Learn Gamification — the cheat codes to win the game of life Contact Me
Learn Gamification — the cheat codes to win the game of life

Learn Gamification — the cheat codes to win the game of life

Yu-kai Chou holding his bestselling gamification book Actionable Gamification at a speaking event
Yu-kai Chou, Gamification pioneer and creator of the Octalysis Framework.

What if the hundreds of hours you spent playing video games weren’t wasted — but were actually training you to understand the deepest drivers of human motivation?

Hi, I’m Yu-kai Chou. I turned a teenage gaming obsession into the Octalysis Framework, a behavioral design system now used by LEGO, Microsoft, Porsche, Coca-Cola, Salesforce, and MrBeast. This page is your starting point for learning gamification: the real kind, not just points and badges.

About Yu-kai Chou

Yu-kai Chou is a Human-Systems Architect & Behavioral Designer whose work has impacted over 1.5 Billion Users worldwide through work with LEGO, Microsoft, Porsche, Coca-Cola, Salesforce, and MrBeast.

He has taught and lectured at Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Tesla, Google, BCG, and IDEO.

His books have been referenced by Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Wired, US Department of Energy, NIST, NSF, NCBI, US Department of Education, ClinicalTrials.gov, and 3,700+ more. Check out Books by Chou here.

How a Video Game Obsession Became a Career

As a kid, I loved playing video games: I immersed myself in RPGs (role-playing games) such as Diablo II, staying up until 4 am (avoiding homework) to grind my way to level 60.

I invested hundreds of hours into video games with little to show for it in real life. Disillusioned by what I felt were hundreds of hours of wasted life, I contemplated:

There must be a game where the more I play, the stronger and better I get in real life.

It was then that it hit me… “Duh! There’s a game that we’re all playing right now whether we know it or not — the game of life.” If I could figure out how to level up, gain EXP (experience), and get my friends to join me, then I wouldn’t need to play video games anymore because real life would be so much more fulfilling!

Level 72 Chou

(I will update my level every month.)

Every player in the world starts their life with granted stats and abilities. The player can then choose how to gain experience, level up, and unlock new abilities.

For example, I went to university, which allowed me to gain a lot of experience through classes, friends, and professors.

After university, I chose to start my own company, which allowed me to gain even more experience through building a team, managing people, fundraising, and building products.

It was through my technology startup in Mountain View, CA that I began to unlock the secrets of Gamification, which led me to create the Octalysis Framework: the complete Gamification framework.

The Octalysis Framework catapulted my career:

  • 2014, 2015 and 2017: “Gamification Guru of the Year” Award by the World Gamification Congress and the Gamification Europe Conference
  • 2015 – rated #1 among the “Gamification Gurus Power 100” by RISE
  • Worked with Fortune 500 companies such as LEGO, Google, Volkswagen/Porsche, Microsoft, Accenture, eBay, Huawei, Fidelity, AIG Japan, Verizon, Ericsson, and Cisco
  • My work has been featured on Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, The World Journal, PBS, and NBC
  • Spoken as a speaker/lecturer at organizations such as Google, Tesla, Stanford University, LEGO, TEDx, and Boston Consulting Group

Yu-kai is at the cutting edge of the field of behavior design.

– Nir Eyal, author of Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products.

My Mission

Octalysis Prime gamified learning platform map showing islands, quests, and progression paths

My mission is to help players (people around the world) reach their full potential in life. I believe Gamification holds the key to help many people stop procrastinating, identify their true calling, and take action.

To accomplish this mission and maximize my global impact, I created a Gamified learning journey called Octalysis Prime that teaches players how to…

  1. … identify their granted stats and abilities
  2. … gain experience through educational videos and mentorship from me
  3. … grow their tribe by meeting other driven, motivated players
  4. … and accomplish their purpose in life.

What You Can Do Right Now

Colorful gamification design icons including badges, progress bars, and engagement elements

If you’re new to the site, the best starting moves are:

  1. Read 10,000 Hours of Play
  2. Watch the TEDx talk
  3. Read my Gamification book
  4. Watch the video course
  5. Join the Facebook community
  6. Level up with Octalysis Prime!
  1. Octalysis – the Complete Gamification Framework
  2. The 10 Best Productivity Apps That Use Gamification
  3. The 10 Best Educational Apps That Use Gamification for Adults
  4. The 10 Best Social Products That Use Gamification to Literally Save the World
  5. Top 10 Marketing Gamification Cases You Won’t Forget
  6. A Comprehensive List of 90+ Gamification Cases with ROI Stats
  7. Top 10 eCommerce Gamification Examples That Will Revolutionize Shopping
  8. Top 10 Enterprise Gamification Cases That Will Make Employees More Productive
  9. Top Ten Learning Games For Kids

WOULD YOU LIKE YU-KAI CHOU TO WORK WITH YOUR ORGANIZATION?

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