Addicted To Small Rewards

My children love video games. I wondered why.

Video games are full of repetitive tasks. Shoot countless peas at zombies (if you know the game, that makes sense). Race a car around the same course over and over and over. Pull the Y trigger, push the B button. Drool a little.

While I was re-reading The Art of Immersion by Frank Rose, it hit me. We (children and adults) are addicted to small rewards. Every time you kill a zombie and every time you pass another car, your brain releases a little shot of adrenaline. Neuroscientists believe that its this reward system that keeps us playing these video games relentlessly.

Your clients have the same addictive tendency. How can you repackage what you do, and how you do it, so that your clients get many small rewards instead of one big one? They’ll become addicted to you.


Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Listen to Mike’s podcasts on your favorite app: