What are some ways to tap into compulsion circuits in social game design?

Xianhang Zhang, I design for social interaction

14 votes by Seb Paquet, Jüri Kaljundi, Yishan Wong, (more)

• Intermittent reward
• Occasional oversized payouts - Quora does this really well. Occasionally, an answer you write will "blow up" and get a disproportionate amount of upvotes. You start to get addicted to discovering the process that caused it to happen but, since the process is essentially random, you continually answer in order to chase that original high.
• Steady stream of accomplishments
• Constant action required
• Appointment mechanics

Probably the best places to look are casino design and advertising design respectively.

3 Comments • Thank • Not Helpful • Sep 23, 2010

Those are actually methods for tapping into compulsion circuits, but doesn't identify the circuits themselves. I've changed the question to fit your answer :)

Seb Paquet • Sep 23, 2010

What do you mean by "appointment mechanics"?

Amal Dorai • Oct 7, 2010

Are these truly the "best" places to look, Xianhang? Casinos ruin lives and advertisements manipulate. Play should be a freeing experience.
Those of us who have the resources to design "for" social interaction must acknowledge our responsibility to cultivate healthy psychological states. Anything else is black magic.

Dr.Cosmos • Delete • 11:15am