Baby Steps & Games
Michael Wu, PhD (mich8elwu)
Principal Scientist of Analytics
Mobile Health
May 16th, 2012
STANFORD UNIVERSITY

Good games are
very engaging
Great games are
even addicting
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what is gamification?
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what is gamification?
▪ Gamification:
• The use of game attributes to drive game-like player behavior in a non-game
context with predictability
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what is gamification?
▪ Gamification:
• The use of game attributes to drive game-like player behavior in a non-game
context with predictability
• game attributes
• game mechanics, game dynamics, game design principles, gaming psychology, player
journey, narratives, incentives, etc.
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what is gamification?
▪ Gamification:
• The use of game attributes to drive game-like player behavior in a non-game
context with predictability
• game attributes
• game mechanics, game dynamics, game design principles, gaming psychology, player
journey, narratives, incentives, etc.
• game-like player behavior
• engagement, interaction, competition, collaboration, awareness, learning, obsession,
and/or any other observed player behavior during game play
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what is gamification?
▪ Gamification:
• The use of game attributes to drive game-like player behavior in a non-game
context with predictability
• game attributes
• game mechanics, game dynamics, game design principles, gaming psychology, player
journey, narratives, incentives, etc.
• game-like player behavior
• engagement, interaction, competition, collaboration, awareness, learning, obsession,
and/or any other observed player behavior during game play
• non-game context
• work, education, health & fitness, sale & marketing, community participation, civic
engagement, volunteerism, goodwill, etc. (anything but a game)
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what can gamification do for your business?
▪ 3 of the most common commercial use case of gamification
• Deepens engagement
• Internally: collaboration between teams + employees
• Externally: collaboration between customers
• Sustains loyalty
• Onboards new users (employees, customers)
▪ So what?
customer spending
average customer
2.5x community user
superfan 10x
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what’s the magic behind gamification?
CommunalResponse Collection Countdown Discovery Variable Ratio
Fun Once, Cross Situational
Collaboration Delayed Lottery Reward Schedule
Reputation Fun Always Leader-boards
Mechanics
Fixed Ratio Status Free Lunch Serendipity Points
Moral Hazard SocialShell Game Communal
Reward Schedule
Modifiers of Game PlayCohesion Interval Discovery Loyalty
Rank Leader-boards Avoidance Reinforcement
Reinforcer Appointment Schedules Virtual Items
Reward Schedules Urgent
Privacy Envy Optimism Dynamic Chain SchedulesSet Completion Companion
Epic MeaningMicro Leader-boards
Loss Aversion Cascading Rolling Social Fabric of Games Gaming
ContingencyViral Game Mechanics
Free Lunch Information Physical Level Up Virality
Pride Achievement Theory Goods Behavioral Contrast Endless
Infinite Gameplay Combos Games
Disincentives Ownership Variable Interval
Reward Schedules Progression Dynamic
Fixed Interval Behavioral Momentum Blissful Ratio Reward
Real-time
Reward Schedules Extinction Productivitytwitter: mich8elwu
Schedules
Quest Mechanics linkedin.com/in/MichaelWuPhD 17

angry birds example
Immediate feedback:
1. control
2. physics
3. points
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Achievement:
Level unlock
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Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Flow
▪ Flow: an optimal state of
intrinsic motivation
• Forget about physical feelings
(e.g. hunger, sleep), passage of
time, and their ego
▪ Skill ~ Challenge  Flow
▪ Certainty vs. Uncertainty
• People love the control state
• People hate the boredom state
• People like arousal
• People dislike worry
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Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Flow
▪ People acquire skills over steep learning curve
time  move into the to get back to flow
shallow
way too hard learning
boredom state
curve
▪ We are motivated by a bit too hard
challenges, surprises, and
varieties, to avoid boredom
• IRL, matching challenge to too easy
people’s skills exactly is hard
• They are either too easy (boring)
or too hard (frustrating)
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Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: Flow
▪ Good games are designed
to maximize flow. How?
▪ Game designers: controls
the difficulty of the levels
▪ Players: the next step they
take is always a baby step
relative to the ability they
already acquired
already acquired ability the next step
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A game
||
structured
puppy steps
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Thank you
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