Rewards, feedback & playing fair
Designing reward systems: reward types, short- and long-term, tiered and milestone rewards, fast and slow loops and reinforcement schedules; feedback that is immediate, layered and accessible; gamification beyond points, badges and leaderboards; and the ethics of loot boxes and other reward dark patterns. In the practical you play Roll for Reward, then design your own reward system.
Slides: use the arrow keys or swipe; press F for full screen and Esc for an overview.
- Design a reward system using short- and long-term, tiered, milestone, fixed and random rewards in fast and slow loops.
- Design feedback that is immediate, clear, layered across the senses and accessible.
- Separate game design from gamification, and explain why points, badges and leaderboards alone aren't enough.
- Judge a reward system's ethics and redesign a dark pattern so it respects the player.
Watch Juice it or lose it (Jonasson and Purho, 2012, about 15 minutes). Finish your Part B design and prepare the three-slide pitch.
Activity files
Key reading
Deterding, S., Dixon, D., Khaled, R. and Nacke, L. (2011) 'From game design elements to gamefulness: defining "gamification"', MindTrek '11, pp. 9–15.
Hallford, N. and Hallford, J. (2001) Swords and Circuitry: A Designer's Guide to Computer Role-Playing Games. Roseville, CA: Prima Tech.
Zagal, J. P., Björk, S. and Lewis, C. (2013) 'Dark patterns in the design of games', Foundations of Digital Games 2013.
Drummond, A. and Sauer, J. D. (2018) 'Video game loot boxes are psychologically akin to gambling', Nature Human Behaviour, 2(8), pp. 530–532.
Zendle, D. and Cairns, P. (2018) 'Video game loot boxes are linked to problem gambling: results of a large-scale survey', PLOS ONE, 13(11), e0206767. Link