gwc14: teresa colombi - "psychological basis of gamification" (ghealth workshop)

Psychological basis of Gamification: how to use motivation and persuasion

techniques to influence human behaviour

T. COLOMBI 05/24/2014

1. Why we play games?

2. Psychology of the player

3. Psychological mechanism: the basics of motivation

4. How to implement gamification

Overview

Why Psychology Motivation How

Why we play games?

First Human activity

Innate activity

Playing is a really serious activity for a baby

Playing is the best way to discover the world and learn


… finally, what is a game?

Everything can be a game if:

there is a system of rules, understood by the user

the user has an objective and some means to achieve it

it is adapted to his/her characteristics/skills

there is a “challenge”

there is a good “flow”

TODAY OBJECTIVE: Treat at least 12 cases

Yesterday score: 11 in 7h

Total points:

321

2 3


The power of “playing”: an example

Washburn (2003)

Experience Game

20% of H

80% of X

Such a small difference can generate significant consequences related to the playful situation gamification is always possible


How to keep the user in the good “flow”

Clear objectives

Immediate feedback after the actions

Good trade-off skills/challenge

Good knowledge of rules and User Interface

Results:

frustrations of everyday life are forgotten

loss of self-consciousness, distortion of time perception

Great user experience

Csikszentmihalyi (1975)





Overview


Several reasons:

To change his/her mind

Why we want to play


Several reasons:

To test their own limits

Why we want to play


Several reasons:

To learn something new

Why we want to play


Several reasons:

To exchange and cooperate

Why we want to play


Each user is sensible to one or more these aspects, but in any case we learn a lot from playing:

organisation

planification & strategy

self-respect

trials and failures

collaboration

...

From a business and/or a pedagogical point of view, it is useful that people play games!

Psychology behind the behaviour


PEOPLE LOVE TO PLAY GAMES

… so, Gamification can be a great tool!

+ IT IS USEFUL THAT PEOPLE PLAY GAMES

+ VIRTUALLY ALL MAY BE CONVERTED INTO A GAME

=

GAMIFICATION


Through fun and pleasure, the gamified product aims to :

deliver a message/knowledge

change users opinion

influence users behaviors (shopping…)

The frontier between gamification and persuasion (and even manipulation) is often thin…

Use gamification with caution and under a psychologist supervision!

The final aim of gamification

POSSIBLE

MANIPULATION


Gamification is a mean to increase the persuasion, which is the ability

to get someone to be convinced of something, to believe something

to get someone to do or to want to do something

Gamification and persuasion

“Positive/good persuasion” = the final goal is profitable for the user (learn, achieve goals, improve skills…) “Negative persuasion” or Manipulation = the final goal is profitable only for the source, which exercises control and influence user’s attitudes and behaviors


Reciprocity

○ If you give, you will obtain something back

Commitment and Consistency

○ If the user say “yes” now, he/she will be consistent in the future

Social Proof

○ If other people do that, I should do it (consensus)

Authority

○ if the source is respected / known, it deserves to be heard

Liking

○ if my friends join/like/do, I should do it too

Scarcity

○ if it is rare, it's worth

Cialdini’s key principles of persuasion





Overview


The “fuel” of gamification is the human motivation.

Several ways exist to motivate the users, for example show them:

that they have something new to discover

a challenge to face

the way to create a social link with other users

the possibility to obtain something very special and customised

…

Gamification is all about motivation

MOTIVATION

Try to raise internal motivation (I do it for myself) rather that external ones (I do it to have a reward), for a better engagement


Several mechanisms possible:

create a “scenario” (characters, goal, situations…)

let the user be “someone else”

mark clearly the user’s progression and path to guide him/her

put enigmas and difficulties on the path

Unlock contents/bonus according to the progression

Useful in Health for :

better empathy with patients and understanding of contexts

good anticipation of critical situations

Create an interest: discover


Several mechanisms possible to stimulate competition and achievement:

scores

badges

leaderboards

Challenges and rewards


better performances

task needing optimal reaction time

Create an interest: challenge



emulation/copying other’s behaviour

reward the information sharing and cooperation

challenges solvable only in group, with different skills


team building

clear team member tasks and objectives

develop respect for the others (colleagues and patients)

Create an interest: social link



choose characters, goals, paths, options…

customise the interface

give different feedbacks according to user’s choices, parameters and setting


try different solutions and understand interpersonal differences

better anticipate the results related to interpersonal differences

Create an interest: customisation





Overview


Motivation is a necessary ingredient for a great user experience in a gamified product, as the need to have the good abilities and skills to succeed

Ok, we have fuel. But how to start the engine?

Activation threshold

Here triggers work!

But Fogg’s behaviour model emphasizes the need for triggers


To gamify something in the right way, first of all it is necessary to understand what is wrong about

Motivations

○ The user has understood the importance of this application? How to improve the engagement?

User’s abilities

○ The user has all the required skills? The app can be simplified (smaller and simpler tasks)?

Triggers

○ The user is aware of them? He/she understand them? Right time/place?

The problem can be also related to the user’s journey in the product

Understand when something is wrong


User experience and user’s journey

Novice

Expert

Master

Any question?

Teresa Colombi

[email protected] @colombi_teX

« La simplicité est la sophistication suprême » Leonardo Da Vinci

Thank you and see you in the

workshop

gwc14: teresa colombi - "psychological basis of gamification" (ghealth workshop)

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