Triggering Behaviour Change with Game Dynamics

In Seth Priebatsch's talk at TEDxBoston he makes a mind-blowing observation about Farmville - which has more users than Twitter! - in relation to 'appointment dynamics', or the need to return to water virtual crops; if the makers wanted to grind world productivity to a halt, they could change the cycle from 24 hours or 8 hours to 30 minutes!!

He also makes the amusing observation:

'School is a game - it's just not a very well designed one; if we called Valedictorian 'White Knight Level 20', people would probably work a lot harder...'

Sourced from Social Creatives, 18 January 2011



"Human beings are not rational actors. We rarely make decisions based on logic alone. That’s why social change can be so frustratingly complex. People won’t act even if their own well-being is at stake.

That’s why social innovators have learned to look to neuroscience and psychology for pointers. Some key insights into human behavior have shown up in games people play – online and offline.

To learn how to effect change, we need to learn “game dynamics” and how to use them.'