Game Technique #28 for guiding user progression through visual cues
Core Idea: Glowing Choice is a technique that highlights possible actions or solutions to users who appear stuck, ensuring continued engagement by preventing frustration and abandonment, while simultaneously activating their curiosity about what comes next.
Key Elements
Implementation Approaches
- Visual Highlights: Making certain options visually prominent
- Example: Candy Crush highlighting potential gem matches when players don't move
- Example: World of Warcraft's glowing exclamation points above quest-giving NPCs
- Suggested Actions: Explicitly recommending next steps
- Interactive Prompts: Responsive guidance based on user inaction
- Progressive Hints: Escalating assistance as inactivity continues
Psychological Principles
- Prevents frustration from feeling stuck
- Maintains flow state and engagement
- Reduces cognitive load for decision-making
- Creates sense of progress even when struggling
- Preserves user confidence and competence
- Activates Core Drive 7 - Unpredictability and Curiosity by creating anticipation about what happens next
Design Considerations
- Timing: Providing help before frustration but not too soon
- Subtlety: Avoiding condescending or intrusive guidance
- Optionality: Allowing users to ignore suggestions
- Learning Opportunity: Ideally helps users understand principles rather than just solving immediate problems
- Balance: Not always showing the optimal solution to maintain challenge
Key Insight
Feeling progress and losing is better than feeling stuck and confused:
- Users who play through and lose are likely to try again
- Users who feel stuck often abandon the experience entirely
- "Never allow your users to accidentally stumble upon a bad experience"
- Users need to know what to do within approximately 4 seconds or they become disengaged
Additional Connections
- Broader Context: Core Drive 2 - Development and Accomplishment (maintains sense of progress)
- Also Activates: Core Drive 7 - Unpredictability and Curiosity (creates interest in what happens next)
- Applications: Product Gamification (particularly useful for complex products)
- See Also: Win-States in Gamification (helps users continue toward win-states)
References
- Chou, Yu-kai. "Actionable Gamification: Beyond Points, Badges, and Leaderboards."
#gamification #user_experience #guidance #progression #engagement
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