How Extrinsic Rewards Turn Off the Social Brain
Offer a friend a dollar to help you move a couch and watch their face. The same person…
Work with Yu-kai
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Gamification Study
Articles on Gamification Study — from Yu-kai Chou, creator of the Octalysis Framework.
Why Education Kills Curiosity: Intrinsic vs Extrinsic Motivation
A high school student finishes two years early, knows everything about Harvard and Stanford admissions, and yet has…
Motivation Traps in Reward-Based Gamification Campaigns
Table of Contents About the Creator of the Octalysis Framework Motivation Traps in Reward-Based Gamification Campaigns Related Reading…
Lessons in Core Drive 8: Loss & Avoidance – Why don’t you take all my money?
“Why don’t you take all my money?” in Poker The same type of Core Drive 8 behavior happens…
When to use Black Hat Gamification Design
(Below is a snippet of Gamification Book: Actionable Gamification — Beyond Points, Badges, and Leaderboards. If you like…
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…
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…
Identity and Consistency: forces behind Ownership & Possession
(Below is a manuscript snippet of my book, Actionable Gamification: Beyond Points, Badges, and Leaderboards.)
The Endowment Effect: Forces Behind Ownership & Possession
The Endowment Effect is a cognitive bias first documented by Richard Thaler and empirically nailed down by Daniel…