How to Change Any Bad Habit Using Game Mechanics

[vvanngoc0302]

“If only I could read through all the books I own.”
“If only I could get more work done in less time.”
“If only I could lose weight.”
Yup, those sound familiar. Sometimes it feels impossible to make a change. The good news is that I’ve done the research on how it can be easier. By understanding a few things about how you tick and what to add into the mix, a better you is just around the corner.
The ruts we find ourselves in can be changed by identifying the bad habit that got us there – and cultivating the positive habits to change for good.
Gamers are experts at making and breaking habits
You enjoy playing games, right? It can be effortless to pick up a game and get addicted. If you play games, you’re already good at what it takes to change a habit.
Think about what makes you keep returning to a game. Game designers use a number of techniques to keep you entertained and coming back for more – these are called game mechanics. They are what drive you to solve puzzles, destroy enemies, and hit random brick blocks to see what might pop out.
We gamers can accomplish great things anywhere by using what we’ve learned from gaming.
Let’s look at game mechanics, understand what drives habits, and then mash them together to create a better world (or at least a better us).

---------- Post added 2013-06-15 at 06:54 PM ----------

Crash course on game mechanics

Chris Bennett, an accomplished game designer and expert on game mechanics, clued me in on what makes a game tick.
“Tapping basic desires can keep someone engaged,” says Bennett. “These are called compulsion loops. They keep us doing something over and over again.”
He uses Angry Birds as an example. The game’s designers want players to win the game by destroying the pigs (the enemy, naturally). You destroy the pigs by bowling over their structures with birds you launch into the air.
Here’s where the magic of game mechanics happen and why you just can’t stop throwing those birds into the air.
Angry Birds’ designers motivate the players to keep launching birds at the structures by knowing some of our pre-programmed desires:
• Social cues – The pigs taunt you when you wait too long to slingshot a bird or when you lose.
• Close call – You launch the bird into the air and it’s a direct hit! One of the pigs roll conspicuously close to the ledge before rocking back to safety.
• Rewards – So you beat a round and you’ve been graced with a new weapon in your arsenal: a bird that explodes!
And you keep slinging birds at structures filled with rolling pigs. Over. And over. And over….
Crazy habit you’ve developed there, huh? This is what game designers refer to as a Feedback Loop, the science that makes you do things over and over:
1) Player action (launches bird)
2) Game rules and state change (bird trajectory may damage structure and defeat enemy)
3) Feedback – communicates change to player (player sees structure crumble, pig roll to its death)
4) Synthesis and filtering – player learns which actions affect change (slingshot bird at structure to topple and defeat pigs)
5) Return to player action (slingshot another bird)
Think about your favorite game. What keeps you going back? Which game mechanics are at play to keep you returning?
You’ll see these everywhere as you play games. Bennett gives other examples: social pressure in multiplayer games keeps you moving to be a team contributor. Random rewards keep you overturning rocks for treasure. Risk / rewardkeep you moving along more challenging paths.

[jacate]

This is an interesting read, however what motivates me to play some games is results and high scores, so that it is like a nice clean profile.