When to use Black Hat Gamification Design
(Below is a snippet of Gamification Book: Actionable Gamification — Beyond Points, Badges, and Leaderboards. If you like…
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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.
Is Gamification Manipulation? The Ethics Litmus Test (2026)
Is gamification just a fancy word for manipulation? During his conference talks, Yu-kai Chou regularly gets this question…
A CEO’s account of how his Startup Failed (RewardMe)
A post that will cost me $25,000 (regarding how I lost $1 Million in Funding) This post has…
Loss & Avoidance Design: Ultimate Loss vs Executable Loss
(Below is a snippet of Gamification Book: Actionable Gamification – Beyond Points, Badges, and Leaderboards. If you like…
Black Hat Motivation in Fundraising: Why CD6 + CD8 Close Deals
I closed my first venture round at $1.05 million instead of the $600K we’d been chasing for over…
Engaging Website Design Series (Part 3 of 3)
Welcome to the final part of the 10-episode series where Yu-kai guides us through the implementation of an…
Engaging Website Design Series (Part 2 of 3)
Author Credibility: Yu-kai Chou Yu-kai Chou created the Octalysis Framework after studying gamification since 2003 — years before…