Five experts recently gave their thoughts on how game mechanics, social games, and behavioral economics inform gaming. Gabe Zichermann, co-founder and CEO of BeamMe Live, offered a provocative thought to kick off the discussion:
I thought there was more to games than fun. Then I realized there isn’t.
What Is Game Mechanics?
The panelists began by discussing the concept of game mechanics.
Tim Chang of Norwest Venture Partners described game mechanics as being about keeping people engaged in an activity over a period of time. When designing games or an applications with a gaming component, the central question is how to monetize through micro-transactions. You want the game to have an element of stickiness. That way you can get users to feel connected to your product.
Zichermann argued that game design must focus on loyalty. With respect to competition, differentiation takes a different form when products become commoditized. You must find a way to keep customers loyal. Airlines figured this out with frequent flyer programs. Frequent flyer programs, and other rewards systems, are about giving the customer status.
Why status? Status — not Money — makes the world go around. Here’s why. Each additional unit of money means less to most people than each additional unit of status. Status is about respect, attention, and recognition. Not everyone can be a billionaire, but everyone can have status in a specific, narrow domain. This is why Zichermann is interested in status systems around products.
In contrast, game designer and consultant Amy Jo Kim emphasized the core action or experience that people are doing. Game mechanics support the core action or experience as icing on the cake. Thus, game mechanics and game design should not become the focus. The product itself must remain the focus.
To Alex St. John, CEO and CTO of hi5, gamification is about great user interface design. An unproductive game design is a better design. You want people to waste time on your product. Games are not profound, not should they be. Games are a way for people to be social, or at least pretend they are being social.
St. John asked whether social games like Farmville are really social. If you send a brown cow to your mom in Phoenix, but do not see her face to face, is giving the cow really a social act? Or is it an attempt to substitute a micro-transaction for social interaction?
Applying Game Mechanics To Social Games
How should game mechanics be applied to social games?
Chang and Kim agreed that the key parts of game mechanics are points, rewards (e.g. badges) and feedback, and different levels in the game. To figure out to design these three elements, Kim stated the designer must answer two questions:
- Who is the user?
- What motivates them?
Taking a different angle, Zichermann contended that most people play games for social interaction. He pointed to bridge, poker, and mahjong as examples. Because not everyone can play to win, focusing on winning can backfire and turn off users.
Andrew Beranbom, co-founder of TellAPal, agreed with Zichermann that focusing on points, rewards, and winning can be undesirable. That is why TellAPal focuses on participation rates.
While supporting the idea that game mechanics should include badges, points, and rewards, Chang cautioned that allowing out one winner is dangerous in any game situation. Chang pointed to FourSquare, saying that having one winner at a location is discouraging to those who feel they can never win.
Clarifying her earlier point about points and rewards, Kim mentioned her many interviewers of gamers to understand their motivations. Gamers often tell her:
I’m sick of that game but my friends are on it and I can’t leave.
Accordingly, game designers should look for a need in people’s lives, such as social interaction, and try to fulfill that need.
The Behavioral Economics Of Micro-Transactions
In the final exchange, St. John and Zichermann noted that traditional economics does not do a good job of addressing the psychology of micro-transactions — transactions that are less than $1. But micro-transactions are critical part of game mechanics, whether specifically in social games or otherwise.
Consider an auction where 10,000 people pay 10 cents to bid for a phone that sells for $30. While the high bidder buys the phone for $30, the auctioneer gets $1,000 from the bidding revenue.
The relevant point is that each bidder entered into a micro-transaction of 10 cents. And people have a hard time valuing transactions that are less than $1. Behavioral economists like Dan Ariely of MIT have made inroads in explaining the psychology of micro-transactions.
Conclusion
The panel provided useful insights into how game mechanics can inform the design of social games. More broadly, game mechanics can help improve marketing and branding beyond games.
However, the key is to embed game mechanics into the core activity of experience of customers. This discussion raises the question of how can behavioral economics inform game mechanics beyond micro-transactions?
Douglas Y. Park
Twitter: @DougYPark
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