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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
https://psycnet.apa.org/record/19741...

[2] Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic rewards in Klei’s latest game: Don’t Starve | The Penny Arcade Report
http://web.archive.org/web/2013011707...

[3] Outer Wilds: a game of curiositydriven space exploration | USC Digital Library
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/ref...

[4] The Machinations Behind Infinifactory | Game Wisdom
https://gamewisdom.com/podcast/infin...

[5] Mini Metro: When Less is More | GDC Vault (Free Access)
https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1024250...

[6] Effect of Expected Rewards on Children's Creativity | Creativity Research Journal
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/1...

[7] How Incentives Hinder Innovation | Behavioral Scientist
https://behavioralscientist.org/howi...

[8] Why do goalbased incentives cause cheating? | Williams College (PDF)
https://sites.williams.edu/mc20/files...

[9] What to do? | Steam Forums
https://steamcommunity.com/app/368370...

[10] A Nintendo Argument Against Achievements | Kotaku
https://kotaku.com/anintendoargumen...

Additional resources

Throwing Out the Dopamine Shots: Reward Psychology Without the Neurotrash | GDC Vault (Free Access)
https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1024181...

Rewards in Video Games | GDC Vault (Free Access)
https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1023948...

The Cake Is Not a Lie: How to Design Effective Achievements | Gamasutra
https://www.gamasutra.com/view/featur...

The Psychology of Games | Steamworks Development
   • The Psychology of Games  

Achievements Considered Harmful? | Chris Hecker
http://www.chrishecker.com/Achievemen...

=== 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 (EStudio, 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 ===

Music provided by Music Vine https://musicvine.com/

=== Subtitles ===

Contribute translated subtitles https://amara.org/v/C3BDl/