Yu-kai Chou is an Author and International Keynote Speaker on Gamification and Behavioral Design. He is the Founding Partner and Chief Creation Officer of the premium consulting/design firm The Octalysis Group, as well as Co-Founder and Chief Experience of Metablox – an NFT platform powered by Real World Places and Real Life Memories.
Yu-kai is the Original Creator of the Octalysis Framework, and the author of Actionable Gamification: Beyond Points, Badges, and Leaderboards, which sold over 100,000 copies and is referenced by over 2500 Ph.D. Thesis and Academic Journals.
Yu-kai has been a regular speaker/lecturer on gamification and motivation worldwide, including at organizations like Harvard/Stanford/Oxford/Yale, Tesla, Google, IDEO LEGO, BCG, the governments of UK, Singapore, Kingdom of Bahrain, and many more. His design work has empowered over 1.5 Billion users’ experiences and he was rated #1 among the “Top 100 Gamification Gurus” in the world 3 out of 4 years by the Gamification World Congress and the Gamification Europe Conference.
Formerly, Yu-kai was Head of Creative Labs as well as Head of Digital Commerce for HTC, pioneering innovation in VR/AR and the Metaverse. He was also the Chief Experience Officer of the Blockchain company Decentral, working with the Co-Founder of Ethereum Anthony Di Iorio to create delightful Blockchain experiences. Yu-kai is also the creator of Octalysis Prime, a Gamified Library of all his work and research.
Yu-kai was one of the earliest pioneers in Gamification, starting his work in the industry in 2003. He is a Fellow for the London-based Royal Society of Arts and was Knighted by His Imperial Highness King Yi Seok of the Joseon Imperial Family of Korea. He is also a proud Investor of SpaceX and Mighty Bear Games.
Yu-kai is a follower of Christ, and his other hobbies include playing/teaching chess, writing/playing string quartet pieces, rating high quality movies, though he rarely has time for these hobbies. Yu-kai is the proud father of twin daughters and a son.
“Yu-kai’s reputation precedes him in the field of gamification, so I know him professionally before I know him personally. Professionally he’s as efficient and effective as a black hat hacker. But personally, he’s as kind and passionate as a white hat artist. Yu-kai himself is the perfect embodiment of his octalysis framework. You may have only seen some aspect of him; but believe me, he has all 8 sides of the octagon, plus the center—he’s sensational.”
-Michael Wu, Chief Scientist @ Lithium Technologies
I found Yu-Kai by accident. I was searching for a good domain for my idea and decided to get RewardUs.com. I asked a friend what he thinks and he suggested I do not buy that domain. He said he knows a guy who owns RewardMe.com and his startup just failed and I should not be doing this stuff anyway. Out of curiosity I contacted Yu-Kai and asked him how much he wants for his domain RewardMe. The amount was much greater vs RewardUs so, … anyway I started looking at his site and learning about Octalysis. I got mad at my friend he never told me about such awesome framework. I did loose a friend – friends should share, not hide awesome things from each other; but I got so much more.
I first heard of you via The Art of Charm podcast and instantly had to know more. I’m working on ways to implement Gamification and Octalysis with my team to improve our performance as a department. As a recovering game-aholic myself, I’m very excited about transitioning these habits from actual video games to things that really matter.
Also encouraged to see that you’re a follower of Christ!
Thanks for all you do, and I’m excited to keep learning!
@vichu Well, it depends on what you want to do with gamification? It’s like asking how much does it cost to introduce a game? If it is hide and seek, no money at all. If it is World of Warcraft, MILLIONS!
Dear http://www.livefyre.com/profile/8191368/,
First of all thanking you for providing such a wonderful platform. As a retailer i would like to know a general insight on the costs of gamification. It is said that the market is about 450 million dollars now, eagerly wanted to know the future.!
Yu-kai Chou finneycanhelp Yes, indeed!
finneycanhelp Haha yes. But all for something more meaningful right? 😉
@Yu-kai Chou I so understand. Giving up such things is not easy.
I sympathize about the hobbies and time.
Olivier Jeandel Thank you for your encouragement!
Great Job Yu-Kai!
Thanks for all the knowledge you share with us!
Hi!
Hey Yu-kai, your content on Gamification is amazing and inspiring — it was the inspiration for Reputation Hacks and the Beginner’s Guide to Reputation Management. Keep them videos coming! They’re very entertaining and educational.
Secret code: Yu-kai dances on the 16th beat
Yo-kai,
I went to watch your 3rd video in the Gamification series, but it’s gone. YouTube took it down. http://yukaichou.com/beginners-guide-to-gamification/beginners-guide-gamification-3-90-games-fun-addicting/Is there another way to veiw it?
@kymmster Hey Kymmster. Thanks for being supportive and taking interest in my video sereis. I take A LOT of time to make them.
Unfortunately, Youtube took this one down, AND I broke my computer at the Airport Security Check in Geneva, losing the original files too…so Episode 3 is forever lost (unless Youtube can give a copy back to me) :-(I’ll have to remake that episode one day if not. So sorry for that….
Amen to that!
best part… follower of Christ.
Hey Yu-kai, my name is Kalimah Priforce, Co-Founder at Qykno, a Careerspotting 4 Kids platform that makes career exploration into a game for 13-17 year olds. A friend of mine, Karla Parker, met you last night and she mentioned that you worked on something similar a couple of years ago. Would love to learn more.
That sounds wonderful though i’m still not so sure that I prefer it. Anyhow will look a lot more into it and decide personally! 🙂
lol, I recently uninstalled SC2 because I found myself playing it for 4 hours a day instead of working on my startup! I had to give up Husky and Psy too 🙁 But, I think it’s for the best!
I support you James!
Hey,
We are actually looking to expand into different cities. Let me know if you are interested.
Yu-Kai,
I am interested in hearing more. Feel free to email me and we can discuss your plan.
Regards,
Davin
If you come to Portland, I would enjoy meeting with you to discuss marketing and opportunities. I am a believer in helping others be successful. It is hard to reach your goals without the help of others; it is harder to reach your goals without ever helping others reach their goals. Sometimes you must believe in others more than they believe in themselves.
Davin
Hi Yu-Kai,
I wanted to attend the event on July 20th (part of CINA Social Media SIG; Fenwick & West). However, I’m in Seattle for the Casual Connect conference so wanted to find out when you may be hosting your next event? Thank you in advance for your response!
– James
Thanks Victor for your encouragement to me too! I’m glad I’m making an impact with my blog. Feel free to let me know if I can ever help you with anything.
Helow out there.i couldn’t resist it feeling the burning passion coming back to me once again.i am a student and a young music producer though i do a lot of things extra.i had started loosing focus in my long term process and when i passed by here i felt the motivation i need. You are realy inspiring and visiting you once has made such a big difference in my life.thank you and havd a prosperous life.
Hey,
You seem interesting. I found your article because as I’m reading for my college class I stopped to think, how come most Asian people in know are so smart and get good grades. I know I probably shouldn’t think that but I did for a minute and then Googled it:)
Anyways I’m from Panama, came here when I was seven and now years later I’m finally realizing the importance of education. I’m so blessed to be in the states and that I’m really able to be anything I want. Your focus on education is awesome.
I pray you will be blessed:)
Heydi
This Domain (sitevitamin.com) Has Been Disabled
Hey man,
Just stumbled upon this site while trying to find the FD career site. After switching to a mac last year, I lost track of my old book marks. Good to see that things seem to be kicking up! I’ll be hopping on the Chou stream in a minute =)
Take care!
Judith
Hey Judith!
Good to see you here! We should hang out sometime!
Hello Fabiola,
Nope, unfortunately I have never been to Guatemala 🙁
Hey!
Have You been in Guatemala?
Hello Matt,
Thanks for the awesome kind comment!
Here’s what I have to say to you:
I sounds like you are still going to school. First of I will tell you that there’s no better time to start a business (don’t wait until you have a lot of savings in your bank account and are 45 years old…) because you have the least to lose and so much to gain. At worse, you have something on your resume that helps you stand out.
With that said, being an entrepreneur is really about people skills and time management. You don’t need to have a lot of money to hire web designers, CPAs, etc etc. What you need to do is to make people want to work with you. I’m sure you have friends who are talented in a lot of areas, and the point of a leader/entrepreneur is to bring people to your vision. Giving them a part of the company really helps, but if you make the whole experience meaningful and exciting enough, people will want to volunteer for great opportunities.
Juggling with time is the most difficult. You have to seriously be extremely motivated. You need to quite all your activities that don’t matter 5 years from now. Would watching this TV show make your life better 5 years from now? Would making new friends matter to your life 5 years from now (YES!), you need to use your time most efficiently. If you are working too, make sure the money you make are put into things that matter. Also, make sure you are learning as much as you can from it. You don’t need to be a CPA to do your accounting. You can learn a lot of it by yourself. If you go to “My Library’ on my blog, you can see a Start-up kit that introduces you to tools that do your accounting for free, and easy ways to set up your company structure for a little amount of money.
Finally, I want to say that when you start your company, focus on tasks that make your company more valuable. Registering your licenses, printing cool business cards, making a cool logo is fun/cool and stuff, but in the early stages it does nothing to help you get closer to success. I would say focus on that.
Let me know if you need any sort of help/advice. Send me an email and we’ll talk more 🙂
you’re inspiring
i’ve had ideas for small businesses floating around my head for a bit last year and tried to get a little free consulting from the SBA but it fluttered away in the hustle and bustle of life, work, school, etc. I just feel like I didn’t have enough positive influences (for business/entrepreneur stuff) or people who could help me.
I figure that I’ll try to get some more education on the subject before I go back to it. and I never felt I had the capital to hire a web designer, a CPA, a partner, etc. i guess it takes a special type of person. I’m not going to give up, it’s just that i’ve felt like i’ve never had enough hours in the day.
you are inspiring, though