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The motivational driver based on avoiding negative outcomes or missed opportunities

Core Idea: Loss & Avoidance is the motivation to take action in order to avoid something negative from happening, whether it's losing progress, missing an opportunity, or admitting failure.

Key Elements

• Key Principles

  • Leverages our stronger response to potential losses than equivalent gains
  • Creates urgency through fear of missing opportunities
  • Motivates through preservation of existing accomplishments
  • Utilizes commitment to avoid admitting wasted effort
  • Drives completion to avoid leaving things unfinished
  • According to Daniel Kahneman, we are approximately twice as loss-averse compared to seeking gains

• Implementation Techniques

  • Rightful Heritage (#46): Creating a sense that something belongs to users that they must act to keep
  • FOMO Punch (#84): Using fear of missing valuable opportunities to overcome inertia
  • Status Quo Sloth (#85): Working with or against resistance to behavioral change
  • Sunk Cost Prison (#50): Leveraging previous investments to maintain engagement
  • Evanescent Opportunities (#86): Fleeting chances that disappear if not taken
  • Expiring opportunities with deadlines ("Limited time only!")
  • Progress loss if actions aren't taken regularly
  • Streaks that break if not maintained
  • Last chance notifications and reminders

• Psychological Foundations

  • Loss aversion: losses feel approximately twice as powerful as equivalent gains
  • Sunk cost fallacy: continued investment to justify past commitments
  • Zeigarnik effect: discomfort from incomplete tasks
  • FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out): anxiety about missed opportunities
  • Cognitive dissonance: discomfort when actions contradict previous investments

• Real-World Examples

  • Farmville's Withering Crops: Plants die if not harvested in time
  • Zombies, Run!: Motivation to run faster because zombies are chasing you
  • Taiwan's Tax Receipt Lottery: Government uses rolling rewards to ensure tax compliance from businesses
  • Limited-time sales: Creating urgency through potential loss of opportunity
  • "Employee of the Week": Rolling rewards that increase chances of winning the longer you participate

Design Considerations

• Ultimate vs. Executable Loss: Threaten large setbacks (Ultimate Loss) but only implement small ones (Executable Loss)
  • Executable Loss should generally be less than 30% of user investment (ideally 2-5%)
  • Losses over 30% often lead to demoralization and quitting
• Implementation Guidelines:
  • Users must know exactly what to do to prevent loss
  • Loss should be proportional to investment
  • Expectation management is critical (easier to start stern then become lenient)
  • Loss & Avoidance demotivates in the long run, so use sparingly at critical moments

Additional Connections

• Broader Context: Black Hat Core Drives (motivation through urgency and scarcity)
• Applications: Urgency Design (creating time pressure to motivate action)
• See Also: Loss Aversion (the psychological principle behind this drive)

References

1. Chou, Y. (n.d.). Actionable Gamification: Beyond Points, Badges, and Leaderboards.
2. Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1979). Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision under Risk.

#gamification #loss-aversion #motivation #urgency #black-hat

Connections:

Sources:

• From: Chou-Actionable Gamification