UXWeek 2010 Nicole Lazzaro, XEODesign, Inc. Visit the average workplace and if it were a zoo the humane society would protest! The environment and organizational principals fail to provide the basic mental furniture for workers to focus attention, motivate, collaborate, and to accomplish. No wonder so many struggle with getting things done. Likewise most user experiences fail by ignoring the same simple fact. Human's require emotions to decide. Often ignored by usability, neuroscience now proves that emotion deeply connects decision making and performance. Emotions also coordinate the actions between people. The trick is that emotions and social experiences are emergent qualities that cannot be designed directly. Nicole brings this challenge to life in her workshop. In this interactive XEOPlayShop we will cover how the choices in games craft player emotions to increase engagement. In addition to competition there are game mechanics that increase curiosity and others that create social bonding that makes team work possible. We will examine these 4 Keys to Fun plus new social mechanics from XEODesign’s research to see how successful social media and iPhone games offer more playful interfaces that increase engagement, loyalty, and viral distribution. By adding these kinds of choices designers can drive user behavior to create more engaging experiences.