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Core Drive 2 - Development and Accomplishment

The motivational driver based on progress, skill mastery, and challenge completion

Core Idea: Development & Accomplishment is the internal drive for making progress, developing skills, overcoming challenges, and ultimately achieving mastery in a given domain.

Key Elements

Key Principles

• Fundamentally tied to the concept of challenge and achievement
• Requires meaningful obstacles to overcome (not just participation awards)
• Creates a sense of competence and growth
• Provides clear feedback on progress and improvement
• Most commonly implemented through Points, Badges, and Leaderboards (PBLs)
• Connected to our brain's natural desire to achieve goals and experience growth

Win-States

• Win-States are scenarios where users overcome challenges
• Games sustain engagement by using distinctive stages and boss-fights
• Progress must be connected to genuine accomplishment to be meaningful
• Simply seeing progress indicators doesn't necessarily create accomplishment feeling
• Emotional accomplishment includes "feeling smart" and competent

Implementation Techniques

• Progress Bars (Game Technique #4): Visual indicators of advancement
  • Example: LinkedIn profile completion bar increased profile completion rates
• Achievement Symbols (Game Technique #2): Badges, stars, trophies that represent accomplishments
  • Must symbolize genuine achievement, not trivial actions
• Status Points (Game Technique #1): Numerical values tracking progress
  • Types include Absolute vs. Marginal and One-Way vs. Two-Way Status Points
• Leaderboards (Game Technique #3): Ranking systems based on performance
  • Variations: No-Disincentive, Group, Refreshing, and Micro-leaderboards
• Rockstar Effect (Game Technique #92): Making users feel like everyone wants to interact with them
• Glowing Choice (Game Technique #28): Highlighting possible solutions when users are stuck
  • Example: Candy Crush showing possible matches after periods of inactivity

Psychological Underpinnings

• Taps into the fundamental human desire for competence
• Activates reward circuits in the brain when progress is recognized
• Creates a virtuous cycle of effort → achievement → satisfaction → more effort
• Allows for social comparison and status recognition
• Creates "Urgent Optimism" when well-designed - optimism about accomplishing tasks with urgency to act

Implementation Considerations

• During Discovery and Onboarding Phases, signals if "this is a game worth playing"
• Poor implementation (points for trivial actions) can signal a shallow experience
• Well-designed point systems signal meaningful engagement opportunities
• Users make decisions based on what makes them "feel smartest" rather than pure economic logic
  • Example: The Economist's subscription pricing demonstrating decision relativity

Additional Connections

• Broader Context: Competence Theory (psychological need for mastery), Octalysis Framework (one of eight core drives)
• Applications: Learning Design (creating effective skill development paths)
• See Also: Flow State (optimal challenge level for engagement), Win-States in Gamification (closely related concept)

References

1. Chou, Yu-kai. "Actionable Gamification: Beyond Points, Badges, and Leaderboards."
2. Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being.

#gamification #achievement #skill_development #motivation #progress #white_hat

Connections:

Sources:

• From: Chou-Actionable Gamification