Written by: Gabriel Goh

Before you start reading, imagine yourselves in the future. The concept written here is hypothetical.   

Time Travel 

 In 2047, Covid-19 has simmered down and as many real-life epidemics and tragic incidents, games are created based on the real events that happened in the past so that people could learn from these incidents even though they do not live through them. In 2047, there is ONE online game that always remains #1 on the Top 10 Games Chart since the first day it was published.   

The game would be known as “Pandemic – COVID19”.  

This would a cooperative game that requires players to work cooperatively to stop the spread of the coronavirus. In this game, each player will be given a region of their own to manage. To win the game, they will need to discover a cure in getting rid of COVID-19, while minimising loss of life and maintaining citizens' well-being in their respective regions.

Now, let us dive in and see how this game would be the number one game, hypothetically. You might think it’s the game mechanics that will be making it a top seller. You’re partially correct, but what would play a bigger role are the core drives that are being implemented in the game.

What is core drive? According to Yu Kai Chou’s Octalysis framework, 8 core drives motivates human behaviours. They are the “why” that makes us perform certain actions. In this game, you will discover 3 core drives, namely Loss & Avoidance, Social Influence & Relatedness and Empowerment. 

Core Drive 8 – Loss & Avoidance 

This is the drive where people are motivated through the fear of losing something or having undesirable events transpire. This core drive is intended to motivate players to keep playing the game.

Source: Loss & Avoidance Design: Ultimate Loss vs Executable Loss by Yu-Kai Chou

In this game, COVID-19 (the antagonist) is contagious and it spreads rapidly from one person to another. It will demands the players to constantly log in to the game so that they could perform in-game actions to ensure the citizens in their regions are safe. Other than COVID-19, players would also need to manage social issues such as groceries hoarding and rebellious citizens. 

 If they don’t return to the game, they will lose when the impact of COVID-19 is accumulated and becomes out of control. These incidents might intrinsically motivate the players, compelling them to proactively be involved in the game to avoid these negative outcomes. 

Core Drive 5 – Social Influence & Relatedness

This core drive incorporates all the social elements in driving people, including competition, companionship and so on. As humans are social animals, this core drive works well by tapping into our desires to connect and compare with one another. 

In the game, there will be a real-time tracker that shows the number of infected citizens and the last thing players want is to see their regions appear on the top of the tracker. Due to social pressure, they are to invest more time and effort in making sure they are off the tracker. 

Alternatively, the tracker is also be used to motivate the players to offer help. As humans are empathetic creatures, they are naturally driven to support those who are struggling to perform well in the game based on the tracker. 

Besides that, there is also a forum where players could exchange tips on how they manage their regions with one another. At this point, they could receive different forms of help to eradicate the disease that could not be achieved on their own. Players are less likely to lose interest once a sense of community is achieved in this game. 

Source: Detroit Institute of Arts

Core Drive 3 – Empowerment of Creativity & Feedback 

This core drive emphasises on “play”. Players who are driven by this core drive tend to be creative and always experiment with new ideas through trial and error. 

This game will allow room for creativity as players get to bring their imaginations to life. Players get to be creative in coming up with different rules & regulations to keep their regions safe from social issues and prevent the spread of COVID-19. Additionally, they will have the chance to invent and experiment with a variety of technologies in discovering a cure for the virus. 

However, how will they know their actions are effective? Fortunately, a comprehensive feedback mechanism is designed in the game to answer this question. With the feedback mechanism, players will be constantly driven in coming up with improvisations to replace methods that don’t work based on the information derived from the real-time tracker, citizen panic level, region status and other indicators! 

This will be a great game as it taps into players’ innate desire to create and affect the environment around them through their imaginations.

Source: Why Giving Feedback Matters by Lucidchart

Conclusion 

What keeps the players engaged in the game isn’t really all about the game mechanics, but the core drives underlying them. This game serves as an example on how designers utilise the power of gamification to keep players engaged all the time.  

 Will you give this game a try?