This Psychological Trick Makes Rewards Backfire

Goals and rewards can be a great way to motivate players to learn, try out features, and play longer - but in certain circumstances, they can actually backfire on you. To find out more, let's jump into the psychology of motivation.

=== Sources and Resources ===

- Sources

[1] Undermining children's intrinsic interest with extrinsic reward | Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

[2] Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic rewards in Klei’s latest game: Don’t Starve | The Penny Arcade Report

[3] Outer Wilds: a game of curiosity-driven space exploration | USC Digital Library

[4] The Machinations Behind Infinifactory | Game Wisdom

[5] Mini Metro: When Less is More | GDC Vault (Free Access)

[6] Effect of Expected Rewards on Children's Creativity | Creativity Research Journal

[7] How Incentives Hinder Innovation | Behavioral Scientist

[8] Why do goal-based incentives cause cheating? | Williams College (PDF)

[9] What to do? | Steam Forums

[10] A Nintendo Argument Against Achievements | Kotaku

- Additional resources

Throwing Out the Dopamine Shots: Reward Psychology Without the Neurotrash | GDC Vault (Free Access)

Rewards in Video Games | GDC Vault (Free Access)

The Cake Is Not a Lie: How to Design Effective Achievements | Gamasutra

The Psychology of Games | Steamworks Development

Achievements Considered Harmful? | Chris Hecker

=== Chapters ===

00:00 - Intro
01:19 - Case Study: Don't Starve
03:12 - Case Study: Zachtronics Games
04:48 - Case Study: Mini Metro
05:48 - Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivation
07:39 - Applying This to Game Design
08:20 - Advantages of Goals
09:31 - Surprise Rewards
11:05 - Patreon Credits

=== Games Shown ===

Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (Naughty Dog, 2016)
A Plague Tale: Innocence (Asobo Studio, 2019)
Hearthstone (Blizzard Entertainment, 2014)
Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout (Mediatonic, 2020)
Rage 2 (Avalanche Studios / id Software, 2019)
Diablo III (Blizzard Entertainment, 2012)
Marvel's Avengers (Crystal Dynamics, 2020)
Don't Starve (Klei Entertainment, 2013)
Mini Metro (Dinosaur Polo Club, 2015)
Subnautica (Unknown Worlds Entertainment, 2018)
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth (Nicalis / Edmund McMillen, 2014)
Outer Wilds (Mobius Digital, 2019)
Exapunks (Zactronics, 2018)
Shenzen I/O (Zactronics, 2016)
Opus Magnum (Zachtronics, 2017)
Spacechem (Zachtronics, 2011)
Infinifactory (Zachtronics, 2015)
Tormentor X Punisher (E-Studio, 2017)
Lonely Mountains: Downhill (Megagon Industries, 2019)
Tetris 99 (Arika, 2019)
Minecraft (Mojang, 2011)
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo, 2017)
Lumines Remastered (Q Entertainment / Reonsair, 2018)
Planet Zoo (Frontier Developments, 2019)
God of War (Santa Monica Studio, 2018)
Destiny (Bungie, 2014)
Hitman 2 (IO Interactive, 2018)
Her Story (Sam Barlow, 2015)
Overwatch (Blizzard Entertainment, 2016)
Horizon Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games, 2017)
Devil May Cry 5 (Capcom, 2019)
Hitman (IO Interactive, 2016)
Forza Horizon 4 (Playground Games, 2018)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward, 2019)
Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo, 2017)

=== Credits ===

=== Subtitles ===

[Strick-IX]

"So, how do I play this game again?"
"Uh...Don't...starve?"
"Woah, woah, slow down."

[smilemore]

8:39
“How do I decide when I am satisfied?” Is a statement that’s is simultaneously not very deep and deeply tragic. This guy summed up the struggle of human existence without even thinking.

[endermage]

So basically:
Bloke: I love doing A
Society: Please do A, we'll pay you for it
Bloke: *Well now I'm not doing it*

[MaraK_dialmformara]

The next time I see someone saying “do what you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life, ” I am showing them this video

[vizthex]

The school system honestly helps proves this. I used to love reading, but being forced to read books i didn't really give a shit about for some stupid assignment killed my interest in it.

[Netbug]

Dang, this explains why turning a creative hobby into a job is so difficult.

[DarylTalksGames]

Another big thing to consider here is the verbiage that goes into the rewards, especially for younger players. A study in 2018 suggests that children who are praised for their *effort specifically* ("You worked so hard on that assignment!") as opposed to their abilities ("You are really smart!") will typically grow to believe that success hinges on *effort* rather than *talent*. And I think that probably has some lasting effect in developing a more internal locus of control (i.e. seeing one's self as opposed to luck/outside variables in control of outcomes.)

So if you're making a game that gives any kind of verbal feedback, phrases like "You're getting better/Your grinding is paying off!" Should almost always be used instead of "You're a natural/You were born for this". Subtle, but I think it does go a long way.

Loved the video Mark! Such a great topic.

[CaseyHofland]

Ending this video with the surprise reward that they are now add-free is genius.

[WhirligigStudios]

Interestingly, this also happens with *penalties.* I've heard stories indicating that if you have an explicit penalty for something bad, people are more willing to do it, because they see the penalty as a transaction, whereas if you have no explicit penalty, people don't want to know what the unexpected penalty could be, so they behave.

[blueguard]

Can't wait for all bosses to say: "I don't know what you'll get at the end of the month. Or how much. Or at all. But trust me, you'll be more motivated, because you don't know!"

[firstnamelastname]

“How do I decide when I’m satisfied?” Christ, sounds like a AI from a scifi flick

[stevethepocket]

They say "Do what you love for a living and you'll never work a day in your life." To which I'd always retort "Do what you love for a living and it'll become a job and you'll grow to hate it." Good to see science is on my side.

[VaterOrlaag]

"How do I decide when I am satisfied?"
Hey Google? I think one of your AIs escaped onto the Steam forums.

[NortheastGamer]

That "how do I know when I am satisfied?" line hit me so hard. It's so short, but accurately portrays a phenomenon where people are so used to spending their time trying to ensure others are satisfied that we never learn how to satisfy ourselves. Even in our spare time, playing video games, are we really satisfying ourselves? Or are we just trying to satisfy the game goals, or perhaps even invisible/theoretical people who would judge our performance in the game should they see us playing it?

Yeah, I can see how that question would keep one up at night.

[Benjackalope]

Dang, that’s why games like Minecraft can remain popular for so long without any real reason to play except for the sake of it... people learn to enjoy what u can do with it more than depending on arbitrary rewards

[AspelShuyin]

"How do I decide when I'm satisfied?" is some existential shit. I mean, how *do* I decide when I'm satisfied?
I've kept playing things I don't even think are all that fun way longer than I should just because of my intrinsic goals of "run around and see stuff and punch monsters".
Last night I stayed up for six hours playing Eldritch Horror by myself in Tabletop Simulator. All day I've been playing Age of Conan alone with god mode on.
I don't think I've been having actual fun doing either of those, but I'm still driven to keep doing them for whatever reason.

[buubaku]

"Unanticipated arrival of a goat" is just hood talk for "this one kid was real good at drawing"

[remem]

"How do I decide when I am satisfied?"
Same dude, same.

[AgressivePigeon]

"Challenges that unlock cosmetics" You mean the challenge of reaching for a credit card? I miss seeing a badass skin and knowing it meant you were a badass in the game.

[Legault]

"How do I decide when I'm satisfied" is such a mood for those of us with low executive function/executive dysfunction. It's extremely difficult for me to intrinsically motivate myself which makes the same crafting games you praise quite a bit (not wrongly!) into my least favorite genre. I *want* to like them but I just can't take a wide-open sandbox and build sandcastles in it. I can dig a few holes, maybe make a tower, and then I get bored and move on.

Similarly I do find it quite difficult to motivate myself to do anything in games I've "beaten" for example by completing achievements or finishing the stories. I love _Into the Breach_ but once I unlocked all squads and got their achievements, I immediately stopped playing because there just wasn't anything "new" to do.

The best motivators for me are things like the koroks in _Breath of the Wild_, which give a small, *almost* meaningless reward but which still has some value, and I both have to explore to find them and complete a challenge once I do.