Understanding Game Addictionis It Bad
The first thing to point out is that psychological and neurological understandings of addiction are very murky. Even the worlds leading experts disagree on a lot of things. I was even tempted to put the word addiction into quotation marks at the beginning of the article because, though its widely understood in regards to gaming, its probably not the best term to use for an article on this topic. What were really looking to develop, as will be outlined below, are habits.
On a simple level, when a player is rewarded for a particular activity, their brain releases dopamine. This spurs them to seek the same reward, through the same activity, again and again. The further they progress into a game, the greater the reward and so the release of dopamine. On the other hand, when a player fails to achieve a reward, their adrenaline levels increase, bolstering their resolve to try again.
, Professor of Gambling Studies at Nottingham Trent University, writes, The games are infuriatingly simple and as soon as the game is over it leaves players feeling frustrated, annoyed or even angry if theyve scored badly, or happy, excited and even euphoric if theyve done well. For those not doing very well, the only way to stop this cognitive regret is to play again immediately. For those that do well, they immediately want to play again to try and beat their high score.
Snapchat Uses Snapstreaks To Keep You Hooked
Anyone who frequently uses Snapchat can tell you about Snapstreaks and the social importance of maintaining them.
A “streak” is a counter within the Snapchat app that keeps track of how many consecutive days you and a friend have sent a Snap. If you don’t Snap the person within 24 hours, the streak dies. For teens in particular, streaks are a vital part of using the app, and of their social lives as a whole.
But there’s no reward for maintaining a streak beyond the number itself. For many, it’s simply a bragging right to have maintained a streak for a long period of time some people have even been maintaining streaks for years. With streaks, Snapchat is taking advantage of that “FOMO effect” if you let a streak die, you’ll be missing out on the ability to brag about the lengths of your streaks or to beat your friends.
Streaks aren’t the only way Snap keeps its users engaged, however. Snapchat was the original creator of Stories, and introduced face filters into the world. Now, you don’t even need to send a message on Snapchat to spend large amounts of time in the app, because you can play with the filters for hours on end.
Plus, Snap has incorporated real-world Bitmoji into the app, meaning that by using the app, you can place an avatar that looks just like you on the table in front of you and have it do things like dance or cook a meal. And because your Bitmoji is personalized, it’s that much more fun to use.
Daily Reflections On Step Meditation
Cost: Free
This Addiction Recovery app features hundreds of insight meditation that are simple to follow, and also calming music, blessings, and 12-step counselling audio. This application features a meditation clock, soothing sounds, everyday inspiration, and the ability to layer sounds and create your sound mixes to help you make meditation a habit while recovering. You can create your own relaxation playlist using the app. To gain access to all of the content, you must sign up for a subscription. Then you can decide how much youd like to pay. Whether youll be distracted and wont become able to attend meetings, this is a perfect way to keep up with the measures.
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High Investment In The Learning Phase
The more you can get people to invest early in the game, when their addiction is at its lowest level, the more you improve the chances that players will keep returning. By making sure that your players understand all of the different aspects of the gaming experience that youre providing, youll also make it seem much easier for them to achieve the rewards theyre after, thus increasing the chances ofyou guessed it, return visits!
Juggernaut Wars does this to great effect. They have one of the longest tutorial phases that Ive ever experienced. They make you play a fight sequence at least three times before guiding you through the menu area in depth.
Case Study: Is Tinder One Of The Worlds Most Addictive Apps
Before we jump into specific examples of addictive game features, lets have a quick look at Tinder. There are loads of unique design elements from which appreneurs like me and you can draw inspiration. In fact, it may well be one of the most addictive apps ever created.
First off, Tinder is designed, in many ways, to act like a video game.
Instead of being rewarded with gold coins or boosts, you collect matches. This ties in with the tribe category of rewards described above. Every match makes you feel a little more accepted, and so prompts you to keep on swiping in pursuit of another hit.
Secondly, its very easy to access. Pings alert you to a new match and youre able to open the app and start swiping in a matter of seconds. The human brain is constantly evaluating the effort to reward ratio of proposed activities. Thats why we often crave to engage in supposed high-reward, low-obstacle behaviours. When its as low as it is with Tinder, wellits a no-brainer!
Thirdly, the visual design is instinctively appealing. We like to look at faces. By providing us with a constant stream of happy, good-looking faces, Tinder is taking advantage of a hard-wired human preference, again stimulating that dopamine hit.
Fourthly, options are limited. In his book The Paradox of Choice, Barry Schwartz describes how having lots of choices actually makes us feel less decisive and less happy with the path we ultimately decide to go down. Consider the following quote:
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Consistent Updates And Releases
The life-cycle of mobile games is relatively short. According to AppAnnie in their 2015 retrospective report, downloads usually peak after around four months, from which point they start to dry up. So, if you are creating a casual game that is likely to have a short shelf life, its important that you provide regular updates and/or new releases.
The other alternative, of course, is to consider going down the route of a utility app that provides a function that people require on a regular basis to fulfill certain common needs. The Facebook app is a great exampleit doesnt matter how much you use it, its unlikely that youre going to get bored. In terms of gaming, certain apps, such as word searches or crosswords, fall into this bracket. If you regularly do a crossword every Sunday, then youre not going to stop using the New York Crossword app, for instance, after youve beat all the leaderboards.
Here Are Some Ideas About How To Choose Your Keywords
- Keyword Relevancy
If someone says can you sell me this pen, you should ask: Do you need a pen?
Meaning, you have to make sure that your keywords are relevant to what your app is offering. Even if you could rank in the top ten for an irrelevant keyword, even if that keyword has a high search volume, it wont do you any good. Since people are looking for something else, the chances of you making the sale is pretty low.
- Track Your Competitors
In the market, there are apps offering similar services as your app and therefore targeting the same users as you do. For this reason, it would be wise to be in the same search results with your competitors by using competitor intelligence . You dont want to miss out on target users who might use your app for a long time.
- Localize Your Keywords
As you can guess, an English and an Italian user search with different keywords due to the language differences. You should localize your product page for different regions. Do not miss out on fruitful users just because you can not convey your value propositions.
- Think Like A User
Try to come up with some new keyword phrases to enhance your mobile user acquisition strategy. This way, you may find some keywords with high volume and high chance score.
At this point, you have two options. You can ask yourself, which keywords would I use to search for an app like mine? Or you can be smart about it and use MobileActions Keyword Research tool and discover high intent keywords in an instant.
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Replace Behaviours Dont Create New Ones
Have you ever noticed how popular games tend to share a similar structure? Side scrollers, platformers, eternal runners?
Your goal as a developer shouldnt always be to reinvent the wheel. Its much easier to replace an existing behaviour than to create an entirely new one. When you improve on an existing archetype, youre much more likely to succeed.
This is particularly relevant if youre using source code from a site like SellMyApp. Doing so provides a unique opportunity to build on and improve existing popular games.
Look at the example of the two word puzzle games below. One is clearly more attractive than the other . This simplicity of design reduces the effort required by the user to start playing and so is likely to be more effective at keeping players in the long term.
Additive Of Smartphone And The Apps: A New Normal
The average user peeks at their smartphone about 110 times a day, and according to mobile analytics provider Flurry, more than 176 million users world-wide access apps on their device more than 60 times a day.It makes sense that wed be addicted to this magical device at the tips of our fingers. The smartphone doesnt only provide us with various means of communication with the world, but also serves as a guide when making buying decisions, a source of information about the world around us, a tool to document our lives and get entertainment when we want it, no matter where we are.According to data published by comScore, more than half of all digital media time spent by users in the US is dedicated to mobile apps. However, according to Nielsen, the upper limit to the total number of apps users access in any given month is 30.What this means for mobile app developers and marketers is that the challenge is keeping users engaged and coming back to the app or in other words make their app as addictive as possible.
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In addition, the way we become addicted to games and mobile gaming apps has led to the popularity of gamification in the design and planning on mobile apps.
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Tactic #: Financial Reward For Desired User Behavior
Financial rewards are one of the most powerful incentives available to developers since they have real-world value. The downside is that theyre also usually the most expensive to implement and maintain. The cost can, however, be worth it, especially for startups that need to capture significant market share in a short amount of time.
Startups may offer their users a referral fee for any friends and family they get to sign-up for the app. The referral fee can be cash, a gift card or an offer of free services through the app . These types of referral systems require more complex design and coding work up front but effectively incentivizes word-of-mouth. Warning: Make sure to thoroughly crunch the numbers before hand to ensure you can recoup the investment.
Spotify Repackages Content It Already Knows You Like
The intention of music streaming apps like Spotify is to spend a lot of time in them, so including them here may seem a bit counterintuitive.
But when you consider engagement and how it relates to Spotify, it becomes clear that encouraging users to come back is almost more important than getting them to spend time in the app.
“My likelihood of continuing my subscription depends on how much time I spend in the app,” Apptopia’s Kay told Business Insider. “So every day I log into Spotify, it aggregates my music in a different way, like a time capsule.”
Because Spotify is paying attention to what type of music you frequently listen to, it can put together playlists based on what it knows you already like, essentially repackaging music in a different order or grouped with different artists and giving it a name like, “Daily Mix 1.”
It’ll even say things like “Made for ,” so it feels customized to you.
This tactic is great for users your auto-generated playlists are full of the music you love but it’s also great for Spotify, since it encourages users to continue paying a monthly subscription.
Spotify is far from the only service that does this, too. If you subscribe to a music service, chances are it’s doing everything it can to keep you there.
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Here Is A Guide On How To Make An App Addictive:
1. Understand your market
Many people will begin research on how to make an app before even understanding their market or audience. Some will hear of a good story about a successful app and will duplicate the idea but tweak it to suit their market. Others will simply pay more emphasis to the monetary aspect. While such approaches may work, it has been shown that they are more likely to fail than succeed. This is because the app market is very competitive and changes relatively fast.
Before starting to create an app, you need to know whom you are targeting. Understand what problems he/she faces, why the person needs your app, and why the audience will likely choose your app instead of that from a competitor. Communicating in their language is key to create a following or loyalty. For instance, how you communicate with a person aged above 50 years is very different from the way you would talk to a teenager.
2. Keep it simple
Repeatedly, people have been told to keep the app very simple. Yes, using techy words or IT jargon in your app description may make you look like an expert, however, the target audience will have difficulty understanding the description. Ensure the terminology matches your audience. For instance, Cool, Trendy, LOL, are words that go well with the younger generation.
3. Pick a good design
4. Identify the people involved
5. The most suitable app store
6. Monetizing the app
What Is Mobile App Engagement
Lets start with Mobile Engagement. It basically refers to how active your mobile app users are. How many times they use the app, how long they stay in the app and how they interact with it. The measurement of these metrics are somewhat subjective, however they are what you need to focus on, if you want to increase your revenue.
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Key Risks: Bad Sleep Squandered Intimacy And Gaming As Self
The problem that Chandler most encounters as a result of too much mobile gaming is sleep disturbance.
People are often playing these games when they should be sleeping or winding down without bright screens, he says.
Strohman notes that the negative effects of too much mobile gaming can also show in your relationships.
I see a lot of preoccupation with gaming that can as neglecting relationships or responsibilities, she says. Are you playing Candy Crush next to your husband on the couch when you could be tending to the relationship? That’s preoccupation a slow neglect. I have seen how people grow away from each other because of this.
Though mobile games can be effective in distracting from anxiety they dont provide a cure, and can even create more anxiousness.
A lot of times people feel anxiety go away when theyre engaged with a mobile game, and only because your brain is toggled when playing, Strohman says. If you have an anxiety disorder, engaging in something that distracts you from that feeling feels like it calms you down, but this can be another way of self-medicating, and it can cause more anxiousness.
Ui/ux Design: Creating Addictive Products
How to create products and services that keep your users coming back.
Heads up: this article is a little over the top on purpose to illustrate the point of UI/UX market messaging. This is NOT how every company should tonally approach this subject. Your approach should correspond with your users expectations, but the method of generating addictive products is relatively universal, which we will absolutely go over.
With that out of the way, lets get into it.
Have you ever wondered why your smartphone will phantom buzz in your pocket even when its not even there? Maybe why you cant stop checking Facebook, or yearn to go back to it after youve deleted it?
Theres a reason for this and its called Dopamine Driven Development.
Is it ethical? Maybe.
Does it work? You bet your sweet ass it works.
In fact it works so well that nearly ALL Fortune 500 companies have used the principles that were about to go over to generate massive wealth and create products that land them recurring, addicted users every time.
The model you see above is called the Hooked model, was created by Nir Eyal, and described in detail in his book Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products, which I would highly recommend to anyone in the design field. You can get here.
Crucially, if you nail these four steps, youre on your way to garnering a massive user base and collecting large volumes of capital.
Four steps, in short order, here we go:
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