Podcast 8: Envy and Microtransactions
How can envy can drive us to make in-game purchases and microtransactions? But also, what do we think of others who just buy things we chose to grind out? Let’s see what the research suggests.
When the Pay to Win Button Backfires
How do players react and what social comparisons do they make when others pay real money for in-game advantages?
Psychology & Loot in Edge #276
I have an article on the psychology behind loot, grinding, and player envy in the new issue of Edge Magazine, #276. Read more for some more details.
Seven Psychological Sins of SimCity Social
I have recently been hearing a lot about SimCity Social, the “Farmville with a candy coating of SimCity” game from Bigfish and EA. Mostly I’ve heard about how the game pulls all kinds of tricks to get players to spam each other, trade items, recruit new players, and spend real money. All of these things…
Benign Envy and The Psychology of Tiny Tower
I’ve been messing around lately with Tiny Tower on the iPad . If you haven’t played it, the gist is that you build up a tower full of “bitizens” who live in your tower’s apartments and work in its shops. Employed bitizens make money over time, which you can spend to build ever more floors…