Pillars Of Gaming: Mechanics That Drive People To Action [Future Of Gaming]

PSFK’s Future Of Gaming report is intended to provide a current snapshot into the innovative ways that games are being used within the broader marketplace, examine their expanding role in effecting change on an individual and societal level, and highlight the new technologies that are making these experiences possible. Pattern recognition performed against our research yielded 17 key trends organized around three core aspects of game design — Purpose Behind the Game, Mechanics That Drive People To Action and Game Functionality and Systems.

Mechanics That Drive People To Action

Because games can only be successful if people are willing to participate, developers are tapping into some of the core motivations behind human behaviors and integrating these mechanics into the structure of game play. Whether rewarding players with game currency and increased status or embedding a layer of social competition and feedback, these systems are incentivizing people to take action and stay committed.

Motivations Driving In-Game Participation

One-Upsmanship

Peer Pressure

Money On The Line

Rewards

Exclusive Access

Key Implications

• Integrate social accountability into the context of the game, enabling friends and family to help motivate players to complete their goals.
• Build an online/offline reward system into the gaming platform, allowing players to earn points/currency that can be used both inside the game and in the real world.
• Create a tiered ranking system within the game that enables players to earn higher status over time. Link these higher levels of achievement with preferred access and other exclusive perks.
• Provide added incentive by building creative payment systems that enable players to risk their own money against the completion of their personal goals.
• Enable players to create their own in-game missions/ challenges and compete against their friends to see who can perform better.

To learn more about what’s going on in the gaming space today, order a copy of PSFK’s Future of Gaming report.