From knowing nothing to being unable to stop──Using gamification theory to analyze "The Traveling Frog"

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This article (opens in a new tab) Author Yan Peilan (opens in a new tab), gamification theory (opens in a new tab) enthusiasts who are fully curious about human behavior are looking for boyfriends. Thank you for authorizing the “Content Hacker” website to reprint it. Thank you hereby.

Octagonal theoretical analysis framework

Recently, “Travel Frog” (original name: 游かえる (opens in a new tab)) has become popular. Some netizens based it on the Octagonal Theory (opens in a new tab) The first-level framework makes analysis of eight core motivations (opens in a new tab), Explain what is so attractive about “The Traveling Frog”? In order to further explore the experience of game products (the transformation of players’ participation in the game), I used Mr. Zhou Yukai (opens in a new tab) in “The Complete Book of Gamification Practice (opens in a new tab)” to analyze:

Octalysis (opens in a new tab) (Octalysis) was proposed by gamification master Zhou Yukai (opens in a new tab). He summarized eight core motivations that promote addiction:

(1) Major mission and calling. (2) Development and achievement. (3) Provide creativity and feedback. (4) Ownership and possessiveness. (5) Social influence and empathy. (6) Scarcity and urgency. (7) Uncertainty and curiosity. (8) Loss and Avoidance.

discovery phase

Basically, I think the reason why most people find this game is because of the seventh core motivation, which is “uncertainty and curiosity.”

I believe that many people downloaded it out of curiosity, even though they heard about this game in various media. At that time, I saw many people forwarding reports from mainland China on a private LINE group, which showed that the game had become popular on the other side. Later, Taiwan’s online media also took notice of the game. Despite this, I was still not very willing to play the game until many friends’ [screenshots] appeared on Facebook(https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10155384289179053 (opens in a new tab) &set=a.92116414052.84015.500944052&type=3&theater), it dawned on me and I remembered the emergence of the key fifth core driving force, that is, “social influence and empathy”, and then I surrendered to “Traveling Frog”.

joining stage

I opened the “Traveling Frog” game that has been buzzing on the Internet. First of all, the game asked me to give the frog a name. To put it bluntly, this is actually using the concept of the fourth core motivation “ownership and possessiveness”, which allowed me to immediately own a frog that looks comfortable.

“Well, now that I have a name, let’s just reluctantly see what the game wants me to do!” I still remember what I thought at the time. Following the guidance of the game, even though I didn’t understand Japanese, I roughly understood how the game was played. I successfully harvested clovers, bought food, and let the frog go out (by the way, I had to call him Sishen Tang at this time). One of the features of this game is that it is designed to be simple and easy to use, making players feel smart. Hey, this is using the second core motivation “development and achievement”!

climbing stage

After waiting and waiting, I received the ordinary postcard. At this time, I thought, “This is the end of this game!”. When I was about to post my thoughts on the game online, I saw various [frog photos] from my friends (https://www.facebook.com/pho (opens in a new tab) to.php?fbid=10155383857509053&set=a.92116414052.84015.500944052&type=3&theater), where did his frog go? Just like that, I opened “Traveling Frog” again and silently collected clovers, thinking that maybe I could get special postcards like them (pursuing higher goal achievements). At this time, there are actually two core motivations operating silently, namely the fifth core motivation “social influence and empathy” and the sixth core motivation “scarcity and urgency”.

It is conceivable that when the game reaches this stage, the player will involuntarily want to keep looking at what happened to his frog? When I stay at home, I hope that Frog will go on a trip as soon as possible, but when I go out for a trip, I hope that Frog will return home soon…

end stage

After the fresh period has passed, the remaining players will continue to be influenced by the fifth core motivation “social influence and empathy” (including: frog memes published by various editors on their fan pages) In addition to the influence of photos and discussions with friends, etc.), it will also be driven by the eighth core motivation “loss and avoidance”, which is similar to the [sunk cost] mentioned in economics (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B2%89%E6%B2%A1%E6%88%90%E6%9C%AC (opens in a new tab)) (Sunk Cost) is similar in concept.

If players give up the game, it means losing the scene postcards and travel tools they have spent time collecting before, or admitting that the time and money invested previously are meaningless (in fact, it is harder for people to give up on games that actually cost money). Therefore, in my opinion, whether the items and props in the game can stimulate the fourth core motivation “ownership and possessiveness” is a very important key. At present, we see that many communities or media discussions (opens in a new tab) focus on this.

The key to success lies in community discussion

The popularity of “The Traveling Frog” is still there, but who knows what it will be like in a few weeks? Some people think that the rapid popularity of this game is due to the first core driving force of “major mission and call”, but I have reservations about this view. In my opinion, the ongoing community discussion is the key to the success of “Traveling Frog”; after all, it is still a bit difficult for me to project my family affection on a frog image.

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★ Photo Credit: 游かえる (opens in a new tab)