploration

When playing a video game, especially a role-playing game (RPG), it is possible to commit to a decision involving your playable character (PC) and a non-playable character (NPC) that one may regret. However, a practice known as 'save-scumming' may be able to reverse the consequences inspired by the player's decisions. Save-scumming refers to reloading a checkpoint or save state within a game before the point in which the player made a decision that had consequences for game progression but was unhappy with the outcome.

Some definitions argue that save-scumming is a protective measure against the permanent death of the PC (Schules et al, 2018), whilst others argue that save-scumming is a form of wish fulfilment (Handley, 2021) that detracts from the permanence of meaningful decisions or actions (Bugnar & Persson, 2021). Save-scumming has become a focus of attention for players considering the recent publication of Baldur's Gate 3 (Larian Studios, 2023) and previous RPGs, including Disco Elysium (ZA/UM, 2019), with some articles claiming that save-scumming is a 'better' way of playing RPGs (Clark, 2023).

There is little published work examining save-scumming from a psychological perspective, with inconclusive results suggesting that save-scumming is associated with alterations in player flow or immersion (c.f. Bugnar & Persson, 2021; Cowley et al., 2008). However, save-scumming may provide greater insight into the motivational processes observed in gaming from an intrinsic and extrinsic perspective. 

As an inherently enjoyable task, gaming is associated with intense intrinsic motivations to play, defined as a willingness to perform an action because of interest or engagement with the task itself (Guay et al., 2000). Extrinsic motivation, compared to its intrinsic counterpart, refers to engagement with the activity for an external reward or reward external to the self (Ryan & Deci, 2000).

Save-scumming, therefore, provides an interesting conundrum when considering the role of motivation in gaming. While some would argue that individuals engage with gaming because of their heightened intrinsic motivation to play, save-scumming demonstrates behaviours associated with extrinsic and intrinsic motivations. 

Sometimes, individuals may engage with save-scumming to further the story in a specific direction and increase their engagement with favoured NPCs, increasing player enjoyment by achieving this specific goal. However, save-scumming may also be used to gain items or other rewards with no narrative value but provide external validation more synonymous with extrinsic motivations. For example, defeating a difficult opponent that drops valuable loot may require multiple attempts to fight it; where the chance of success may be lower, the player may use save-scumming to reset the fight back to the beginning to avoid a potential loss of progress or increase their chances of success by equipping different items or strategising a different way of fighting.

However, there is an added level of nuance about how video gamers use save-scumming; it is expected that players save-scumming during a dialogue with NPCs fulfil different aims or objectives than players who save-scum during a battle. Ultimately, we would argue that saving-scumming is of academic interest as a psychological phenomenon.

Despite the individualised consequences of save-scumming (in that it rarely affects the gameplay of others), there are some examples of articles that perceive this behaviour as negative (Lenzini, 2023; Evizaer, 2012). This provides an interesting avenue of enquiry on two levels. The first is to understand the motivational complexities associated with save-scumming. The second is to understand why other gamers react so poorly to players who decide to save-scum: Does this reflect our perceptions of player motivations?

Or are these perceptions indicative of a larger issue within the gaming community? We encourage future research that has the potential to explore digital behaviour that may be a goal-directed adaptation to video game choice mechanics whilst also understanding how others perceive these choices.

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References:

Bugnar, A., & Persson, J. (2021). How Quicksave and Quickload Affects Immersion Within Immersive Simulation Games. https://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-449538

Clark, N. (2023, August 16). It's time to accept save-scumming as the best way to play RPGs. Polygon. https://www.polygon.com/23834646/baldurs-gate-3-save-scum-f5-disco-elysium-skyrim

Cowley, B., Charles, D., Black, M., & Hickey, R. (2008). Toward an understanding of flow in video games. Computers in Entertainment, 6(2), 20:1-20:27. https://doi.org/10.1145/1371216.1371223

Evizaer (2012, October 13). Save-scumming is Perverse Optimisation. That's a Terrible Idea. http://www.thatsaterribleidea.com/2012/10/save-scumming-is-perverse-optimization.html

Guay, F., Vallerand, R. J., & Blanchard, C. (2000). On the assessment of situational intrinsic and extrinsic motivation: The Situational Motivation Scale (SIMS). Motivation and emotion, 24, 175-213.

Handley, M. (2021). 'All that's important is that you were honest with yourself': Fictional Responsibility and Morality in Self-Involving Interactive Fictions [Florida Southern College]. http://hdl.handle.net/11416/575

Lanzini, A. (2023, October 2). Save-scumming Isn't the Best Way to Play RPGs, But Games Don't Leave Players Much of a Choice. https://www.cbr.com/save-scumming-bad-method-best-choice/.

Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). 'Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and wellbeing'. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68.

Schules, D., Peterson, J., & Picard, M. (2018). Single-Player Computer Role-Playing Games. In S. Deterding & J. Zagal (Eds.), Role-Playing Game Studies: Transmedia Foundations. Routledge.