Psychology
If you have taken a coarse in Behavioral Analysis or anything covering operant conditioning you can sort of view this as a change in reinforcement schedule. The previous weapon unlock system and the current one are both using new weapons as a reinforcement. While the unlock systems do not exactly follow one of the defined schedules of reinforcement they are close enough for analogy. In general, achievements can be viewed as reinforcements too, however this is muddied a little because the behavior being reinforced is different for each achievement. The only thing each achievement has in common is that they reinforce the behavior of playing as a specific class.
Previously the weapon unlocks were reinforcing the behavior of earning achievements using a semi-fixed ratio reinforcement schedule. By reinforcing the behavior of earning achievements they were indirectly reinforcing the desired behavior of playing as a certain class. The fixed ratio schedule of reinforcement produces large bursts of behavior, but once the reinforcement stops extinction of the behavior is fairly quick.
The new weapon unlocks seem to be reinforcing the behavior of simply playing the game, rather than playing as a specific class, using a variable interval schedule of reinforcement. The variable interval schedule produces a steady but moderate amount of behavior and extinction of the behavior happens much more slowly when reinforcement stops.
By changing the behavior that the weapon unlocks act on, as well as the schedule of reinforcement, Valve appears to want to reduce the "achievement farming" defined by large bursts of achievement unlocking behavior.
If you have taken a coarse in Behavioral Analysis or anything covering operant conditioning you can sort of view this as a change in reinforcement schedule. The previous weapon unlock system and the current one are both using new weapons as a reinforcement. While the unlock systems do not exactly follow one of the defined schedules of reinforcement they are close enough for analogy. In general, achievements can be viewed as reinforcements too, however this is muddied a little because the behavior being reinforced is different for each achievement. The only thing each achievement has in common is that they reinforce the behavior of playing as a specific class.
Previously the weapon unlocks were reinforcing the behavior of earning achievements using a semi-fixed ratio reinforcement schedule. By reinforcing the behavior of earning achievements they were indirectly reinforcing the desired behavior of playing as a certain class. The fixed ratio schedule of reinforcement produces large bursts of behavior, but once the reinforcement stops extinction of the behavior is fairly quick.
The new weapon unlocks seem to be reinforcing the behavior of simply playing the game, rather than playing as a specific class, using a variable interval schedule of reinforcement. The variable interval schedule produces a steady but moderate amount of behavior and extinction of the behavior happens much more slowly when reinforcement stops.
By changing the behavior that the weapon unlocks act on, as well as the schedule of reinforcement, Valve appears to want to reduce the "achievement farming" defined by large bursts of achievement unlocking behavior.
