THE PSYCHOLOGY OF GAME DESIGN

Namrata Jain

Psychologist & Wellness Expert Founder - Out Aloud Lead Creative

Psychologist - ConfirmU

The Founder of Out Aloud, an Entrepreneur, a TEDx Speaker and a game designer, Namrata Jain, is a psychologist and wellness coach who has been in the field for almost a decade. She has worked with multinational companies like Johnson & Johnson, Optum Health Education, ConfirmU, Brainsmith, Asian Paints and aspires to unlock everyone’s inner self and help in re-wiring one’s mindset to fulfil their dreams with a mission to bring happiness to everyone she meets.

Whenever we hear the word “Psychology”, the image that usually comes to our mind is of two individuals – one on a chair & the other on a couch –talking about something serious. But, as we focus on our efforts to destigmatize mental health, we may have forgotten to look at the much wider and more diverse fields that psychology can be employed in. One of them is the focus of our discussion today – Game Design.

The act of playing a game itself is psychological. Every move & decision is played out in our minds before it is actualised on the board. And thus, how we play and perform in these games is a reflection of our psyche. Understanding this comes as a real advantage for game designers who want to make games that are interesting & rewarding for the users.

Eight out of ten times, people forget the lines between the virtual and real worlds. And thus, real-life needs may even be reflected and fulfilled through virtual games. Game Designers can then incorporate factors like freedom of choice, power & ownership, and a sense of accomplishment or belongingness in their games. Experiencing a sense of accomplishment through a game would make you want to come back to it every time you face this need. You’ll end up playing the game again!

There are more than a few examples of designers using this strategy. Designers of Gardenscape games made users explore for treasure, gain money & build mansions for themselves. The creators of Subway Surfers have incorporated ownership & achievement in their design.

Being a part of an epic mission or storyline also attracts users to keep playing along, something that can be seen in interactive roleplay games like Warcraft, Genshin Impact & Tales of Arise. Along with these needs, the designer can also focus on the different personas that gamers bring out when they play these games. Different versions of games can be made for players with different personas, for instance, treasure hunt games for the explorer & roleplay ones for the socialiser, etc. Not just that, developers have even referred to the Jungian Archetypes to enhance the users’ experience(s).

The main goal of the designer, in the end, is to boost the motivation of the player. This motivation can either be intrinsic or extrinsic. Individuals seeking intrinsic motivation would play simply for their enjoyment & pleasure. Extrinsically motivated people, however, would benefit from having collectables, social circles, and other achievements in the game.

What has been described above is only a handful of the numerous ways psychological knowledge & techniques are applied to game design.

When it comes to the field of mental health, there is ample expertise on how elements of gaming can be successfully incorporated into the current therapeutic treatments. Designers can even balance the therapeutic and game design features by using a dual-loop approach, thus boosting the use of gamification in this field.

Chess & other similar board games have long been used by therapists to establish rapport & build trust in their therapeutic relationship. In fact, many people do find it simpler to converse while engaging in a light-hearted game. Similar to how video games function – having something thoughtless to do with our hands encourages conversation. Not to mention a challenging game that makes you restart every time you fail to help build patience & tolerance in individuals – which are virtues in the real world as well. A game like Candy Crush which might seem particularly “useless” has been shown to reduce stress & increase pleasure.

Online games based on cooking, fashion, makeovers and so on enhance curiosity in children & adults alike to experiment and ‘play’ with new ideas in the real world. Thus, as much as our psyche is reflected in the games we play, games also have the ability to influence our minds and mood – depending on how they are designed.

Every game, every strategy and every move, in a way, is interconnected with the psychology of the player.

I have built a game on similar lines. As the lead creative psychologist at ConfirmU, a Singapore-based company, we have built a gamified psychometric assessment that helps understand an individual’s intent to repay a loan. We assess an individual on various personality traits and create a personality profile which helps lenders decide the borrower’s creditworthiness.

It’s time we realise that Psychology is the base to game design!