My guest expert and I talk about the psychology behind geek fandom conventions, how people behave at cons, and how Covid has changed them.

Are rewards the same as incentives in game design?

How one online games marketplace is hoping to sell you more by offering less.

The psychology behind how we spend in-game currency.

Virtual items by nature lack many of the things that make physical items so collectible. Here’s how game developers and publishers make virtual things more collectible.

How far can customizing offers for in-game purchases go before they seem unfair?

When might you be more willing to wait for a loading or matchmaking screen to finish?

What is it about Marvel super hero games that is really effective at making us feel transported to another world?

EAs says loot boxes are just beloved “surprise mechanics.” In a way, this is true. In a more relevant way, it is not.

How much screen time is good and/or bad for the psychological well-being of kids?

Shared mental models, a concept borrowed from psychology, help explain why some teams dominate in multiplayer games.

Three simple psychological principles that help get players to pay for the Fortnite Battle Pass.

What link have researchers found between intelligence and how well you play MOBAs?

The “Squad Eliminated” screen in Apex Legends and the psychology of comparisons.

My book, “Getting Gamers: The Psychology of Video Games” is now available in paperback.

How games provide feedback …and how they’re lacking.

Should game tutorials hold players’ hands or encourage them to fail?

How game developers might use a bit of psychology to better structure moral choices.

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.

How obscuring players’ understanding of what’s going on might actually help them enjoy it more.

In which we apply some lessons from the psychology behind combining losses and gains to leveling up in video games.

Horizon: Zero Dawn’s hunting challenges make good use of goal setting psychology, but here’s how they could do a little better.

How a few seconds with one trick from social psychology may help players get along better.

Why do people play games that simulate jobs, even their own jobs that they spend hours doing every day?

Here’s little psychological trick Heroes of the Storm uses to make us feel better about our performance after a match…

How one bit of negative information in a game review or forum post can color our entire perception of a game.

A cognitive bias helps explain why some people insist that they carry the whole team in online competitive games.

How being good at games can make you more open to improving other parts of your self.

What we can learn from Blizzard’s changes to Overwatch about creating a sense of procedural fairness.

How one simple trick from the psychology of persuasion could lead to better gaming experiences.

How checklists and quest logs get us to keep playing.

How a certain kind of deliberate practice might help gamers get good.

How rewarding Overwatch players with bonus loot boxes may push them back towards Quick Play.

How achievements, trophies, and badges in games can lower player motivation under the wrong circumstances.

How Dark Souls 3 taught me to be a better parent by encouraging me to embrace failure.

Video: How a small tweak to Blizzard’s new game might nudge people towards sportsmanship.