The psychology behind the most powerful game mechanics

REWARDS

In 1930, Burrhus Frederic Skinner, a psychologist at Harvard University, invented the Operant Conditioning Chamber, better known as the Skinner Box. This box was a chamber that had a lever a lever that an animal, usually a rat or pigeon, could press down in the hope of getting food or water as a reward. This reward is known as the “reinforcer.” The box was used for a series of experiments, most of which revolved around finding the factors that caused the animal to pull the lever more or less often (called the “response rate”).

His findings have had a huge impact on a number of fields revolving around the motivation industry. This included fields such as motivation enhancement, addition study, behavior modification, employee engagement, game design, and many others.

The most basic level of results showed that pigeons were more likely to push the lever more frequently when there was a 50% chance that they would receive a reward. The strange thing was that this happened even more frequently than when they received one 100% of the time. This is called an intermittent rewards program and it is one of the most powerful game mechanics used to engage players. They also found that the most effective reward schedule was a variable ratio reward schedule (where the result was 50% of the time, but they could get 3 rewards in a row and then nothing for 5 lever presses) rather than a fixed ratio. reward schedule (eg where they would get a reward every 2 lever pushes no matter what).

Basically, the combination of unlocking the reward only 50% of the time along with not knowing exactly when the reward will unlock, inserts a level of randomness into the equation so there could be a lot of lever pulls with no reward, but the average payout it is established and can somehow be intuitive. This combination is irresistible and produces both the highest response rate and the greatest resistance to extinction.

What does this mean for us? Animals (and humans) can be persuaded to perform an activity more frequently simply by giving us the opportunity for a reward rather than promising us a guaranteed reward. We tend to know this intuitively, which is why many people enjoy gambling.

Thousands of games use these principles. Slots will intermittently reward you with money, Farmville will give you random gifts (usually items to use on your farm), and World of Warcraft mobs only drop the loot you need for quests sometimes and not all of it. time.

LOSS AVERSION

Loss aversion is a behavioral characteristic of human nature demonstrated by psychologists Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman in 1979 as part of their perspective theory). It describes how people have an intrinsic fear of loss when choosing between probabilistic alternatives that involve risk. Basically, instead of looking at the “big picture” or the bottom line, we see each loss as an event in itself, which makes those losses more irritating. We dislike losing more than we enjoy winning.

Prospect theory says that there are two stages in the decision process: editing and evaluation. During the editing part of the decision-making process, people will analyze their choices and then set a goal or benchmark. They will then look at that point during each event; relative to that reference point, they call negative outcomes “losses” and positive outcomes “gains.”

In the decision evaluation phase, people will think about what they perceive to be the best option; this is usually the most useful option, which is based on the potential results and their respective probabilities when obtaining that result. For example, let’s look at this: if someone gave you 2 options; the first, you are offered the $50 offer with no stipulations. The second gives you the opportunity to win $100, simply by flipping the coin. Which of them would you choose? Both options are mathematically equivalent, but most people would opt to get the $50.

Loss aversion is the most powerful game mechanic present in many games. For example, in FarmVille, he doesn’t come back, his investments die and he will feel like he wasted his time and money. Loss aversion is also present in poker, when a player decides to bet less money than he should (according to his odds) simply because he doesn’t want to risk all his chips and get eliminated from a tournament. The thought of losing it all outweighs the potential amount he could win in this particular hand.

ACHIEVEMENTS

Achievements are, in short, a representation of a specific achievement. In some cases, they will give you something to help you progress through the game. In other cases, they’re just a great way to brag to your fellow players about your accomplishments. But why do people love achievements? How do they draw us further into our virtual experience?

That’s where Abraham Maslow comes in. His research revolved around something he called the “hierarchy of needs.”

Needs in Maslow’s hierarchy work from the bottom and go up. The concept is, in short, that we have all these needs in our lives. As life progresses, the needs we have become much more complex in nature and also become much more elusive. We feel accomplished when we make sure these needs are met; we feel as if we have achieved something in our lives.

Achievements are the fourth step of the needs of any individual. We like to feel that we have achieved something. If you defeat a raid boss in World of Warcraft, you feel like you’ve accomplished something and it gives you a sense of satisfaction and pride. But what if you are a non-raid player? How can Blizzard help you feel fulfilled? The achievements they provide give you little “breadcrumbs” that entice you to go back and accomplish those things. Some of them may seem trivial; others are incredibly difficult. Either way, you feel that you have accomplished something and that the achievement system has satisfied the need for esteem.
So where do we see the achievements?

In World of Warcraft, achievements give you something to strive for during quests and raids by asking you to do something different than you normally would; you accumulate points that you can show to your fellow players. In the Pokémon game series, you earn badges when you defeat gym trainers. Consoles like Xbox have even put achievements on everything you do on your account, from playing particular games to performing certain actions while on the console. Achievements are everywhere, and they can bring a challenge to games that we might not otherwise have.

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