Abstract
Modern game companies, such as Zynga, have expanded the boundaries of traditional game design. They have attempted to leverage the existing knowledge of behavioral economics and psychology to essentially gamify games. New feature-sets have been developed and traditional ones optimized. These activities are useful to both the academic and business worlds because these companies are implementing features that are unique, both in their visibility to the public and in the accountability available via directly measurable success factors. This chapter examines a number of concepts from behavioral economics theory that seems to have ties to common mechanics found within modern games. Once these game mechanics are identified, adaptations to help these mechanics fit within non-game environments are examined. In addition, common errors in the design and implementation of these gamification methods are discussed.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Ariely, D. (2008). Predictably irrational: The hidden forces that shape our decisions. New York: Harper Collins.
Ariely, D. (2010). The upside of irrationality: The unexpected benefits of defying logic at work and at home. New York: Harper Collins.
Arkes, H., & Blumer, C. (1985). The psychology of sunk cost. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Process, 35, 124–140.
Cialdini, R. B. (2006). Influence: The psychology of persuasion. New York: Harper Business.
Heyman, J., & Ariely, D. (2004). Effort for payment: A tale of two markets. Psychological Science, 15(11), 787–793.
Iyengar, S. S., & Lepper, M. R. (2000). When choice is demotivating: Can one desire too much of a good thing? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(6), 995–1006.
Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1984). Choices, values, and frames. American Psychologist, 39(4), 341–350.
Lee, R., Sturmey, P., & Fields, L. (2007). Schedule-induced and operant mechanisms that influence response variability: A review and implications for future investigations. The Psychological Record, 57(3), A7.
Pink, D. H. (2009). Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us. New York: Riverhead Books.
Schindler, R. M. (2009). Patterns of price endings used in U.S. and Japanese price advertising. International Marketing Review, 26(1), 17–29.
Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1979). Prospect theory: An analysis of decision under risk. Econometrica, 47(2), 263–292.
Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1986). Rational choice and the framing of decisions. The Journal of Business, 59, S251–S278.
Wilson, F. (2011). Don’t forget your logged out users. Retrieved January 31, 2014 from http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2011/06/dont-forget-your-logged-out-users.html.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Butler, C. (2015). Applied Behavioral Economics: A Game Designer’s Perspective. In: Reiners, T., Wood, L. (eds) Gamification in Education and Business. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10208-5_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-10208-5_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-10207-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-10208-5
eBook Packages: Business and EconomicsEconomics and Finance (R0)