(If you like this post, you’ll love my book, Actionable Gamification: Beyond Points, Badges, and Leaderboards)

A Quick Analysis Diablo II through the 4 Phases

Now that we have a basic understanding of the 4 Experiences Phases, let’s see how a game like Diablo II uses the 8 Core Drives within the 4 Phases.

Discovery Phase

Since Diablo is a well-known franchise by Blizzard Entertainment (among many), the Discovery Phase, or why people would want to try out the new game, is fairly straightforward.

One of the key reasons for any sequel to be played is Core Drive 4: Ownership & Possession. If you have committed yourself to many hours of the previous game, you feel like it’s part of your own and you naturally want to acquire and collect the rest of it. This is similar to naturally wanting to watch new Star Wars movies to complete the story, even though you hear from everyone that it is a huge disappointment.

Another reason is Core Drive 5: Social Influence & Relatedness. When the new Diablo game comes out, even if you wanted to keep your old resolve of not playing Diablo anymore, old gaming buddies will likely get it and push you into playing with them. This of course attaches to Loss & Avoidance (Core Drive 8) when you feel like you are no longer spending time with friends because they have their gaming parties that does not include you.

There’s also a bit of Scarcity & Impatience (Core Drive 6) for those that waited over 10 years to play the next game, as well as Unpredictability & Curiosity (Core Drive 7) for those that want to know how the new game is better or for people who keep hearing about the game.

Onboarding Phase

Continue reading Game Design Analysis of Diablo II through Level II Octalysis

Missed Part 1 of the series? Watch Part 1 now.

Not sure what a Game Loop is? Try How to Make Game Loops, Part 1/4.

In Part 2 of this series, Yu-kai continues to explore World of Warcraft’s remarkable Game Loop.

When Battle of Azeroth came out, Yu-kai gave World of Warcraft a shot. After about 900 hours, he’s dissected what makes WoW work. Now, he understands why it works on the human brain.

One of Yu-kai’s key attributes in the 10k HP framework is his Learn-Use conversation rate. In only a few months of playing WoW, Yu-kai was able to apply what he learned from analyzing WoW’s Game Loop to help a client build a reputation system for a client of The Octalysis Group.

Then he wanted to learn even more. Now he is sharing it here with all of us!

(If you like this presentation, you’ll love my book: Actionable Gamification: Beyond Points, Badges, and Leaderboards. This book has sold over 100K copies and is referenced by over 2500 Ph.D. Theses and Academic Journals).

Accenture is now taking on the practice of Gamification

Few years ago, many companies still believed that Gamification was just a non-serious fad. Of course, these companies also paid big bucks to consulting firms like Deloitte and Accenture to help them streamline their operations and improve their profitabilities.

Now consulting firms like Deloitte and Accenture are also offering Gamification as one of their capabilities, showing that gamification – when done well – is valuable across the board.

Workshop on Octalysis Gamification

A couple weeks ago, I had the honor of doing a workshop for Accenture, teaching them my Octalysis Framework and how it pertains to good gamification design. It was hugely successful, and over 200 Accenture employees attended.

This workshop is a bit similar to the one I gave to eBay at the beginning of the year, but with more detail, better exams, and more execution flushed out of it. Of course, it includes my new learnings and growth throughout the year.

This survey was shared by Gustavo Tondello in the Octalysis Prime Community.

Do you play games?

We are looking for volunteers to take part in a study to find out preferences of a particular person when playing different games based on the player traits scale. This research intends to validate a questionnaire to find out what is a user’s preferences with games. The goal is to improve our ability to design better games.

If you decide to volunteer, you will be asked to complete a 20-minute online survey. Survey questions focus on your preferences while using games. Upon completion of the survey, you will be able to find out your player traits profile.
Optionally, you will be invited to a 5-minute follow-up survey after one month of completing the original questionnaire.

Please note that you must be 15 years or older to participate in this study. In appreciation for your time, you can enter your name into a draw for one of two USD $50 international Visa gift cards.

This research is conducted by the HCI Games Group. This study has been reviewed by and received ethics clearance through a University of Waterloo Research Ethics Committee. However, the final decision about participation is yours.

Continue reading Learn What Kind of Games You Like To Play (Get Your Player Traits Profile)