With the advent of modern life computers and mobile phones, games can be said to be ubiquitous. Whether it's on the way to work or paddling to work, we can see people playing games. Especially in the winter vacation that just passed, when children went to visit the New Year, almost all of them played games with mobile phones, which can be said to be addictive. So why are games addictive? Before answering this question, let's take a look at an experiment conducted by the famous psychologist Skinner.
One day, Skinner was experimenting with mice, and he suddenly thought: How to make a mouse learn to press the button on its own initiative? So he made a box himself and put a button on the left side of the box. The idea he started was that whenever the mouse touched the button, he would throw food at the mouse.
At the beginning of the experiment, the mice were not in a hurry to move around. But slowly there was no food, and the rat was a little impatient, and inadvertently once it hit the button. Then the sky dropped food, and the rats had a full meal. As the rat kept trying, it found itself with food every time it touched the button. So the mice began to press the button non-stop, and a steady stream of food appeared. Slowly the rats also began to be lazy, pressing only when they were hungry.
Skinner thought: How do you keep the guinea pig happily pressing the button? So he did another experiment, putting the mouse back in the box after being hungry for a few days. But he lowered the probability of food being delivered at the push of a button. The mouse first presses the button to have food, and then it needs to press a dozen times to have food, and the probability is decreasing little by little. The mouse slowly pressed the button continuously.
Making players enjoy playing the game is actually the same as the above experiment, and the reason why the game is addictive is the "reward effect". In psychology, when people make a certain decision, if it is proven to be correct, it produces good results. The brain will give a certain reward, and this reward is dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter associated with euphoric and excitatory emotions, which allows people to elevate their mood and sense of pleasure. And this happiness will make people continue to act accordingly, thus forming a cycle, which is the "reward effect".
Once we understand this effect, let's look at how games or marketing can make us slowly addicted. And in what way?
Method 1: Rewards are immediate
Ready-to-receive rewards are those with no or low thresholds that allow people to quickly get small rewards. For example, a game registration directly to your novice gift package, or some APP registration to give us a threshold red envelope, or a small amount of cash rewards and so on. Ready-to-use rewards can attract people on the one hand, and better retain people on the other.
Method two: variable rewards
Psychology has shown that once people get used to a fixed reward, the stimulus of that reward weakens. Like the first experiment in the mice above, after stabilizing the food, the pleasure of pressing the button is reduced. For example, in a game, if the same amount of gold is dropped every time the treasure chest is opened, the player will feel more and more uninteresting. On the contrary, the use of uncertain, probabilistic rewards will increase people's sense of anticipation and surprise.
For example, the treasure chest in CSGO can open a good gun, but also a gun for business trips. The recent explosion of eternal devastation is also to open the box can open different color levels of clothing weapon skin. These are all rewards that increase uncertainty and thus increase the fun of the game.
Option 3: Upgrade Rewards
Needless to say, the upgrade reward is to give a corresponding different reward for each level. Hierarchy consciousness can be said to be a deep-rooted concept in people, and everyone will want to be superior, so upgrading is also an important reason for people to enjoy playing games. And the upgrade does not mean that each level of experience is the same, generally the higher the level required the higher. Including many APP, also using this, some VIP members will have a level of points, the longer the VIP time to show their VIP level is not the same, the same will also give rewards. Those who are interested can discover a lot on their own.
Here's how: Super Rewards
Super rewards such as playing bosses in the game, setting bosses can be a probability to drop legendary weapons or costumes. The gameplay of super rewards can greatly increase the motivation of players. In fact, the best super reward in the daily APP is Alipay's super koi of the year, after winning this award, you can go to all parts of the country to spend and give reimbursement. This publicity can be said to have greatly stimulated consumers at that time.
Final summary: When we understand the logic of the reward effect, we can change ourselves. In addition to making people addicted, the reward effect can also make yourself better. For example, after completing the corresponding work, treat yourself well, give yourself a little entertainment reward after completing the corresponding exercise, etc., and slowly let us produce a good habit cycle.