Octalysis

The Octalysis Framework is developed by Gamification Guru Yu-Kai Chou, who has spent more than 13 years as a pioneer in gamification. Yu-Kai was voted Gamification Guru of the year by peers and clients in 2014 and 2015.

Octalysis is a human-focused gamification design framework that lays out the eight core drives for human motivation.

Most systems are “function-focused”, designed to get the job done quickly. This is like a factory that assumes its workers will do their job because they are required to. However, Human-Focused Design remembers that people in a system have feelings, insecurities, and reasons why they want or do not want to do certain things, and therefore optimizes for their feelings, motivations, and engagement.

The framework lays out the structure for analyzing the driving forces behind human motivation.

It is the process of applying the core behaviour drives that motivate a user to complete a task more efficiently through an interactive experience. The Octalysis framework is used in healthcare, fitness, education, training, company, and product design to increase user engagement, ROI and motivation.

Almost all games appeal to certain Core Drives within us and motivate us towards a variety of decisions and activities. The Octalysis framework suggests that if there are no Core Drives present, then there is no motivation, and no behaviour will happen.

Development and accomplishment is our internal drive for making progress, developing skills, achieving mastery, and eventually overcoming challenges. The perception of the challenge is important. For example, a badge or trophy without a challenge is not meaningful for a person. This is the drive that most PBLs: Points, Badges and Leaderboards focus on.

This drive is expressed when users are engaged in a creative process where they repeatedly figure new things out and try different combinations. People not only need ways to express their creativity, but also need to see the results of their creativity, receive feedback, and adjust in turn. This is why playing with Legos, playing Minecraft, and making art is intrinsically fun. When properly designed and integrated to empower users to be creative; they often become Evergreen Mechanics: a game designer no longer needs to continuously add content to keep the activity fresh and engaging. The brain simply entertains itself.

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