Design lessons from video games - Summary and Thoughts
Updated: May 9, 2020
My takeaways and thoughts from
Level up for UX: Design lessons from video games
Video games explore psychological motivations of users that reliably creates strong return users.
Immediately users will want to use the product, instructions need to flow seamlessly and be introduced little by little.
Cater different designs for different users or use cases. Optimize for needs to best meet those needs. More experienced users can choose a path that is more complex.
Rewards at even the smallest actions yield positive results, as well as randomized awards like gambling. Consider points or levels applied to other non-game apps.
Auto starting tasks for users creates unfinished tasks that stay on their mind. Checklists are useful for carrying a user through a feature.
Actions need reactions to let users know they worked. Effects need to be immediate to be associated with a link between the action and the dopamine release.
Users are more competitive with people they see most like themselves. Metrics that compare users within similar groups will create a drive for competition.
People can only hold so much information at once, but chunking it helps our cognitive load immensely. Split up large chunks of text as much as possible.
Optimizing different designs and needs for each device is vital to having the product used more often and efficiently. Don’t try to make a one size fits all.
There are different ways to monetize, based on the type of experience offered. It’s difficult to get users to spend money up front. Creating a need within the app and then offering a payable solution to that need will encourage users to spend money.
Image by rodrigomullercwb from Pixabay