Dr. Jamie Madigan is an expert on the psychology of video games and seeks to popularize the knowledge of how various aspects of psychology can be used to understand why games are made the way they are and why players behave as they do. He is the author of the book, GETTING GAMERS: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF VIDEO GAMES AND THEIR IMPACT ON THE PEOPLE WHO PLAY THEM. Madigan also writes, podcasts, and lectures on how businesses can incorporate psychological principles into their products. He is a frequent expert on the psychology of video games and has appeared in The Washington Post, Wired, The Atlantic, the Chicago Tribune, the BBC, The Guardian, and more.

1. Video Game Psychology
and
Product Engagement
Presented at Habit Summit, 2016
Jamie Madigan, Ph.D.

2. www.psychologyofgames.com

3. Quests

4. The Zeigarnik Effect

5. The Endowed Progress Effect

6. Things to try…
• Keep track for users
• Endow progress
• Threaten to take
things away
• Force choices

7. Competition

8. RelatedAttribute Hypothesis

9. The Frog Pond Effect

12. The McKayla Is Not Impressed Effect

13. Not all rungs in a ladder are equally spaced

14. Things to try…
• Facilitate
comparisons to
similar others
• Find ways to cut data
to put player near
top of smaller lists
• Find alternaGves to
points and ranks

15. “Free” To Play

16. $10
$20

17. $10
$20

18. Free is an irrational number

19. 15¢
1¢

20. 14¢
0¢

21. Things to try…
• Experiment with free
or non-$ opGons
• Contrast them with
paid opGons
• Find ways to reduce
risk for paid opGons
• Be careful about
contrasGng with free

22. Let me know how it goes…
• www.psychologyofgames.com
• jamie@psychologyofgames.com
• @JamieMadigan on TwiSer