Dopmaine
The biological driver behind motivation
Dopamine
The Role of Dopamine in Games
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that plays a critical role in the brain’s reward and pleasure centers. It’s often associated with the feeling of enjoyment and reinforcement, motivating us to perform certain actions and behaviors. In the context of gamification, understanding how dopamine works can provide insights into why gamified systems can be so engaging and, at times, addictive.
Dopamine Pathways
The brain’s reward system, particularly the mesolimbic pathway connecting the ventral tegmental area (VTA) to the nucleus accumbens, plays a crucial role in pleasure and reward. When we perform rewarding activities, like eating delicious food, or winning a game, the VTA releases dopamine into the nucleus accumbens, creating feelings of pleasure and satisfaction.
Reward Prediction Error
Reward prediction error posits that dopamine levels increase not just when we receive a reward, but when the reward is unexpected or better than anticipated. This mechanism encourages us to repeat behaviors that lead to unexpected rewards. In gamification, unpredictable rewards (such as variable reward schedules) can be more effective at maintaining engagement because they capitalize on this reward prediction error, continually surprising and delighting users.
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Example
In a coffee shop loyalty program, occasionally giving extra stamps or surprise rewards instead of the usual one stamp creates excitement and satisfaction, encouraging customers to visit more frequently due to the unpredictability of the rewards.
Immediate Feedback
Press for Dopamine
Immediate feedback is another crucial component of effective gamification. Neuroscience shows that the brain responds more strongly to immediate rewards than to delayed ones. Immediate feedback activates the brain’s reward system, providing instant gratification and reinforcing the desired behavior. This principle can be seen in gamified elements such as progress bars, instant notifications, and immediate rewards for completed tasks.
Overreliance, Abuse & Addiction
While leveraging dopamine is powerful at creating extremely retentive and engaging experiences, it can also be highly addictive. Overstimulation of the dopamine system can lead to compulsive behavior and dependence. Designers of gamified systems ought to consider the design ethics of gamification, wielding their powers responsibly as they have the ability to influence habits and behavior. It is important to channel this influence toward meaningful experiences.
Human Motivations
Gamification Psychology
Intrinsic Motivation
Intrinsic motivation in gamification harnesses users' inherent desires for mastery, autonomy, and purpose. By crafting experiences that promote personal growth and achievement, products foster deep, lasting engagement. This could involve challenging puzzles offering satisfying "aha" moments or skill progression systems that visualize improvement over time. When users engage with a product because it aligns with their interests or values, rather than for external rewards, they form stronger emotional connections. This intrinsic drive boosts retention as users return out of genuine enjoyment and a desire for self-improvement, not obligation.
Extrinsic Motivation
Extrinsic motivation utilizes external rewards to drive user behavior, often through points, badges, leaderboards, or tangible incentives. While potentially less potent long-term than intrinsic motivators, these elements can effectively boost short-term engagement and create habit loops. A streak system rewarding daily logins can increase retention, while tiered loyalty programs with exclusive perks foster status and continued use. The key lies in balancing external motivators with intrinsic elements, using them as scaffolding to guide users toward meaningful engagement rather than as the sole focus.
Cognitive Biases
Cognitive biases are systematic patterns of deviation from norm or rationality in judgment, which gamification can leverage to enhance user engagement. By understanding these mental shortcuts, designers can create more engaging and motivating experiences
Cognitive Biases
How gamification leverages lapses in rationality
List of Cognitive Biases in Gamification
Cognitive biases are systematic patterns of deviation from norm or rationality in judgment, which gamification can leverage to enhance user engagement. By understanding these mental shortcuts, designers can create more engaging and motivating experiences
😤 Loss Aversion
People tend to prefer avoiding losses over acquiring equivalent gains. Games tend to exploit this aversion to losing progress.
Limited time offers
Daily Logins
Retries
Decaying virtual resources
Streak Mechanics
Endowment Effect
People are more motivated to complete a goal when they feel they've made some progress toward it.
Free Starting points
Partially filled loyalty card
✅ Completion Bias
The strong urge to finish what we've started, often manifesting as anxiety when tasks or experiences are left incomplete.
Collectibles
Achievements
To-do-lists
Milestone Rewards
Completionist Rewards
💸 Scarcity Bias
The tendency to place a higher value on objects that are perceived as scarce and a lower value on those that are abundant.
VIP
Exclusive content
Limited Time Offers
Early Adopters
Item/Character Rarity
🌊 Sunk Cost Fallacy
The tendency to continue an endeavor due to past investments (time, effort, money) despite new evidence suggesting that the cost of continuing outweighs the benefits.
Cumulative Rewards
Piggy Bank Multipliers
Badges
Character Development
Base Building
Leveling Systems
🏆 Social Proof
1
Player#3139
2
michael_winner
3
#Player#2122
4
John_smith
Social proof leverages users’ tendency to follow the actions of others in an attempt to reflect correct behavior for a given situation.
Leaderboards
Competitions
Live Events
Player Recommendations (80% of players do X)
IKEA Effect
The tendency to place higher value on products that one has partially created.
Player Customization
UGC
Crafting Systems
⭐️ Goal Gradient Effect
The tendency to increase effort as one moves closer to a goal. People are more motivated by perceived progress towards a goal's completion.
Accelerated Progress Bars
Milestone Rewards
🎰 Variable Ratio Reinforcement
🎁🎁🥔
Variable ratio reinforcement rewards users at unpredictable intervals, maintaining excitement and engagement,
Lootboxes
Gacha
Randomness
Re-rolls
🔔 Zeigarnik Effect:
The tendency to remember uncompleted or interrupted tasks better than completed ones.
Notifications
Pending Actions
Reactivation Prompts
Mapping our core motivational drivers
The Octalysis Framework
The Octalysis Framework is a comprehensive gamification model developed by Yu-kai Chou, a pioneer in the field of gamification. This framework is designed to help analyze and build strategies around human motivation in games, products, and systems. It breaks down motivation into eight core drives, each representing different aspects of what compels people to engage with an experience.
How do you use Octalysis?
To use this framework, designers can first analyze their product or system through the lens of the eight core drives, and weighing each corner to determine whether the drive is present. You'll be able to identify whether your product's strength/edge and weaknesses regarding each drive.
Octalysis Framework used on Candy Crush Saga - By Yu-Kai Chou
Step 1. Analyze Current State
Examine your product through the lens of the 8 core drives.
For each drive, identify elements in your product that appeal to it.
Step 2. Score Each Core Drive
Assign a score from 0 to 10 for each core drive.
0: The drive is not present at all.
10: The drive is strongly represented
Step 3. Create an Octalysis Diagram
Plot the scores on an octagonal diagram
Each point of the octagon represents a core drive
Connect the points to create a visual representaiton
Step 4. Identify Strengths & Weaknesses
Analyze the shape of your diagram
Look for imbalances or missing elements
Step 5. Brainstorm Improvements
For low-scoring drives, ideate features that could enhance them
For high-scoring drives, consider ways to leverage them further
Step 6. Prioritization
Choose the most impactful improvements
Implement the changes in your product
Step 7. Reassess & Iterate
After implementation, re-score and create a new diagram
Compare to the original to see progress
Continue process iteratively.
Black hat vs White Hat
The Octalysis framework further categorizes the eight core drives into two perspectives:
White Hat
White Hat core drives include Epic Meaning & Calling, Development & Accomplishment, and Empowerment of Creativity & Feedback. These motivators give users a sense of meaning, growth, and creative expression, leading to long-term engagement and satisfaction. These are related to a player's intrinsic motivations
Black Hat
On the other hand, Black Hat core drives encompass Scarcity & Impatience, Unpredictability & Curiosity, and Loss & Avoidance. While these can create a strong sense of urgency and short-term engagement, they may also lead to anxiety, addiction, or burnout if overused. These are related to a player's extrinsic motivations
The remaining two core drives, Ownership & Possession and Social Influence & Relatedness, have both White Hat and Black Hat aspects depending on how they're implemented. Designers should strive for a balance between White Hat and Black Hat motivators, using Black Hat techniques sparingly and ethically to create initial urgency or overcome user inertia, while focusing on White Hat drives for genuine engagement and well-being.
Flow Theory
How to achieve the 'flow state'
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's Flow Theory is a cornerstone of effective gamification design. Flow describes a mental state of complete absorption in an activity, characterized by a sense of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment. In design, we strive to create flow states by carefully balancing several key elements:
🐌
Implement dynamic difficulty adjustment
🎨
Customizable difficulty settings & learning paths.
📈
Gradually increase complexity as users progress.
☑️
Providing clear, achievable objectives for each session or level.
🎮
Giving players a sense of control through customizable controls & Interfaces
🙇
Deep Concentration, minimizing distractions.
🦄
Loss of self consciousness through deep immersion, avatars and anonymity
🕰️
Transformation of time, making it fly by quickly. Breaking tasks into digestible chunks.
🫀
Autotelic Experience, the activity should feel intrinsically rewarding, emphasize mastery and personal growth
Successful video games like "Portal" exemplify flow by gradually introducing new mechanics and increasing difficulty to match the player's growing skills. Similarly puzzle games like "Tetris" exemplify flow by progressively increasing speed and complexity, providing clear goals (clear lines) with immediate feedback, and offering a sense of control through precise piece movement. Similarly, productivity apps like Todoist create flow in task management by providing clear objectives, instant feedback on task completion, and a sense of progress. By continually refining these elements based on user data and feedback, designers can create more engaging and satisfying experiences across various domains.
Habit Formation
How habits are formed.
Creating positive habits based on intrinsic motivations helps to solidify long-term user engagement in gamified systems. The Habit Loop model, consisting of a cue (trigger), routine (behavior), and reward, is a powerful tool for designers. In mobile applications, this might be implemented through carefully designed systems that encourage regular use.
For example, language learning apps like Duolingo use push notifications as cues to remind users of their daily lessons. It also goes to lengths to change the appearance of app icons and widgets, with the Duo the Owl's posed in different emotes, in order to motivate the user to keep up with their streak. Streak counters and XP systems establish routines of checking in regularly, while level progression provides a sense of accomplishment. By incorporating variable reward schedules, such as bonus XP events or surprise challenges, these apps maintain user interest and motivation over time, creating a compelling reason to engage with the platform consistently.
Habit formation mechanics contintued
The hooked model
The Hooked Model, developed by Nir Eyal, is a framework for building habit-forming products. It's particularly relevant in gamification as it provides a systematic approach to creating engaging experiences that users return to repeatedly. The model consists of four phases: Trigger, Action, Variable Reward, and Investment.
Trigger — This is the actuator of behavior—the spark plug in the engine. Triggers come in two types:
External Triggers: These are environmental cues, such as notifications, emails or app icons that prompt users to act
Internal Triggers: These are associations in the user's mind that become connected to a product or experience. For example, feeling bored might trigger the urge to open a social media app.
Action — This is the behavior done in anticipation of a reward. The action should be as simple as possible, lowering the barrier to engagement
Variable Reward — This is the critical stage where the user's curiosity is piqued and their craving is satisfied. The variability of the reward is key—it keeps users engaged and coming back for more.
External Triggers: These are environmental cues, such as notifications, emails or app icons that prompt users to act
Internal Triggers: These are associations in the user's mind that become connected to a product or experience. For example, feeling bored might trigger the urge to open a social media app.
Investment — This is where users put something of value into the system, increasing their likelihood of returning. Investments can be time, data, effort, social capital, or money.
Examples
• Customizing an avatar
• Building a streak
• Contributing to a community or leaderboard
Bartle's Player Types
A Macro Theory of Motivation
Richard Bartle, a British writer and game researcher, developed a model of player types based on his observations of Multi-User Dungeon (MUD) games. Although originally conceived for online multiplayer games, Bartle's taxonomy has proven valuable in understanding user motivations across various gamified systems. The model identifies four main player types, each driven by different motivations:
💎 Achievers
Goal-oriented, competitive, and status-seeking players thrive on accomplishment and progression. They respond well to points, levels, badges, and challenging objectives, enjoying the sense of achievement these elements provide.
♠️ Explorers
Curious and adventurous players are motivated by discovery and knowledge. They enjoy learning system mechanics and appreciate hidden features, complex systems to master, and opportunities for trial and error.
❤️ Socializers
Empathetic and talkative players are motivated by interaction with others. They enjoy building relationships and thrive on community features, collaborative tasks, and social networking elements in gamification.
♣️ Relatedness
The need to experience a sense of belonging and attachment to others. This involves feeling connected to others, caring for and being cared for by those others, and having a sense of belongingness with individuals and one's community.
While Bartle's Player Types provide a useful framework for understanding user motivations, we recognize that most players don't fit neatly into a single category. Instead, users often exhibit traits from multiple types, with their dominant characteristics potentially shifting based on context or over time.
Effective gamification design requires a nuanced understanding of the target audience, allowing for the creation of a balanced system that caters to the primary player types represented in the audience, while still offering elements that appeal to other types.
Self Determination Theory (SDT)
Self-Determination Theory (SDT), developed by psychologists Richard Ryan and Edward Deci, is a macro theory of human motivation that has profound implications for gamification design. SDT posits that people are inherently proactive and have a natural tendency towards growth and integration. However, this innate motivation can be either facilitated or undermined by social contexts. The theory identifies three innate psychological needs that, when satisfied, allow for optimal function and growth:
🦅 Autonomy
The need to feel in control of one's own behaviors and goals. This isn't just about independence, but about volition – the feeling that one's actions are self-endorsed.
💯 Competence
The need to feel in control of one's own behaviors and goals. This isn't just about independence, but about volition – the feeling that one's actions are self-endorsed.
🤝 Relatedness
The need to experience a sense of belonging and attachment to others. This involves feeling connected to others, caring for and being cared for by those others, and having a sense of belongingness with individuals and one's community.
Sustainable engagement
Games as a force of good
Sustainable engagement in gamification aims to create experiences that tap into users' intrinsic motivations, fostering long-term satisfaction and meaningful interactions. This approach emphasizes autonomy, competence, and relatedness, encouraging users to engage with systems because they find them inherently rewarding or aligned with genuine personal goals.
While intrinsic motivation is crucial, the power of extrinsic motivators shouldn't be overlooked. Points, badges, and other external rewards can effectively drive specific behaviors, especially in the short term. The key for designers is to use these extrinsic elements judiciously, complementing rather than overshadowing intrinsic motivations.
This balanced strategy stands in contrast to approaches that rely heavily on dark patterns or addictive mechanics reminiscent of gambling. Instead of exploiting psychological vulnerabilities, designers should prioritize user well-being. By combining intrinsic and extrinsic motivational elements, they can create gamified experiences that are both immediately engaging and sustainably enriching, avoiding the pitfalls of manipulative design.