Podcast 21: Achievements and Motivation
Do achievements, badges, and other sources of external motivation always work as game designers expect, or can they undermine motivation to play?
Why Do Achievements, Trophies, and Badges Work?
Do achievements, badges, and trophies in video games work? If so, why?
Podcast 14: Why People Play Games
Nick Yee from Quantic Foundry talks about their research on what motivates different kinds of people to play different kinds of games.
The Psychological Appeal of Violent Shooters
I have a new article up on gamesindustry.biz exploring the psychological appeal of violent shooters via self-determination theory. I draw from work by Scott Rigby, Richard Ryan, and Andrew Przybylski that looks at how this theory of human motivation can explain why violent shooters are so popular. SPOILER: It’s because good shooter design also happens…