Rewards, feedback
& playing fair
Designing reward systems, feedback loops and ethical engagement
BSc (Hons) Game Design & Development
What's the best reward a game ever gave you?
Was it a thing… or a feeling?
By the end of today you can…
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 games 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.
Six stops
Rewards & loops
Types, timing, loops, schedules
Feedback
Action, response, reading it
Gamification
PBL and six engagement factors
Ethics
Dark patterns and loot boxes
Roll for Reward
Four rounds, four kinds of reward
Design task
Build your own reward system
Rewards can add fun, or replace it
The activity is the reward: mastery, curiosity, autonomy, relatedness.
The reward is outside the activity: points, loot, badges, rank, money.
Expected, controlling rewards can crowd out the intrinsic reason to play.
Week 1 asked why rewards work. Week 2 showed flow needs immediate feedback. Today asks how to design rewards and feedback: what kind, how often, how they feel, and when to stop.
Rewards
& loops
The motivation engine: what you give, when, and how often
Four things a reward can give
Achievements, titles, a high score. Changes nothing in play; tells everyone you did it.
Health, ammo, armour, extra lives. Keeps what you have.
Keys, unlocked areas, new levels. Opens content you couldn't reach.
Double jump, a new weapon, bigger inventory. Lets you do more.
Rewards also carry information ("you did that right") and set the pace of the game.
GDnD wiki · Reward Types (Hallford & Hallford)Short-term and long-term rewards
Fast loops keep the moment moving. Slow loops make the reward worth more because you waited.
Tiered and milestone rewards
Bronze → silver → gold. Basic to advanced gear. Currency worth more at each tier.
- Clear criteria for moving up a tier
- Each tier clearly better than the last
- Visible progress: badges, bars, ranks
Finish a chapter, reach a score, defeat a major boss.
- Defined and told to the player in advance
- Meaningful: worth the effort it took
- Tied to the story so it deepens immersion
Together they give players goals to set and hit, which is what long-term engagement is made of.
The core engagement cycle
Act, get rewarded, want to act again. Every game runs several of these loops at once, nested inside each other.
The small loops keep your hands busy. The big loops give the small ones a purpose.
Fixed or random?
Level-up bonuses, quest rewards, achievement unlocks.
- Clear goals and expectations
- Easier to balance progression
- Can feel monotonous if overused
- Less excitement
Random drops, loot boxes, gacha, surprise events.
- Surprise, curiosity, replayability
- Very high engagement
- Feels unfair after a bad streak
- Gambling-like when money is involved
Continuous reinforcement (every time) is best for teaching a new behaviour.
Partial reinforcement (sometimes) keeps a behaviour going longest.
Pick a game you both know. Find…
What do you do every few seconds, and what do you get?
What are you working towards this week?
What's the schedule? Is money involved?
Feedback
The bridge between what the player does and what the system says back
Every input needs an answer
Responsive, clear, consistent. Jump always jumps, now. Builds trust and supports flow.
Lag, unclear outcomes. "Did that hit?" Players blame the game, then leave it.
What is the feedback for?
Immediate
Confirms the input landed.
hit marker · button clickDelayed
Reflection after the moment.
end-of-match stats · summariesPositive
Reinforces what worked.
XP pop · combo counterNegative
Signals a mistake so you adjust.
health loss · red flashInformational
Teaches and guides.
"too heavy" · map markerAesthetic
Makes it feel good and deepens immersion.
particles · music swellOne coin, five layers
| Layer | What happens | Job |
|---|---|---|
| Audio | The "bling": instant and unmistakable | immediate · aesthetic |
| Motion | The coin pops out of the block and spins | immediate · aesthetic |
| UI | Coin counter +1, score +200 | informational · positive |
| Progress | Every 100 coins: an extra life | long-term · sustenance |
| Teaching | Coin trails show where to jump | informational · guiding |
A fast loop (the coin) feeding a slow loop (the 1-up), with every sense saying the same thing.
Layer the senses, and design for everyone
See it
Animations, particle effects, UI cues, screen shake.
Hear it
Success chimes, failure sounds, narration, music changes.
Layer it
Cues that agree across senses and haptics are stronger and more immersive.
Offer it twice
Colour-blind modes, captions, haptics. Never one channel only.
Watch: Juice it or lose it (Jonasson & Purho, 2012): the same game, with and without feedback.
GDnD wiki · Game FeelGamification
Taking game elements out of games
“The use of game design elements in non-game contexts”
| Game design | Gamification | |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Immersive, entertaining experiences | Engagement and motivation in something that isn't a game |
| Where | Complete games, played for their own sake | Education, fitness, marketing, training, productivity |
| Elements | Full mechanics, narrative, interactive play | Selected elements (points, badges, leaderboards) added to an existing activity |
Duolingo, Strava, loyalty cards, and this module's weekly quizzes.
GDnD wiki · GamificationPoints, badges, leaderboards (PBL)
A number for progress
Awarded for tasks and milestones. Immediate feedback and a sense of accomplishment.
A symbol of achievement
Earned for goals, challenges and expertise. A status symbol that points to mastery.
A ranking against others
Competition and social comparison. Motivates the people near the top.
The catch: a global leaderboard motivates the top ten and quietly tells everyone else they're losing. Fixes: show players near you, friends only, weekly resets, small leagues.
Beyond PBL: challenges, quests and social play reach the intrinsic needs from Week 1 (competence, autonomy, relatedness).
Six essential engaging factors
Fun contains everything. Structure holds challenge and feedback. Social and identity sit alongside.
Use it as a checklist: a design that's missing one of the six usually feels it.
Ethics &
dark patterns
When the reward system works for the business and against the player
Five reward dark patterns
Loot boxes
Paid random rewards on a variable-ratio schedule.
Overwatch (2016) · CS:GO keys · FIFA packsPay to win
Money buys a competitive edge over players who don't pay.
Clash of Clans gems · Diablo ImmortalGrind walls
Progress slowed on purpose, with a paid way round.
Diablo Immortal · FUT squad challengesScarcity & urgency
Countdowns and "limited time" push impulse buys.
Fortnite Item Shop · battle-pass timersForced continuity
Free trial that renews at full price unless you cancel.
£1 first month subscriptions · VIP trialsShort-term revenue, long-term cost: lost trust, bad press and regulation.
GDnD wiki · Dark Patterns in Game DesignLoot boxes
Variable-ratio reward, a near-miss when you get a duplicate, and a public reveal. Structurally, they look like gambling (Drummond & Sauer, 2018).
Loot box spending is linked to problem gambling severity (Zendle & Cairns, 2018). The heaviest spenders are the most vulnerable players.
Cosmetic only · visible odds · earnable in play · buy the item directly · "pity" guarantees.
China and Apple's App Store require published drop odds.
2018Belgium rules paid loot boxes are gambling and bans them.
2020PEGI adds "In-game purchases (includes random items)".
2022UK decides not to legislate and asks the industry to regulate itself; Overwatch 2 drops loot boxes for a shop and battle pass.
2023UK industry principles: odds disclosed, parental consent for under-18s.
Engaging or exploitative?
Pick one: FIFA / FC Ultimate Team packs, Overwatch's original loot boxes, or a game you play.
Which dark pattern(s)? Which reinforcement schedule? Who gets hurt most?
Change one rule so it keeps the excitement but respects the player.
Check it: respects agency · engages sustainably · is transparent · protects players. The test: would the player still choose this if they fully understood it?
Five things to remember
Rewards give glory, sustenance, access or facility, over the short or long term, in tiers and milestones.
Loops nest: fast loops keep momentum, slow loops give them purpose. Fixed rewards teach, random ones hook.
Feedback must be immediate, clear, layered and accessible. Every input needs an answer.
Gamification is more than PBL. Challenge, quests, social play and identity reach intrinsic motivation.
Would they choose it if they understood it? If not, it's a dark pattern.
Roll for
Reward
A dice game in four rounds. Each round adds a new kind of reward.
Tables of 4–5
- Two six-sided dice in different colours: the main die and the modifier
- One eight-sided die (no d8? roll a d6 and add 2)
- About 15 duck tokens: counters, coins or paper squares
- A score sheet and pen each
Take turns clockwise. Everyone gets 5 turns in Rounds 1–2 and 6 turns in Rounds 3–4. Highest score at the table wins the round and gets a ★.
Rate it on your sheet, on your own: fun (1–7) and I wanted another turn (1–7).
Before Round 1: predict on your sheet which round you'll rate highest. Use your Hexad type from Week 1.
Rather not play? Be the table's scorekeeper and watch for the moments people get excited.
What each round adds
| Round | Adds | Reward ideas from today | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Fixed | Points for every roll | Short-term · fixed · continuous | Flat by the third turn? |
| 2 Variety | Tier-up, ± modifier, ducks | Random · tiered · collectible set | Cheering at the table |
| 3 Risk | Pot, bust, bank | Agency · risk vs reward · loss | Who banks early, and why |
| 4 Spotlight | Class leaderboard, a winner | Extrinsic · social comparison · glory | Does the ranking help, or kill, the fun? |
Every round keeps the ★ milestone: the table winner after the last turn.
Roll the main die. Score what you roll.
- Roll the main die. Score what you roll.
- 5 turns each, clockwise.
- Highest at the table: ★
Rate Round 1: fun (1–7) and wanted another turn (1–7).
Now what you roll decides what you get
| 1 | Tier up: no points, but the d8 is your main die for the rest of the round |
| 2, 4 | Score it |
| 3, 5 | Score it, then modifier: 4–6 add, 1–3 subtract |
| 6 | Take a duck |
| 7, 8 | d8 only: score it |
4 each · 5 each if you have 3+. Nothing takes them away.
Rate Round 2.
Round 2 rules, plus a pot you can lose
- Points go into your pot.
- Roll a 1 on either main die: bust, lose the pot (and tier up).
- Or, instead of rolling: bank the pot. Safe for good, but it uses your turn.
- End: bank + pot + ducks. Ducks are always safe.
Rate Round 3.
Same rules. Now the whole room is watching.
- Every score goes on the class leaderboard.
- Top score in the room is the winner. Ties: a roll-off.
- Does it feel different?
Rate Round 4. Call out your ID and score.
Scores appear here, highest first.
That's the game.
Thanks for playing.
Leave the dice where they are.
Which round was most fun?
- Was most fun also where you most wanted another turn?
- Did the class ranking add fun, or pressure?
- Why did ducks feel worth more than 4 points?
- How did a bust feel, compared with a low roll?
- Who banked early? Was it the right call?
- Who kept rolling after we stopped?
Design task:
your reward system
From the activity sheet: analyse, design, pitch
Fifteen mechanics, three each
Pair n takes mechanics n, n + 5 and n + 10 from the sheet. For each one: a game that does it well, its rewards and loops, and who it's for.
| Mechanic | Game | Rewards | Loop · schedule | Bartle | Hexad |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 · Exploration & discovery | Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Korok seeds | "Yahaha!" + seed → Hestu expands your inventory (facility) | Fast: find one in minutes. Slow: trade seeds. Variable: any rock might hide one. | Explorer | Free Spirit |
Find all 900 and Hestu's final gift is… a golden poop. The finding was the reward all along.
Design a prototype around one mechanic
- One intrinsic reward: what feels good in itself
- One extrinsic reward: glory, sustenance, access or facility
- A fast loop and a slow loop that it feeds
- A named schedule: fixed or variable, ratio or interval
- One feedback moment, layered across at least two senses
- Who it's for: Bartle and Hexad types
- An ethics check: one dark pattern you could have used, and why you didn't
Three slides, three minutes: the game (mechanic, player fantasy, one-line pitch) · the loops (your diagram) · players & ethics (who it's for, the feedback moment, the dark pattern you refused).
Driftwood
| Intrinsic | Curiosity about what the tide brings; mastering tide timing |
| Extrinsic | Tool tiers (facility), new islands (access), a collection log (glory) |
| Schedule | Common finds every pass (fixed); rare shells by variable ratio, odds shown |
| Feedback | Chime + sparkle + controller pulse; rare finds get their own sound |
| Players | Explorers, Achievers · Free Spirits |
| Ethics | Tides run on game time, not real time: no "come back in 4 hours" |
“A reward system is fair when the player would still choose it if they knew ….”
One sentence each, on the back of your score sheet.
Deci, E. L., Koestner, R. and Ryan, R. M. (1999) 'A meta-analytic review of experiments examining the effects of extrinsic rewards on intrinsic motivation', Psychological Bulletin, 125(6), pp. 627–668.
Deterding, S., Dixon, D., Khaled, R. and Nacke, L. (2011) 'From game design elements to gamefulness: defining "gamification"', Proceedings of MindTrek '11, pp. 9–15.
Drummond, A. and Sauer, J. D. (2018) 'Video game loot boxes are psychologically akin to gambling', Nature Human Behaviour, 2(8), pp. 530–532.
Ferster, C. B. and Skinner, B. F. (1957) Schedules of Reinforcement. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.
Hallford, N. and Hallford, J. (2001) Swords and Circuitry: A Designer's Guide to Computer Role-Playing Games. Roseville, CA: Prima Tech.
Jonasson, M. and Purho, P. (2012) 'Juice it or lose it' [conference talk]. Nordic Game 2012. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fy0aCDmgnxg.
Kahneman, D. and Tversky, A. (1979) 'Prospect theory: an analysis of decision under risk', Econometrica, 47(2), pp. 263–291.
Lepper, M. R., Greene, D. and Nisbett, R. E. (1973) 'Undermining children's intrinsic interest with extrinsic reward', Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 28(1), pp. 129–137.
McGinnis, T., Bustard, D. W., Black, M. and Charles, D. (2008) 'Enhancing e-learning engagement using design patterns from computer games', Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Advances in Computer-Human Interaction (ACHI 2008). doi:10.1109/ACHI.2008.43.
Marczewski, A. (2015) Even Ninja Monkeys Like to Play: Gamification, Game Thinking and Motivational Design.
Ryan, R. M. and Deci, E. L. (2000) 'Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being', American Psychologist, 55(1), pp. 68–78.
Swink, S. (2009) Game Feel: A Game Designer's Guide to Virtual Sensation. Burlington, MA: Morgan Kaufmann.
Werbach, K. and Hunter, D. (2012) For the Win: How Game Thinking Can Revolutionize Your Business. Philadelphia: Wharton Digital Press.
Zagal, J. P., Björk, S. and Lewis, C. (2013) 'Dark patterns in the design of games', Proceedings of Foundations of Digital Games 2013.
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.
Reward Systems Design · Game Loops · Game Feel · Dark Patterns in Game Design · Loot Systems · Risk/Reward · Randomness in Games · Reward Types (Hallford & Hallford) · Gamification · Overjustification Effect