Looking To Change Behavior? Try Games.
Why play is the ideal pathway to behavior modification that lasts
There are many theories as to why games are good vectors for learning and behavior modification. They let us fail safely, experiment with novel and unusual roles, and mimic the ways we learn naturally. They are complex systems that excel at modeling hard-to-understand events and making rhetorical points through their execution.
But the real reason that games are so good at changing behavior is simpler than any of these: playing games feels good.
Fogg Maxim #2
In B.J. Fogg’s excellent book on behavior modification “Tiny Habits,” he lays out a number of maxims. The one I want to focus on is #2:
“People change by feeling good, not feeling bad.”
This is just as simple as it sounds. We perform many actions each day, some consciously and some automatically. When we perform an action and get a reward (it feels good!) we tend to do it again. This could be anything from hugging your child to eating a slice of pizza to running around the block. The Fogg model includes other concepts, but for the purpose of this article, that’s all you need to know.
Enter Fiero
In game design, we sometimes refer to a feeling known as Fiero. It comes from the Italian word for fire. This is the feeling we get when we work hard for something and then achieve it. Think scoring a goal in soccer. You try, and try, and try, and then when you finally get it, it feels amazing. You might cheer, pump your fist, or even jump up and shout, “Yeah!”
This is an extremely powerful emotion, and one of the primary ways we derive pleasure from games and play.
B.J. Fogg isn’t a game designer, so in “Tiny Habits” he calls this feeling Shine. A lot of his model is about finding ways to foster this feeling in ourselves after performing or rehearsing a target action. He calls this celebration, something we also do when we win a game. However, lots of people struggle with spontaneously creating this feeling. Jumping up and shouting “Yeah!” after you take out the garbage can feel unnatural.
Celebrating Behavior Change
Let’s take this to its logical conclusion, then. Games let us rehearse complex and difficult actions. When we win a game, we celebrate. So, if you can tie the behavior you want to create to a very fun game that is fine-tuned to generate fiero, that behavior will feel great and wire itself into your brain. Performing the same action again later will become much easier, perhaps even automatic.
Proof That Fiero = Behavior Change
This sounds good, but it’s only a theory, right? As it happens, I have some pretty compelling proof. In 2014, I designed a game called Handwashing With Ananse with UNICEF, the Red Cross Climate Centre, and the Engagement Lab @ Emerson College. This game was designed to teach children in Ghana when, why, and how to handwash with soap. The aim was to create lasting behavior change and therefore reduce stomach-born illnesses.
The game was quite complex, but I want to focus on one very specific part of it: the How Game. In this game, which we adapted in co-design from a Ghanaian folk game, the kids were asked to compete against each other, following the correct hand washing steps in something like a relay race. You can see the results in this video, which is absolutely worth watching:
Skip to 1:20 to see just the “How Game” and its results.
As you can see, when the kids win their game, they explode in celebration! This is Fiero off the charts. It wasn’t easy to get this effect. We spent months in development, designing and testing many different mechanics to find the ones that would work.
I never said this was easy, just simple.
When we measured the outcomes, the results were staggering. We found increased knowledge and instances of hand washing in our 10 intervention schools vs. the control schools. More impressively, students reported an eye-popping 8.5% decrease in stomach illness months after the intervention.
Before this, nothing worked well. This is because handwashing curricula were swimming upstream against centuries of culturally imbedded habits. But one game changed all that. OK, it was a 10–week curriculum that included song, dance, acting, story, song, and a pervasive game system. But I don’t think it would have worked without what you see in the video above.
The Recipe For Change
If you want to make change using games, here’s a recipe for you to follow:
- Understand exactly what action you need people to take
- Define why, when, and how
- Design a game that turns that action into a difficult task that is rewarded with a powerful win-state
- Test and iterate meticulously with your actual users
Again, none of these things are easy, but they are simple. Games are an amazing way to rehearse real world action and wire it in to create habits. If you want to know more, please reach out.
Sam Liberty is a serious game designer and gamification expert who’s developed playful interventions all over the world. He teaches game design at Northeastern University. He is the former Lead Game Designer at Sidekick Health.
