Michael Gugel

The Endowment Effect

Posted on14. Jul, 2012 by Michael Gugel.

The endowment effect increases your perceived value of a good when you own it. In other words, if you buy a t-shirt for $10 and I offer you $10 when you walk out, you’ll probably say “No way!”   It takes almost DOUBLE ($20) to get you to part with the t-shirt!
The classic example is [...]

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Transformative Experiences

Posted on06. Nov, 2011 by Michael Gugel.

I was addicted to poker.  It was an awesome addiction though — I loved the ups and I loved the downs. And in the end, it made me a wiser and a much stronger person.
It started playing poker when I was a senior in high school.  At lunch time, you could find me huddled in [...]

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Benign vs Malicious Jealousy

Posted on05. Sep, 2011 by Michael Gugel.

People expect the world to be fair.  If you work hard, you’ll be rewarded for your efforts.  If you’re lazy, you won’t get much.  You can be jealous of both the hard-worker and lazy luckbox, but it’s quite useful to classify that jealousy into two types:

Benign Envy: You feel benign envy when you see someone you [...]

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Game Mechanics Satisfying Human Needs

Posted on21. Jul, 2011 by Michael Gugel.

Catherine Aurelio gave an interesting talk about gamification at TED Santa Cruz.  The golden nugget from her presentation was the chart that mapped game mechanics to human needs:
The human needs she outlined are really high on Maslow’s hierarchy, but they’ll still probably hit a good chunk of your userbase.

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How We Interact With Other People Online

Posted on20. Jul, 2011 by Michael Gugel.

This mindblowing 244-page deck was put together by Paul Adams. Paul was a former researcher at Google, but now works at Facebook.  His work laid the foundation for Google+ and has some truly profound insights on how we interact with other people online.
This is a MUST read.
The Real Life Social Network v2
View more [...]

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The Sin of Gaming

Posted on18. Feb, 2011 by Michael Gugel.

If you knew nothing about me, what kind of impression would you get if I told you that:

I just read a book for 30 minutes
I just listened to a music album for 30 minutes
I just watched a movie for 30 minutes
I just watched TV for 30 minutes
I just played a video game for 30 minutes

Most [...]

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Cognitive Dissonance & Gaming

Posted on11. Feb, 2011 by Michael Gugel.

Cognitive dissonance is a fancy term psychologists use to describe the mental distress you feel when you hold two conflicting ideas.  It’s an extremely powerful way for game designers to attract users, keep them engaged, and increase perceived enjoyment.
The classic example of cognitive dissonance is Aesop’s fable The Fox and the Grapes.  In the fable, a fox [...]

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