You just got someone excited about your product. They feel good, empowered, like they’re part of something meaningful.
Then you hit them with a countdown timer and a fear-of-missing-out notification.
They buy. But now they feel manipulated. And they’re one bad experience away from never coming back.
This is what happens when designers use Black Hat gamification without understanding the transition back. The trick isn’t avoiding Black Hat motivation. It’s knowing when to shift gears and how to reaffirm users afterward.
(This post is adapted from Actionable Gamification: Beyond Points, Badges, and Leaderboards.)
Now that we’ve covered the nature and differences between White Hat and Black Hat gamification, how do we blend that knowledge together into our designed experiences?
In general (with some exceptions), it is better to first set up a White Hat environment to make users feel powerful and comfortable, then implement Black Hat designs at the moment when you need users to take that one Desired Action for conversion.
At that point, users will likely take the Desired Action, but won’t feel comfortable. This is when you transition quickly back to White Hat motivation to make them feel good about their experience.
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About the Creator of the Octalysis Framework
Yu-kai Chou created the Octalysis Framework after studying gamification since 2003, years before the term entered mainstream vocabulary. As a Human-Systems Architect & Behavioral Designer, his framework has been applied by LEGO, Microsoft, Porsche, Coca-Cola, Salesforce, and MrBeast, impacting over 1.5 Billion Users.
Chou has taught the Octalysis methodology at Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Tesla, Google, BCG, and IDEO.
His work has been cited by Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Wired, US Department of Energy, NIST, NSF, NCBI, US Department of Education, ClinicalTrials.gov, and 3,700+ more academic publications. Explore his books here.
The White → Black → White Pattern
Think of the transition like a story arc. The opening act makes the user feel empowered and inspired (White Hat). The climax creates urgency and forces a decision (Black Hat). The resolution reaffirms the user’s choice and restores their sense of control (White Hat again).
If you only use White Hat motivation, users feel great but never act. They keep “thinking about it” forever.
If you only use Black Hat motivation, users act but feel terrible. They churn the moment they can escape.
The combination is what separates good Octalysis-based design from crude manipulation. Both halves of the octagon exist for a reason.
The Battle Camp Example
An example of this is seen in the mobile RPG Battle Camp. In Battle Camp, there are often scenarios where you are in a “Troop” with twenty-four other players and the whole group needs to battle a big boss.
Typically, you would have eight hours to fight this boss, where everyone needs to come back every fifty minutes when their energy is recharged (remember this technique is called a Torture Break), and then use that energy to attack the boss.
At times, after seven and a half hours, the boss will still have 20% of his health, and you begin to realize that your troop will not be able to defeat him.
At this point, you basically have two options. Option one: you lose to the boss, and twenty-five players all waste eight hours of their time, not to mention falling behind other troops that will be ranked much higher after they defeat their boss. Option two: spend $10 and purchase more energy in order to beat the boss.
Because it is such a devastating event when everyone loses eight hours of their precious time, there is a fairly high chance that you will feel compelled to take option two, buy the energy needed to defeat the boss, especially if you were also the leader of the troop.
Now, we see that you were motivated by Core Drive 8: Loss & Avoidance when making this purchase. Compelling, but you feel fairly terrible afterwards.
After you defeat the boss, if that was all and nothing special happened afterwards, you would feel pretty demoralized and perhaps subconsciously wished you weren’t playing the game anymore.
However, this is when the game starts to shower you with White Hat Motivation by showing you how great of an achievement you accomplished (Core Drive 2: Development & Accomplishment), and the rewards or trophies you have obtained (Core Drive 4: Ownership & Possession) because you have beaten the boss.
On top of that, your teammates will often start cheering for you (Core Drive 5: Social Influence & Relatedness), “Wow! You spent real money just to save our troop. You are our hero!”
Being sprinkled by all this emotional confetti, people often start to think, “Hmm, maybe that was $10 well spent after all!” And this eventually trains their brains to be more open to spending the next $10 to buy energy and defeating the boss when necessary.
No Buyer’s Remorse from TOMS Shoes
Similar to the Battle Camp example, businesses should consider creating an environment of White Hat motivations, use Black Hat techniques to convert users, and then revert back to a White Hat strategy to make users feel more comfortable again.
The initial White Hat environment is for people to take interest and have a good opinion of your system in the first place. A venture capitalist wouldn’t want to invest in a startup if he didn’t first consider it world-changing and a smart investment (Core Drives 1 and 2), even if there was convincing apprehension that he may lose the deal.
(Oddly enough, some investors still plunge under the pressure of Scarcity and Loss, even though they have previously determined it to be a worthless idea with no future).
Once people feel comfortable in your system but aren’t necessarily taking the strong Desired Action, such as making a purchase, you can then use the Black Hat techniques within Core Drives 6 and 8 (and sometimes Core Drive 5), to close the deal.
If the user ends up buying the product, you want to reassure them that, if true, this is indeed the smartest purchase possible (Core Drive 2), that legions of others also made the same decision (Core Drive 5), and that it positively improves the world (Core Drive 1: Epic Meaning & Calling). This will likely ensure that customers don’t feel buyer’s remorse.
When TOMS Shoes first popularized its “One for One” model, this was a textbook White Hat reaffirmation. You’d buy shoes, feel a pang of regret at the price, then see how your purchase donated a pair to a child who walked barefoot. Instant Core Drive 1 boost: “I’m a decent human being.”
TOMS has since evolved. They retired the direct One-for-One program around 2019 and now donate a third of profits to grassroots organizations. But the behavioral principle remains identical. After you purchase, TOMS still hits you with impact reports showing how your money funded mental health resources, educational access, and community development. The reaffirmation trigger shifted from “you gave a child shoes” to “you supported systemic change,” but both activate Core Drive 1 in the same way.
The same pattern appears every time you donate to a charity. After making a commitment, the nonprofit continuously sends you pictures, thank-you letters, sometimes even something written by the person you helped. They’re reaffirming your decision with White Hat motivation so you never regret the purchase.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with sending donors these pictures and letters for such a noble cause (unless they are falsely manufactured) as these donors are making a big difference in the lives of the less fortunate.
In fact, it would be a mistake for any charitable organization to not show visual and social information on the impact they are making in the world. We would all like to see some Feedback Mechanics after taking Desired Actions.
As you design your experiences, never forget that if you want good Endgame design, you must immerse your users in White Hat Gamification techniques.
Design Guidelines for White Hat ↔ Black Hat Transitions
Based on the Octalysis Framework, here are practical guidelines for managing these transitions in your own designs:
Start with White Hat in marketing and onboarding. People need to feel good about your brand before they’ll tolerate any urgency. Tesla’s marketing leads with Core Drive 1 (“leave pollution behind”) long before any salesperson mentions limited inventory. Duolingo’s onboarding makes you feel smart with easy wins before introducing streak pressure.
Apply Black Hat only at specific conversion points. Don’t sustain Black Hat motivation across an entire experience. Use it like a scalpel: countdown timers, limited-availability offers, or social pressure from teammates. Then immediately pivot back.
Reaffirm within seconds, not days. The gap between the Black Hat conversion and the White Hat reaffirmation must be tiny. Battle Camp shows achievements immediately after the boss dies. TOMS shows impact immediately on the order confirmation page. If you wait too long, the bad feeling crystallizes into resentment.
Match the reaffirmation to the motivation. If you used Core Drive 8 (Loss) to convert, reaffirm with Core Drive 2 (Accomplishment): “look what you achieved.” If you used Core Drive 6 (Scarcity), reaffirm with Core Drive 4 (Ownership): “look what you now own.” The reaffirmation should address the specific anxiety the Black Hat created.
Watch for the burnout signal. If users start taking the Black Hat-driven action but their long-term engagement drops, you’ve overdone it. This is the number one mistake designers make: they see the short-term conversion spike and keep pushing Black Hat without enough White Hat recovery time.
Related Reading
- The Octalysis Framework for Gamification & Behavioral Design
- When to Use White Hat Gamification Design
- When to Use Black Hat Gamification Design
- The Endgame Phase in Gamification
- What is Gamification?
- Books by Yu-kai Chou