Real Life Game Skill (Warlock): The Lich Pact — How I Slept 3.5 Hours a Day for 2 Years and What It Cost Me
In 2011, my CTO Stephen Johnson had been stuck on a database architecture problem all day. The rest…
Work with Yu-kai
The Blog
Ideas on motivation, behavior & design.
Deep dives on the psychology behind why people do what they do — from Yu-kai Chou, creator of the Octalysis Framework. Pick the topic that matters to you.
The Framework Analyzer: How to Score Any Framework on Quality, Depth, and Elegance
Yu-kai Chou introduces the Framework Analyzer, a scoring system that judges any model by Utility, Depth, and Elegance…
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: The Complete Guide (And Why It’s Not Enough)
Maslow's pyramid is psychology's most famous framework — and it's wrong about almost everything except the bottom two…
The Persuasion Flow Playbook (ATACC): How to Influence People Who Outrank You
A five-phase conversation structure for influencing your boss, client, or anyone who outranks you — without manipulation, without…
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Through the Octalysis Lens: Why White Hat = Self-Actualization
A side-by-side reading of Maslow's Hierarchy and the Octalysis Framework: why the top of the pyramid is White…
Sunk Cost Prison: Why Users Can’t Leave Apps They Already Hate
The sunk cost fallacy is why smart people keep pouring money into projects they secretly wish had never…
How AI Is Already Transforming Games: 17 Examples Analyzed Through Octalysis (Part 2)
See 17 real games using AI, from adaptive enemies to generative worlds, analyzed through the Octalysis Framework to…