The Psychology of Achievements
by Andrew CrowPeter pointed out this article last week and I’ve been thinking a lot about qualitative achievements.
What makes the article interesting for designers is that as we think more about game-like aspects to the interfaces we develop, understanding how to motivate and encourage interaction is important. Applications, websites, devices cannot always provide a quantifiable sense of achievement. So, how can qualitative incentives help?
I encourage you to read the article first, but if I could summarize, it would be this quote:
At present, game achievements and trophies relate to prospect-based emotions only. Qualitative, peer generated achievements would expand the emotional space of gamer communities….
Aki Jarvinen proposes that game designers reach beyond achievements and trophies. I think there are already plenty of qualitative achievements in gaming, specifically in online communities.
Halo 3
Halo is HUGE on quantitative achievements. You advance both in Skill Level and Rank through a myriad of actions – kills, kills with certain weapons, non-deadly goals, etc. It’s the driving force behind the online game play. However, there is a undercurrent of qualitative play that often goes unspoken.
For example, in large games, teams usually self-organize based on skillset. Some players are great snipers, others good with a rocket launcher, etc. Once you are known for your skill, the other team members will leave those valuable weapons to you, because, in your hands, the team will benefit. Sometimes people will even bring weapons to you so that you can do your thing. This affordance is a reward for the respect that team members have for one another. It’s not measurable, but it’s valuable.
Recently, I played a long game in which I killed no opponent, I simply drove gunners around in a Warthog (jeep with a large gun attached). I earned zero points, but I enabled other players to take down many of the other team. My reward for this was a slew of new Xbox Live friends that want to play with me again. Expanding my social network may be quantifiable, but for me, it represents better quality of gameplay.
Little Big Planet
This amazing game encourages players to build environments and maps. There are now over 1 million user-generated maps available through PSN. Gamers receive no rewards for this, but other players reap the benefits of their labor. People can tag custom levels that they like with words such “beautiful” and heart these as a way of showing appreciation. The rewards are not system-generated, they are based on the community response.
Social networks have understood the need for qualitative rewards. Retweets, favorites, “likes” are all ways people can show the value of the content or actions taking place.
How can you improve your product with this kind of encouragement?
Entries (RSS)
September 12th, 2009 at 8:06 am
Great examples. Another common example of an intrinsic social reward is blog comments. Every blogger thrives on comments, for many important reasons:
- it’s validation, to both the writer and other readers, that you’ve written something remarkable – worthy of comment
- the total number of comments is both a quantitative and qualitative measure of your audience
- comments attract more people by boosting Google juice
- commentors also give and/or get reputation by association
September 12th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
Would the experience be better or worse if driver assists were acknowledged with points? The Battlefield series does this.
September 12th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
10 points for using the phrase “Google juice”.
To the point above, you do get an on-screen acknowledgement of assisting in kills as a driver, but no points. I guess that counts as qualitative rewards. Always nice to know when you help with the p0wnage.
September 13th, 2009 at 4:36 am
Minus 10 points for not actually getting any juice myself (my link didn’t appear for some reason) – another reciprocal reward.
October 22nd, 2009 at 1:32 pm
These are some great analogies, I liked Philips’ as well. I agree that awards make us feel better about are self and can increase our self-esteem. Or just get us to waste more time playing an awesome game like Halo.
December 2nd, 2009 at 4:42 pm
Modern Warfare 2 has some interesting multiplayer dynamics that encourage teamwork. If the opposing team calls in a helicopter, it tends to kill everyone. To shoot it down you need to be out in the open, where it tends to kill you. So the primary instinct is to hide indoors.
For the brave souls who take these things out for the sake of the team, there’s only a miniscule points reward – however, do it sufficiently frequently and you’ll be awarded unique titles and emblems that only helicopter-destroying folk can earn. It labels you as a team player and provides at least some reward for your altruistic work.