How Video Games Do Feedback Well (and Poorly)
How games provide feedback …and how they’re lacking.
Podcast 40: Our Avatar Relationships
What kinds of relationships do people form with their video game avatars, and why?
Nudging Moral Choices in Games
How game developers might use a bit of psychology to better structure moral choices.
Podcast 39: Thirty Questions About the Psychology & Games
You say “What 30 things should researchers study about psychology and games!” I say “Listen to this episode of the podcast!” Woo!
The Focusing Illusion and Overwatch
The same wrinkle in our thinking that explains the optimism of people paralyzed in car accidents explains why it’s so frustrating when people don’t play map objectives in video games.
Podcast 38: Mental Health Professionals and Video Games
What do therapists need to know about the new video game addiction standards and other topics related to their patients’ favorite games?
Come See Me at PAX West!
I’m going to PAX West August 31 – September 3rd! I’ll be on panels about gaming disorders and moral choices in games! You should say hello!
Fortnite’s Success Is Due to Random Chance
Part of why Fortnite is so popular is the way it uses random rewards –and I don’t mean just loot drops.
Podcast 37: Cognitive Psychology and User Experience
How basic psychological phenomena impact (or should impact) game design and user experience.
Boosting the Credibility of Steam’s Discovery Queue …With Psychology!
We make new opinions more readily than we change existing ones. How can recommendation engines take advantage of this?
Podcast 36: Psychology, Escape Rooms, and VR
How can the psychology behind escape room design be applied to the design and play of video games and virtual reality? Or vice versa?
The Pleasure Paradox of Big Buffs
How obscuring players’ understanding of what’s going on might actually help them enjoy it more.
Podcast 35: Player Empathy and Drivers of Game Preference
I talk to veteran game designer Jason Vandenberghe, who has turned to psychology and personality theory to understand and empathize with what kinds of experiences gamers want.
Podcast 34: Game Design Education and Psychology 101
Why universities and other institutions offering degrees in the gaming industry are having students take Psychology 101.
Tess Teaches Psychology and Destiny 2
Three lessons about the psychology of in-game purchases, illustrated by Destiny 2’s Tess Everis.
Podcast 33: Using Games to Develop Mental Skills
How cognitively demanding games can be a big help with developing certain mental and social skills, especially for kids with special needs.
Using Psychology and Loot Boxes to Destroy Video Games: A Fun and Practical Guide
Today’s special guest contributor tells us how to use psychology to make loot boxes truly evil.
Podcast 32: Twelve More Months of the Psychology of Games Posts
On the 12th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me …TWELVE AUDIO ARTICLES!
Using Psychology to Design Leveling Systems
In which we apply some lessons from the psychology behind combining losses and gains to leveling up in video games.
Podcast 31: Harassment in Video Games
In this episode my guest expert and I discuss what psychology has to say about online harassment in games: what causes it, what predicts it, and how we might be able to curb it.
Don’t Do Your Best: Goal Setting and Horizon:Zero Dawn
Horizon: Zero Dawn’s hunting challenges make good use of goal setting psychology, but here’s how they could do a little better.
Podcast 30: Gaming Addiction
Is it possible to be addicted to video games? How well are scientists doing at finding out?
Synchronization and Unifying Players
How a few seconds with one trick from social psychology may help players get along better.
Why Do People Play Jobs?
Why do people play games that simulate jobs, even their own jobs that they spend hours doing every day?
Podcast 29: Morality and Moral Choices in Video Games
How morality and moral choices affect game design and how we play.
Compared to Other Heroes of the Storm…
Here’s little psychological trick Heroes of the Storm uses to make us feel better about our performance after a match…
Podcast 28: How We See Our In-Game Avatars
How avatars can affect our attitudes towards games –and life outside of games.
Why We Love to Hate Negative Reviews
How one bit of negative information in a game review or forum post can color our entire perception of a game.
Podcast 27: Collecting Things in Video Games
Why do people collect things in video games, and how can game designers make it more enjoyable and worthwhile?
Carrying the Responsibility Bias for the Team
A cognitive bias helps explain why some people insist that they carry the whole team in online competitive games.
Podcast 26: Moral Combat on Violent Video Games
I interview the authors of the new book Moral Combat: Why the War on Violent Video Games Is Wrong.
Why Being a Better Gamer Can Help You Be a Better Person
How being good at games can make you more open to improving other parts of your self.
Podcast 25: A Parent’s Guide to The Psychology of Video Games
I talk to the author of the new book, A Parent’s Guide to Video Games about psychology, kids, video games, and what we really know (and don’t know).
A Blizzard of Procedural Justice
What we can learn from Blizzard’s changes to Overwatch about creating a sense of procedural fairness.
Podcast 24: Using Video Games for Therapy
In this episode I talk about how some psychologists are using video games as a therapy tool.
The Consistency of Automatic Helping in Games
How one simple trick from the psychology of persuasion could lead to better gaming experiences.
Podcast 23: Self Determination Theory and Why We Play Games
This episode’s guest helps us understand what motivates us to play games, and even specific games in particular.
Zeigarnik Effect and Quest Logs
How checklists and quest logs get us to keep playing.
Deliberate Practice and Getting Good
How a certain kind of deliberate practice might help gamers get good.
Overwatch Overjustification
How rewarding Overwatch players with bonus loot boxes may push them back towards Quick Play.
Podcast 22: Research on Games, Aggression, and Addiction
Pitfalls, limitations, and caveats around research on video game aggression and addiction.
30 Questions About Games Psychologists Should Answer
30 questions about psychology and video games that I wish academics would answer (or answer better).
Do Non-Player Characters Count as an “Audience”?
Can the presence of NPCs affect our performance the same as having real people watching us?
Podcast 21: Achievements and Motivation
Do achievements, badges, and other sources of external motivation always work as game designers expect, or can they undermine motivation to play?
The Overjustification Effect and Game Achievements
How achievements, trophies, and badges in games can lower player motivation under the wrong circumstances.
Podcast 20: 12 Months of Psychology of Games Posts
Enjoy the audio versions of 12 Psychology of Games articles all assembled together for your listening pleasure.
The Near Miss Effect and Game Rewards
How failure can feel like success and motivate you to keep playing under the right circumstances.
What Do You Want to Know About the Psychology of Video Games?
I need your help preparing for an upcoming talk. Let’s brainstorm!
Podcast 19: Habit Forming Games
What’s the formula for habit-forming mobile games like Pokemon Go? How do you break these habits if you don’t want them?
Twitching, Cheering, and Dirty Laundry
Twitch has added microtransactions as a way to support streamers. Cool. But what are some psychological quirks at play?
Podcast 18: Biofeedback and Video Game Design
How can biofeedback and psychophysiology –the physiological bases of mental processes– be used to design better video games?