A Ludic Approach to Designing Behaviour

Dan Lockton, he of the Design with Intent toolkit, has set out what he describes as 11 gambits for influencing user behaviour. These include:

1. Challenges & Targets – Give users something extra such as a defined goal that gives them a buzz for taking part.
2. Unpredictable reinforcement – Don’t let the users get complacent – they shouldn’t be expecting a treat just for taking part
3. Scores & Ratings – Feedback that shows where in the pack you are
4. Levels & Progression – Goal oriented users are fulfiled by levelling up
5. Rewards – pat on the head, ’nuff said. Closely related to the idea of challenges and targets
6. Playfulness – Encourage participation by offering a fun play element
7. Storytelling – Engage users through narrative
8. Gaps & Voids – Leaving deliberate voids that the user can’t help but try to fill
9. Roleplaying – Allocating roles for the user to fulfill
10. Collections & Aquisitions – take advantage of the hoarding nature of people
11. Birth a Meme – Plan ahead for the design being shared and spread around

I like how many of these ideas overlap with the explicit techniques used by game designers to keep gamers playing that I discussed recently. Particularly: challenges, unpredictable reinforcement, scores, progression, rewards, aquisition, and roleplaying, are all techniques that game players and designers are used to. The difference is though that these gambits are not about creating games but guiding behaviour in users of other systems.

Playfulness is obviously a core element of any game design process, or at least it should be, but is sorely lacking in many approaches to designing and building interactive systems.Playfulness could actually be one of the most powerful elements to creating a new user experience to which the users persistently return. Birthing a new meme is interesting and is a technique that obviously has great potential but that we don’t know enough about the mechanics of yet to reliably spawn meme creating systems. The Japanese seem to be good at spawning memes but this approach is still quite hit and miss, either an idea has legs or it doesn’t, at least for now. The most interesting idea in the list that is new, has immediate potential, and seems tractable is the idea of leaving gaps and voids in the system that the (possibly more anally retentive) users feel an irresistable urge to complete