The real secret behind addicting games- REINFORCEMENT SCHEDULES
Any regular gamer will sympathize with this statement. “Just 10 more minutes before I stop playing.” Those 10 minutes become 30 and then become an hour and then 3 hours until the player has totally lost track of time. The best games have the power to engage their players for hours on end. Big companies like the banks are envious of the players’ unmatched willingness to work for the game for free. So what is the secret behind such motivated behaviors?
The real formula is in the timing of exactly when the players anticipate and receive rewards or punishment. The rewards can be either extrinsic or intrinsic. The anticipation of these rewards fuel their non-stop action. The proper term for what I have described is called reinforcement schedule. You have probably heard about the Skinner’s box where a rat mindlessly press a lever hundreds of times for a chance of getting food. Well, the skinner’s box is just one form of reinforcement schedule.
The Skinner's Box
Here is a list of 7 different reinforcement schedules that you can put into your business right now to engage your employees or your customers. Hell, if you are up for it, you can even use them in your personal life to engage yourself. Each schedule has its own advantages and disadvantages.
1. Fixed Ratio: This is the traditional way of rewarding people. After a fixed amount of desired actions, the users are rewarded at a ratio to the effort. For example, a coffee shop has a loyalty scheme of giving out free coffee after every tenth visit. Or a teenage girl spends two hours contacting all of her friends for a birthday party. In this case, the party itself is the reward. Or a student writes a long essay to get a good grade. Fixed ratio is easy to track however its biggest weakness is that it encourages long periods of inactivity. People only become more active once the reward is closer to completion.
2. Variable Ratio: This is how slot machines reward its player. He is rewarded based on the controlled probability of total desired behaviors. It induces a heightened state of excitement inside the mind. Some people starts to become mindless and superstitious when they are dealing with variable ratio schedules. Additionally the human brain is very bad at estimating small probabilities so there is a constant high activity at all times. You can put multiple layers of variable ratios like small rewards for 50%, medium rewards for 10% of the time and a very big reward for 0.00001% of the time. If you also put in a slightly disappointing outcome for 9% of the time, the total activity results from this configuration will be enormous.
3. Fixed Interval: A reward is given after every fixed amount of time. A monthly salary is a good example of this. Similar to the fixed ratio, this reinforcement schedule also encourages long periods of unproductivity unless the reward is closer to the time. The brain only becomes active once the reward is at arm’s length.
4. Variable Interval: It is similar to the fixed interval but the time of the interval is constantly changing. For example, in the first round a reward is given after 10 minutes of activity but in the second round the interval is decreased to 5 min. In the third round, the interval is changed again to 15 min. The changing of interval keeps the brain in tow for continuous activity, however not as intensely as the variable ratio.
5. Differential reinforcement of low response: This reinforcement is exactly like the fixed interval but there is a penalty. If the player redeems the reward too early, the interval is restarted. This reinforces low continuous activity.
6. Differential reinforcement of high response: This is when a game assigns a certain amount of tasks to be done within a fixed interval to receive the reward. This reinforcement cures the encouragement of inactivity that is associated with the fixed interval schedule.
7. Continuous reinforcement: Each and every desired actions are rewarded and complimented. This is a very good way to build confidence in the early learning stages. Unfortunately, it is ineffective in the long run as the person becomes used to the continuous rewards and they become background noise. At the same time, continuous reinforcement is very effective to punish every undesired behaviors. Just make sure the amount of undesired behaviors are low and fixed. If the list keeps increasing the person will eventually rebels.
The trick is to combine these different schedules together so that there won’t be any long periods of inactivity. However you have to be careful because you are essentially playing with the people’s minds. If they feel that they are being manipulated not for their benefit, they will get angry and quit very quickly. Worst-case-scenario, they organize a rebellion against you. Therefore, it is imperative that you use them strategically and mindfully. I cannot stress this enough. Nonetheless, if you increase their enjoyment with these schedules, they will do anything for you.
Of course there are more types of reinforcement. Here is the link that provides more information.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinforcement
The explosive results you will get from getting it right is well worth the effort.