Design Club: Hooked on Fishing!

Storyline (what the video is “about”)

This episode of Fish Club Live / Design Club doesn’t follow a single in-game narrative. Instead, it builds an argument for:

• Why fishing shows up across games
• How it differs by genre
• What design benefits it provides

It uses Final Fantasy XIV (MMO fishing), Ultima Online / EverQuest / World of Warcraft (MMO history), and additional standout examples (e.g., Hades).

Gameplay highlights: what fishing “does” in games

Farming games (e.g., Stardew Valley, Harvest Moon)

Fishing typically functions as part of the farm economy and daily routine.

• Mini-game style examples mentioned:
  • Keeping fish within a moving bar
  • Bobber interaction

Survival games (e.g., Minecraft, Palworld, Valheim, Enshrouded)

Fishing is positioned as a safe resource acquisition option—often for food (and sometimes additional materials)—compared to riskier activities like combat.

• In Palworld, fishing is framed more like resource gathering (Ark-like survival progression), rather than catching Pokémon-style companions.

Action / trope-use fishing

Even when fishing isn’t a core mechanic, it can appear as iconography or as a way to reveal items/encounters.

Examples cited:

• NieR: Automata
• Yakuza
• Occasional fishing-as-scene mechanics in other action titles

MMOs (major focus)

Fishing is treated as a common MMO “checkbox,” historically spread because:

• Early MMOs created trade-skill ecosystems
• Later MMOs copied successful patterns (especially after large MMO adoption)
• Developers reuse existing zones and add low-cost content

Final Fantasy XIV is used as the main example:

• Fishing includes logs, categories, and a challenging achievement for catching “every big fish”
• Most fish primarily serve list completion / acquisition
• Smaller catches support crafting or limited quests
• The “Golden Scales” achievement is described as catching every big fish, with strict and varied requirements

Dedicated fishing / peripheral realism games

The video notes dedicated fishing game lines and even hardware/peripherals (e.g., Sega Bass Fishing) as well as licensed fishing titles.

Strategies & key tips discussed

The video isn’t a direct fishing “how-to,” but it offers practical design insights and an MMO “fishing mindset”:

MMO fishing complexity scales by system rules

Catching isn’t just button-mashing. Conditions can gate outcomes, such as:

• Weather
• Time of day
• Bite behavior

In FFXIV, bite strength, bait choice, bite windows, and special skills influence results.

Completion strategy (FFXIV example)

The “every big fish” framing highlights that:

• Big fish are the true completion target
• Some big fish are tied to specialized events (e.g., derbies)
• Others depend on infrequent spawns or cycles

Community strategy (MMOs)

Because fishing is RNG-heavy and time-window-based, players coordinate by:

• Spreadsheets/trackers of what’s biting
• Shout-chat coordination during “big bite” windows
• Derby-style help where experienced fishers guide newer ones

Design-side tips to reduce frustration from RNG

To limit RNG-driven frustration, the video suggests:

• Use systems that clearly communicate what affects what
• Provide predictable structure even when the catch itself is random
• Tune pacing so it feels fair (e.g., short loops can quickly indicate “no fish likely”)

Why fishing systems work (core design arguments from the video)

Easy to implement (relative to other MMO content)

Fishing can be added without building new zones, mobs, or raids.

• It often reuses environmental assets (water bodies)
• It relies on tables + conditions + UI/mini-game logic

Low conceptual lift for players

The fantasy is intuitive:

bait + hook + water + wait/maneuver

Retreading old content without feeling wasteful

Fishing gives players a reason to revisit older zones and keep older areas “alive.”

RNG dopamine + “spreadsheet hunting”

Many fishing systems behave like probability machines:

• Narrow the pool via conditions
• Then wait for luck

This creates a satisfaction loop similar to loot drops.

Environmental storytelling and serenity moments

Fishing can encourage players to pause and look around:

• sunrise scenes
• landmarks
• weather immersion

Community formation

Fishing supports large-scale coordination because results are uncertain and time-bound—so players collaborate to share/aggregate information.

Cultural and genre influences

The video argues fishing’s ubiquity is driven by a blend of:

• MMO design inheritance (UO → EQ → WoW pattern)
• JRPG/cultural familiarity with fish as staple food
• Worldbuilding assumptions: “bodily water = fishing”

Notable examples the video singled out (quick list)

• Stardew Valley / Harvest Moon: classic farm fishing mini-game inclusion
• Minecraft: “click/wait/get fish” low-engagement fishing that fits sandbox gathering
• Palworld: fishing as survival resource acquisition
• Pokémon: fishing as encounter gating (different encounter table)
• Zelda: repeated fishing presence across games (bait items, heart-piece in fish’s mouth, bottle from fishing, Wind Waker chart-style)
• Hades: a “weird” but precise fishing gate for certain story lines (timing-based, not clearly framed as a mini-game)
• Warframe: spear-style fishing with visible fish models; RNG described as “how many/which appear” rather than what you get per cast
• FFXIV: complex fishing with bite strengths, bait, skills, multiple conditions, and long-tail achievement hunting
• No Man’s Sky: fishing added later as a “pasted-on” system (used to illustrate update layering)

Gamers or sources featured (named at the end of the video segment)

• Jeffrey Tekken — studio director of Extra Credits and Extra History, longtime game designer
• Will — host (referred to as the “fisherman host” at the start; no last name provided in subtitles)