The psychology of engaging with gamers
Lena Roland
Warc
Social gaming is an increasingly popular leisure activity that, by the end of 2015, will have more female participants than male around the world, according to cyberpsychologist Berni Good. But what is it that makes gaming so addictive and rewarding for players? And how can brands utilise this most interactive and engaging platform?
Good, a gaming enthusiast herself, told Connected World, an MRS conference held in London in July 2015, that gaming taps into various psychological needs. She cited Social Identity Theory (which explains how an individual forms a sense of who they are based on group memberships) and Self Determination Theory (which is concerned with supporting humans' natural tendencies to behave in positive and effective ways).
Further, Good explained how gaming enables individuals to exhibit the "peacock effect", a theory first devised by Thorstein Veblen, an American sociologist, in 1899, and which suggests individuals will go to great lengths – and expense – to show others their possessions.
Egos, achievements and relatedness
According to Good there are many elements of gaming that appeal to people's egos and allow them to stand out from their peers. Leaderboards are a prime example of this. Gamers, and importantly their peers, can clearly identify where they are positioned. Are they first? Have they made the top ten? Could they win? It creates excitement and a sense of achievement. And of course, boosts the all-important ego.
Another possible reason for the popularity of gaming is due to the "concept of flow" which Good said was "a great state to get people into": it's a sort of meditative space, one that is very focused on the task at hand. She suggested knitting was another activity that enabled this type of mindset.
Gaming also enhances what Good called "relatedness". In particular, gaming can assist elderly people who may be prone to feelings of loneliness and isolation. Good described a game, aimed at this cohort, which features a non-player character which enables elderly gamers to share experiences and to gain a sense of achievement and competence. Further, gaming is autonomous and thus provides a sense of escapism, she added.
Interestingly, the concept of gaming extends beyond handheld consoles or mobile phone games such as Candy Crush. Social media networks can also be considered a type of gaming platform, Good explained. On Twitter, for example, users accrue followers, their retweets are counted, they can be added to lists; all these can be regarded as a form of gaming. Being on social media is also relevant to the ideas of Social Identity Theory, forming a sense of relatedness and appealing to users' egos.
Good urged brands to be transparent in their marketing of games and to "explicitly explain" that gamers are being marketed to. This, she explained, will help form a more "sticky relationship" with gamers, one that is underpinned with transparency and, therefore, ethics.
When it comes to using gaming for market research purposes Good insisted it can be a very effective way of getting to consumers' truths. This is because gaming can prompt what's known as the Online Disinhibition Effect which occurs when individuals loosen (or abandon) social restrictions and inhibitions with others on the internet that would normally operate in a physical environment. Of course this disinhibited state can have both positive and negative effects. On the one hand it creates a state where the combination of no rules and anonymity can lead to "phenomenally honest" feedback from consumers. On the other hand this state can also explain the rise of cyberbullying and other nasty side-effects of online anonymity.
Engaging gamers
Games designers should endeavour to make characters as human-like as possible for they are the most effective and engaging ones, Good explained. The Last of Us is a video game that is very successful due to brilliant graphics, she added.
But, Good cautioned there is a fine line between getting the graphics right, whereby individuals are comfortable engaging with life-like characters and getting it wrong or causing what's known as the "uncanny valley effect" whereby people get unnerved by artificial intelligence characters that are too human-like or too intelligent.
Unless designers are sure they can strike the right balance, developers should make characters more like comic cartoon characters, Good advised. She cited Holly, the virtual assistant for Vodafone, the UK mobile provider, as an effective illustration of this. Indeed virtual assistants are becoming more commonplace with Good explaining that gamers often develop character attachment and this this could be a good way to build brand affinity.
Engagement and immersion are "massively important" for gamers and, because gamers perceive the characters to be real, Good advised brands interested in gaming to develop greater background around their characters.
When engaging with gamers Good concluded with the following advice:
- Discourse needs to be authentic, open, transparent – if you explicitly state what you want to achieve then gamers will respond to that.
- Think about platform preference. Females tend to game on mobile, while multi-tasking.
- Males tend to allocate specific time and to play on their consoles; they want to get the beers in, it's their 'man time', they dislike interruptions.
Utopia versus dystopia
Later, in a panel discussion, Carol McNaughton Nicholls, director, Truth, a market research agency, said it was important to "shine a mirror on the social media world" and that marketers needed to think beyond their day-to-day projects and really consider "where we're going in the future". There are a lot of "philosophical questions" related to online behaviour and "what it means to be human" that society needs to start addressing. Ethics, she insisted, should be at the forefront of researchers' minds. "How do we regulate the online environment to protect people online?" she challenged. How do we create a world of "utopia versus dystopia"? she asked. "The connected world isn't just about technology, it's about connecting with people", she added.
Lena Roland is Warc's Knowledge Officer.
