The document outlines a 5-step framework for designing engaging player experiences:
1) Understand players through player types and motivations.
2) Identify unmet needs and intrinsically motivating activities.
3) Design for different player lifecycle stages like onboarding, habit-building, and mastery.
4) Guide skill development through progress markers and feedback systems like points, levels, and rewards.
5) Build sustained engagement through gameplay loops that trigger activities, provide outcomes, and elicit emotions.
11. If you’re building a social app, instead of
asking “who are my player types?” ask
“what social actions motivate my players?”
Jane McGonigal
Richard Bartle
12. 2. Motivation: Unmet Needs & Pain Points
Which activities are intrinsically motivating?
14. Extrinsic Rewards Sometimes Work
Effective for completing simple
tasks and guiding players towards
system mastery
15. Tap into Intrinsic Motivation FIRST
address a NEED/PAIN POINT for your micro-vertical
CONNECT via shared glimpses of everyday life, EVESDROP on other people’s lives
16. Autonomy ––the desire to direct our own lives.
Autonomy the desire to direct our own lives.
Mastery — the urge to get better at something that matters.
Mastery — the urge to get better at something that matters.
Purpose — AKA belonging, desire to be part of something bigger than ourselves
Purpose — AKA belonging, desire to be part of something bigger than ourselves
21. Motivation & Game Elements
Autonomy
Mastery
& Learning
& Belonging
Choose Your Role
Progress Markers
BackStory & Mission
Customize Your
Character
Skill Systems
Real-world Impact
Reputation Systems
Group Quests
Mission Trees
Group Stats
Real-time Feedback
Connect w/Friends
Collections
Join a Teams, Guilds
or Faction
& Choice
Customize Your
Background
Explore a World,
Map or Taxonomy
Purchase Items
Unlocks
Purpose
28. 4. Progress: The Path to Mastery
What markers & feedback guide skill development?
29. Keeping Score: 4 Types of Points Systems
1. Skill Points (AKA Score, Rank)
earned via interacting with the system – reflects mastery of the activity or game
PersonalSkill: skill rating/ranking of an individual
Group Skill: skill rating/ranking of a group
32. Keeping Score: 4 Types of Points Systems
1. Skill Points (Score, Rank)
earned via interacting with the system – reflects mastery of the activity or game
PersonalSkill: skill rating/ranking of an individual
Group Skill: skill rating/ranking of a group
2. Experience Points (XP)
uni-directional metric – only goes UP (reflects persistence + skill)
earned directly via customers’ actions - used to track & reward certain activities
Personal XP: reflects a customer’s actions & accomplishments
Group XP: reflects the actions & accomplishments of a group
35. Keeping Score: 4 Types of Points Systems
1. Skill Points (Score, Rank)
earned via interacting with the system – reflects mastery of the activity or game
PersonalSkill: skill rating/ranking of an individual
Group Skill: skill rating/ranking of a group
2. Experience Points (XP)
uni-directional metric – only goes UP (reflects persistence + skill)
earned directly via customers’ actions - used to track & reward certain activities
Personal XP: reflects a customer’s actions & accomplishments
Group XP: reflects the actions & accomplishments of a group
3. Currency (credits, coins, chips, tokens, bucks)
bi-directional metric – goes up and down
earned or bought within the system – can be redeemed within the system for goods or services
Earned Currency: earned via customer actions – used to track & reward certain activities
Purchased Currency: purchased with $$ to acquire exclusive goods and services
38. Keeping Score: 4 Types of Points Systems
1. Skill Points (Score, Rank)
earned via interacting with the system – reflects mastery of the activity or game
PersonalSkill: skill rating/ranking of an individual
Group Skill: skill rating/ranking of a group
2. Experience Points (XP)
uni-directional metric – only goes UP (reflects persistence + skill)
earned directly via customers’ actions - used to track & reward certain activities
Personal XP: reflects a customer’s actions & accomplishments
Group XP: reflects the actions & accomplishments of a group
3. Currency (credits, coins, chips, tokens, bucks)
bi-directional metric – goes up and down
earned or bought within the system – can be redeemed within the system for goods or services
Earned Currency: earned via customer actions – used to track & reward certain activities
Purchased Currency: purchased with $$ to acquire exclusive goods and services
4. Social Points (AKA Reputation, Ratings, Likes)
earned via the actions of OTHER players – can be a proxy for quality/reputation/influence
lets you track & reward socially valuable contributions & actions
49. Pro Tip: Use Group Unlocks to promote & reward teamwork
50. 5. Loops: Building Sustained Engagement
Trigger
Engaging Activity
Task / Mission / Game / Quiz / Gift
CTA
Customize / Share / Help / Compete
Feedback & Progress
Stats / Challenges / Awards / Messages
Motivating Emotions
Fun / Delight / Curiousity / Belonging / Purpose
trigger
activity + goal
outcome
When _________ I want to ________________ so I can _____________
51. Start with a (triggered)
engaging activity
Trigger
Engaging Activity
Task / Mission / Game / Quiz / Gift
52. Followup with Feedback & Progress
Trigger
Engaging Activity
Task / Mission / Game / Quiz / Gift
Feedback & Progress
Stats / Challenges / Awards / Messages
53. … designed to elicit
Motivating Emotions
Trigger
Engaging Activity
Task / Mission / Game / Quiz / Gift
Feedback & Progress
Stats / Challenges / Awards / Messages
Motivating Emotions
Fun / Delight / Curiousity / Belonging / Purpose
54. Then direct the action with a compelling
CTA
Trigger
Engaging Activity
Task / Mission / Game / Quiz / Gift
CTA
Customize / Share / Help / Compete
Feedback & Progress
Stats / Challenges / Awards / Messages
Motivating Emotions
Fun / Delight / Curiousity / Belonging / Purpose
55. Engagement changes throughout a player’s lifecycle
Become skilled
at ????
Mastery
Checkin Daily
to ?????
Habit-Building
Learn to
???
Onboarding
56. First Engagement: Onboarding
Email from Friend
Email from Friend
FB/Twitter Post
FB/Twitter Post
View
View
Content
Content
Call to Action
Call to Action
Interact with
Interact with
Content
Content
Feedack & Progress
Feedack & Progress
57. Re-engagement: Habit-Building
With Social Feedback
New Messages
New Messages
Read/Respond to Messages
Read/Respond to Messages
Without Social Feedback
Browse New Content
Browse New Content
New Content
New Content
CTA
CTA
What to do next
What to do next
View
View
Content
Content
Activity Feedback
Activity Feedback
Tips, Progress, Unlocks, Rewards
Tips, Progress, Unlocks, Rewards
View
View
Profile
Profile
Post
Post
Msg
Msg
58. Deep Engagement: System Mastery
Re-engagement Triggers
New Messages/Content
New Messages/Content
Personalized Page
Personalized Page
Social Activity
Social Activity
Respond/Post/Vote/Donate
Respond/Post/Vote/Donate
CTA
CTA
What to Do Next
What to Do Next
Activity Feedback
Activity Feedback
Tips, Progress, Unlocks,
Tips, Progress, Unlocks,
Rewards
Rewards
60. Player’s Journey: 5-Step Design Framework
1. Insight
Who are our early-adopter Players? How do they like to interact?
2. Motivation
What are their unmet needs? What activities are intrinsically rewarding?
3. Lifecycle
how does the game unfold over time? How is the player changed by playing?
4. Progress
how do players make progress? What markers light the way towards mastery?
5. Loops
how do we engage players during Onboarding, Habit-Building & Mastery?
66. DESIGN EXERCISE
Which type of Social Actions DEFINE your experience?
How does that matchup with your micro-vertical?
Express
Content
Compete
Players
Explore
Collaborate
68. DESIGN EXERCISE
Create 3 quests or tasks to give players at each stage
Enthusiast
Mastery
Regular
Habit-Building
Newbie
Onboarding
69. DESIGN EXERCISE
Create an Habit Loop for your project that people would use daily
Trigger
Engaging Activity
Task / Mission / Game / Quiz / Gift
CTA
Customize / Share / Help / Compete
Feedback & Progress
Stats / Challenges / Awards / Messages
Motivating Emotions
Fun / Delight / Curiousity / Belonging / Purpose
Notes de l'éditeur
A less obvious - but even more interesting - social rating system is Flickr’s measure of “interestingness” -- this is a cumulative measure of people’s viewing and tagging and commenting behavior within the site. This is an “emergent” form of social points - and it allows Flickr to identity and reward photographers who create art that Flickr users collectively find interesting. What’s exciting about this rating system is that it INFERS points, based on existing behavior. So ask yourself - is there something similar in the applications that I’m currently working on?
Back when I studied Psychology, the most memorable and useful thing I learned was the “one-armed bandit” schedule of reinforcement. Which you can see here, in red. The essence is this: if you give random, sizeable rewards for user actions (e.g. how a slot machine works), you will get an addictive behavior pattern - in mice, in pigeons, or in humans.
Back when I studied Psychology, the most memorable and useful thing I learned was the “one-armed bandit” schedule of reinforcement. Which you can see here, in red. The essence is this: if you give random, sizeable rewards for user actions (e.g. how a slot machine works), you will get an addictive behavior pattern - in mice, in pigeons, or in humans.
Back when I studied Psychology, the most memorable and useful thing I learned was the “one-armed bandit” schedule of reinforcement. Which you can see here, in red. The essence is this: if you give random, sizeable rewards for user actions (e.g. how a slot machine works), you will get an addictive behavior pattern - in mice, in pigeons, or in humans.