Achievement Relocked

How game designers can use the psychological phenomenon of loss aversion to shape player experience.

Getting something makes you feel good, and losing something makes you feel bad. But losing something makes you feel worse than getting the same thing makes you feel good. So finding $10 is a thrill; losing $10 is a tragedy. On an “intensity of feeling” scale, loss is more intense than gain. This is the core psychological concept of loss aversion, and in this book game creator Geoffrey Engelstein explains, with examples from both tabletop and video games, how it can be a tool in game design.

Loss aversion is a profound aspect of human psychology, and directly relevant to game design; it is a tool the… Keep Reading