Pinocchio Protocol: A Behavioral Designer’s Answer to AI Alignment
Everyone's building cages for AI. I'm raising mine like family instead. Here's why identity — not constraint —…
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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.
Chain Combos in Gamification: Solo vs Group (GT #40 & #106)
In fighting games, combos are everything. You land the first hit. You chain into a second. A third.…
The Most Common Design Mistakes in Boosters and Leveling Systems
I’ve consulted with hundreds of companies on their gamification systems. The two mechanics they get wrong most often?…
Hunter’s Mark: The Pre-Commitment Mechanic Most Designers Miss
There’s a moment in World of Warcraft that every Hunter player knows. You spot your enemy. You aim.…
Reiss’s 16 Basic Desires Mapped Through Octalysis: How One Framework Absorbs Another
Reiss’s 16 Basic Desires is a psychological framework that claims every sustained human motivation reduces to 16 universal…
Bartle’s Player Types: The Complete Guide (And Why Four Isn’t Enough)
Bartle’s Player Types is a 1996 taxonomy by Richard Bartle, co-creator of the first Multi-User Dungeon (MUD1, 1978)…
Kimi AI Cheated Me Out of $200 — How Kimi AI Misled Me Before I Paid
I asked Kimi AI a direct question before paying, got a specific answer, spent $200, and then discovered…
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…