Behavioral Psychology for Evil: Let’s Go Whaling!

I’m interested in learning the tactics freemium game developers use to hook people into spending too much money…so that I can use those same tactics to gamify Moodle and hook students into learning.

Video

AI-Generated Podcast

SUMMARY

• Riku Seppälä’s PGDC talk on game monetization techniques.
• Explores behavioral psychology tricks to increase spending.
• Focuses on whales and in-game economy to maximize revenue.

IDEAS

• Many high-spending players in games are competitive.
• Large in-game economies improve retention and monetization.
• Model game sales based on player types.
• Focus on selling convenience and progress.
• Pay-to-win can be good but needs balance.
• Selling content is expensive and hard to keep up with.
• Use the hook, habit, hobby model for player progression.
• Offer a no-brainer deal upfront to increase commitment.
• Break the “I’ll never pay” wall with an initial purchase.
• Gacha mechanics are like collectible card games.
• Gacha mechanics leverage the lottery effect.
• Decide on your target audience: high volume or high spenders.
• Use hot state (fast thinking) for spending decisions.
• Make purchases immediately useful and gratifying.
• Leverage loss aversion by threatening to take away items.
• Use scarcity and limited-time offers to drive spending.
• Subscriptions can drive retention and monetization.
• The IKEA effect makes players value items they work for.
• Use the Hooked model to build habits in players.
• Anchoring can influence players’ perception of value.
• Social proof encourages spending as the norm.
• Make spending the socially acceptable behavior.
• Availability bias can be used to make rare items seem more attainable.
• Offer the right amount of choice to avoid decision paralysis.
• Whales take longer to convert, so have long-term content.
• Integrate the store into the core game loop.
• Use labeling to influence player behavior.
• Give players reasons to spend, even if they’re not great.
• Make sure grinding and paying are both viable progression methods.
• Reciprocity is a strong mechanic but hard to implement in games.

INSIGHTS

• Understanding player psychology is crucial for effective monetization.
• In-game economies are powerful tools for driving engagement and revenue.
• Different player types respond to different monetization strategies.
• Creating a sense of urgency and scarcity can encourage spending.
• Building habits and emotional investment increases player lifetime value.
• Social dynamics and peer influence can significantly impact spending.
• Offering a clear and compelling value proposition is essential.
• Balancing skill, luck, grinding, and paying is key for a successful game.

QUOTES

• “The very best way to get these guys to spend is to get two rich, competitive guys to fight each other.”
• “Top grossing games have in-game economies worth tens of thousands.”
• “Most of your sales will be here.”
• “Selling content is very expensive.”
• “You want to give a really, really good deal, something that’s a no-brainer.”
• “Lots of people otherwise have this wall up, I will never pay for a mobile game. So you need to break the wall first.”
• “It’s really a lot more exciting and you get more content because people cannot immediately progress to the stuff they want.”
• “Just know where you stand on this.”
• “The slow thinking is your analytical brain.”
• “Make it immediately useful.”
• “We need more gain to offset the loss is felt more strongly.”
• “They are scarce, they go away, this is a brilliant way to get more.”
• “Build stuff that makes people come back to your game a lot in order to get the value out of that.”
• “You absolutely do not want to tell them that the majority of people in your game never spend money.”
• “The right amount of choice.”
• “Whales take longer time to convert.”
• “Spend because reasons.”
• “Reciprocity is a very, very strong mechanic.”

HABITS

• Studying behavioral psychology.
• Analyzing successful game economies.
• Understanding different player motivations.
• Experimenting with different monetization strategies.
• Continuously iterating and improving game design.

FACTS

• High-spending players (whales) drive a significant portion of game revenue.
• In-game economies can be worth tens of thousands of dollars.
• The first purchase in a game can significantly increase player retention.
• Gacha mechanics are based on the same principles as collectible card games.
• Loss aversion is a powerful psychological principle that can be used in game design.
• The IKEA effect demonstrates that people value things they put effort into more highly.
• Anchoring can influence people’s perception of value.
• Social proof can make spending seem like the norm.
• Offering too much choice can lead to decision paralysis.
• Whales often take longer to convert into paying players.
• Reciprocity requires a gift to be unexpected, personal, and significant.

REFERENCES

• Will Luton’s Bottle Types model for player motivations.
• Dimitri Dravano’s Hook, Habit, Hobby model for player progression.
• Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman.
• Skinner Box.
• Hooked by Nir Eyal.
• Black Pearls example of anchoring.
• Jam experiment on choice overload.
• Hill Climb Racing as an example of core loop integration.
• Labeling technique from social psychology.

ONE-SENTENCE TAKEAWAY

• Understand player psychology and design smart monetization strategies that drive engagement and revenue.

RECOMMENDATIONS

• Offer a no-brainer deal upfront to encourage initial spending.
• Design a large and engaging in-game economy.
• Cater to different player types with various monetization strategies.
• Leverage loss aversion and scarcity to drive purchases.
• Use the Hooked model to build player habits.
• Implement anchoring techniques to influence perceived value.
• Make spending the socially acceptable behavior through social proof.
• Offer the right amount of choice to avoid overwhelming players.
• Design long-term content to cater to whales.
• Integrate the store into the core game loop.
• Use labeling to positively influence player behavior.
• Provide clear reasons for spending.
• Ensure grinding and paying are both viable progression paths.
• Explore ways to incentivize reciprocity between players.

AGENT TEAM SUMMARIES

• SUMMARY: Agent team summarized the presentation as a guide to game monetization using psychology.
• IDEAS: The agent team extracted key ideas related to player psychology, monetization techniques, and game design.
• INSIGHTS: The agent team synthesized core insights on player motivation, engagement, and revenue generation.
• QUOTES: The agent team selected impactful quotes highlighting key monetization principles and strategies.
• HABITS: The agent team identified habits of successful game developers related to psychology and analysis.
• FACTS: The agent team extracted factual statements about player behavior and game monetization.
• REFERENCES: The agent team collected references to models, books, and games mentioned in the presentation.
• ONE-SENTENCE TAKEAWAY: The agent team captured the essence of the presentation in a concise takeaway.
• RECOMMENDATIONS: The agent team formulated actionable recommendations for game developers based on the content.