What motivates us - Rewards in Gamification part 1
There are many different types of rewards and therefore the question isn’t what kind of rewards are there, but what kind of behavior does a game designer want to incentivize by giving out a reward? The goal is always, give users meaningful choices and a set of options that make them feel more engaged, while leading them with rewards.
Lets have a look at different types and categories of rewards:
(1) Tangible / Intangible rewards: Tangible rewards are physical objects (as in actual “real” money or some kind of boy scout badges orrrrrr a baby Pterodactyl). Intangible rewards are objects that are “not real”. There are digital rewards (points, virtual money, a digital sticker of a baby Pterodactyl… it never gets old) and verbal rewards (as in “good job, you just got a step closer to whatever the f&%§ you were doing).
(2) Expected and unexpected rewards: When we expect rewards we know when we do a certain action, something will happen. Way more interesting are unexpected rewards. Our brain looooves suprises, even so much so, that it is hard wired to seek out surprises, especially when you know you will at some point be rewarded, you keep playing, you just don’t know when you will be rewarded. And not knowing drives our brain mad(ish).
(3) Contingency: Here we look at what players have to do to get a reward. And there are four types of contingencies.
Non-contingent: You get a reward no matter what you do, even if you do nothing
Contingent upon engagement: You get a reward upon starting a task
Completion consistent contingent: You are rewarded for finishing a task
Performance consistent: Not only do you have to finish a task, you also have to finish it well.
There is so much more to learn about rewards, for example the timing of when you receive a reward has a significant implication for the psychological reaction that the reward produces. Huh what? Let me explain, by looking at reward schedules:
(1) Continues Rewards: These are the least interesting/motivating types of rewards (at least for our brain). It is basically an automatic reward you receive every time you do something and guess what? It doesn’t really feel like a reward when you constantly get it.
(2) Fixed Ratio Rewards: Every n number of time you get a reward. Since our brain is smarter than you sometimes would think, it picks up on the pattern very quickly and therefore dulls the reward after a certain period of time.
(3) Fixed Interval Rewards: This is a regular pattern of rewards, not based on amount of rewards, but amount of time.
(4) Variable Rewards: Here we don’t have any fixed schedule. And as mentioned before, our brain loooves suprises, so this mechanism gives you random, unexpected rewards.
Take away for today: Rewards keeps ‘em coming back for more and as with all things in life, timing is crucial. Also, our brain is hardwired to love and seek out surprises.
