How to Create a Gamified Chore App with Octalysis

This article was written by Contributing Writer Erik van Mechelen. Kids don’t like chores Getting kids active and participating in household chores has many benefits, but have you ever had trouble persuading your kids to help out around the house? I know as I kid I wasn’t easily persuaded to do things that weren’t my idea. … Continue reading How to Create a Gamified Chore App with Octalysis

Why You Should Create Year-END Resolutions

This article was written by Contributing Writer Erik van Mechelen.  Why You Should Create Year-END Resolutions Have you started thinking about your New Years’ Resolutions yet? If you haven’t, you’re likely to be tempted by the torrent of articles written this time of year on the subject. But you know better. New Years’ Resolutions don’t … Continue reading Why You Should Create Year-END Resolutions

Fitbit, Peloton – Do Fitness Apps Really Work?

This post was written by Contributing Writer Erik van Mechelen and edited by Chief Editor Angel Cheng.   Do Fitness Apps Really Work? Health and well-being and fitness are hard to quantify, yet we can see health and well-being when we see it. Even stronger, we can feel it. We definitely feel it when things … Continue reading Fitbit, Peloton – Do Fitness Apps Really Work?

Why Commissions Hurt Productivity and Job Satisfaction

This article was written by Contributing Writer Erik van Mechelen The Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences Goes to… Contract theory is evolving. This year’s Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences went to Oliver Hart and Bengt Holmström for their contributions to contract theory. In the 1970s, Holmström’s informativeness principle helped define how a contract should link an agent’s … Continue reading Why Commissions Hurt Productivity and Job Satisfaction

Gamifying Kickstarter: Bears vs Babies Case Study

  This post was written by Contributing Writer Erik van Mechelen after Octalysis community member, Ivan Lee, notified Yu-kai about the story. An over-performing Kickstarter campaign What is Bears vs Babies? It’s a game. It was created by the same people who made Exploding Kittens: Elan Lee (XBox, ARGs) and Matthew Inman (The Oatmeal). The … Continue reading Gamifying Kickstarter: Bears vs Babies Case Study

Why We Procrastinate On Simple Things

This article was written by Erik van Mechelen. Content is based on a video on OctalysisPrime.com from Yu-kai Chou.  Our Friend, Procrastination We’ve all been there. You need to write an important email to a friend, client or investor. But you do other things instead. Even if that email is simple or short, you might … Continue reading Why We Procrastinate On Simple Things

Critical Analysis of “Why We Love Games That Most Enrage Us”: Why We Actually Enjoy Hard Fun

This article was written by Contributing Writer Erik van Mechelen with significant input from Yu-kai Chou and the Octalysis Prime community. All mistakes are Erik’s. All good bits are the community’s.  We Don’t Like Hard Fun Because It Enrages Us Earlier this year, John Pavlus (non-fiction writer and filmmaker) wrote an article about education and hard fun. It … Continue reading Critical Analysis of “Why We Love Games That Most Enrage Us”: Why We Actually Enjoy Hard Fun