Starcraft Habit Formation

how do we get

engineers to go outsidemore often?

Alan Viverettehabits.stanford.edu

what else are they doing in

their free time?

Alan Viverettehabits.stanford.edu

Alan Viverettehabits.stanford.edu

so why is it so popularand going outside isn’t?

Alan Viverettehabits.stanford.edu

step 1

forming the game playing habit(why the game is attractive)

Alan Viverettehabits.stanford.edu

visually attractivethe first glimpse people have of the game ishow it looks – and that is “pretty”

Alan Viverettehabits.stanford.edu

spreads virallywhen friends play, their friends play, and a singlepurchase can be used for multiple computers

Alan Viverettehabits.stanford.edu

people are already hookedbuilds on an already successful franchise withover 9.5 million copies sold since 1998

Alan Viverettehabits.stanford.edu

step 2

strengthening the habit(why people play)

Alan Viverettehabits.stanford.edu

high availabilitythe game lives on the computer desktop, which iswhere the player spends most of their time

Alan Viverettehabits.stanford.edu

predictable timinggames are short, lasting ten to twenty minutes, andplayers can easily estimate how much time is left

Alan Viverettehabits.stanford.edu

competitionthe point of the game is to win, which equates to arandomly-scheduled operant conditioning reward

Alan Viverettehabits.stanford.edu

step 3

maintaining the habit(why people keep playing)

Alan Viverettehabits.stanford.edu

public ranking systemsince players compete within their bracket, thegame’s difficulty level is never too high

Alan Viverettehabits.stanford.edu

tiered difficulty levelsevery time you play, you visibly increase yourskill level and can play against better opponents

Alan Viverettehabits.stanford.edu

in summary:• attract newcomers by making the habit visually

attractive, social network-based, and by basing it on existing habits

• strengthen the habit by making it readily available, breakable into small and predictable time units, and making it competitive

• maintain the habit by incentivizing it, let users increase rank or gain points

Alan Viverettehabits.stanford.edu