Designing for behavior change can be looked at through many lenses. As the implementers of interventions, products and services designed to modify the decisions and behaviors of others, we can adopt a “Doing to,” “Working with,” or “Working for” mentality. The people on the receiving end of our interventions can perceive this frame of reference, and this can have a great impact on the initiation, engagement and outcomes of designs we put in place. While the current popular discourse revolves around fixing or capitalizing upon our limited cognitive, emotional and motivational resources through varying levels of authority and control, humans are self-organizing systems who may need little more than support of their autonomy and growth potential to enact tremendous change in their lives. With this in mind, delivering interventions that preserve human agency and foster authentic functioning can seem like a radical (yet welcomed) approach. But how might we do this? What kinds of systems can be implemented to achieve individual and group level change while preserving a sense of volitional engagement? Games and Gameful Design (but not “Gamification”) offer a promising approach to creating the conditions whereby people are willing, active participants in initiating and sustaining meaningful change efforts. In this talk, I’ll articulate theory and evidence-based methods and models for evaluating and implementing the ways by which games and play shape our psychological processes and influence behavior and subjective well-being.

1. BRAINS,
GAMES &
BEHAVIOR CHANGE
DUSTIN DITOMMASO
SVP, Behavior Change Design
Dustin@MadPow.net | @DU5TB1N

2. BI = AB(W1) + SN(W2) + PBC(W3)
HOW DO WE GET POPULATION X
TO DO Y IN CONTEXT Z?
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3. WORLDVIEWS
1. MECHANISTIC
2. ORGANISMIC
3. CONTEXTUAL

4. ~ Kurt Lewin|1936
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12. mo·ti·va·tion
ˌmō-təә-ˈvā-shəәn
The processes that give behavior
its energy and direction.
~ John Marshall Reeve

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26. A COPERNICAN TURN
IN MOTIVATIONAL
THINKING
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27. SelfDeterminationTheory.org
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32. CAN IT BE TURNED INTO A GAME?
IF the behavior can be learned or modified
IF the player’s progress can be measured
IF feedback can be delivered in a timely manner
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33. THE ROLE OF BEHAVIOR CHANGE GAMES
1. Create novelty and interest for uninteresting activities
2. Provide planning, structure, goal-setting and routine
3. Facilitate feelings of autonomy and intrinsic motivation
4. Develop & improve necessary skills to enable change
5. Provide a platform for enhancing feelings of competence
6. Provide a platform for social support and influence
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DESIGN FOR COMPETENCE

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Visualization: Amy Jo Kim via Sebastian Deterding

40. DENSITY OF COMPETENCE FEEDBACK
GRANULAR: Moment to Moment Feedback on Actions
SUSTAINED: Feedback on Streaks; Success/Fail Ratio’s
CUMULATIVE: Overall Performance; Session, Game, First Run

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DESIGN FOR AUTONOMY

46. DESIGN FOR RELATEDNESS
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48. BENEFITS OF SOCIAL PLAY
LEARNING: Through Observation
RELATIONSHIP BUILDING: Through Shared Goals
PERFORMANCE: Accountability, Showmanship & Competition
EMOTIONAL CONTAGION: Through Shared Experiences

49. GetHotseatApp.com | @GetHotseatApp

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55. TL;DL
MOTIVATION MATTERS
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56. TL;DL
QUALITY MATTERS MOST
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57. TL;DL
AUTONOMOUS MOTIVATION
IS MORE EFFECTIVE THAN
CONTROLLED MOTIVATION
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58. TL;DL
AUTONOMOUS MOTIVATION AND
AUTHENTIC FUNCTIONING IS
ACHIEVED THROUGH THE
SATISFACTION OF BASIC
PSYCHOLOGICAL NEEDS
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59. TL;DL
THOSE NEEDS ARE:
COMPETENCE
AUTONOMY
RELATEDNESS
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60. TL;DL
HUMANS WILLINGLY SEEK OUT &
CONTINUE TO ENGAGE IN ACTIVITES
THAT SATISFY THEIR PSYCHOLOGICAL
NEEDS
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61. TL;DL
WILLING ENGAGEMENT IS
IMPERITIVE FOR BEHAVIOR CHANGE
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62. CTA
DESIGN
NEEDS SATISFYING EXPERIENCES
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63. CTA
DESIGN
NEEDS SATISFYING EXPERIENCES
USING GAMES AS A LENS
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64. CTA
CHANGE HAPPENS
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65. CTA
EVERYBODY WINS
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66. FIN
THANK YOU!
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67. THANK YOU!
DUSTIN DITOMMASO
SVP BEHAVIOR CHANGE DESIGN
DUSTIN@MADPOW.NET | @DU5TB1N