Lead Analyst Vasiliy Sabirov from devtodev.com participated at Casual Connect in London in 2018.
He explained why players do not always make rational decisions and how game developers can use it.
What the presentation is about?
- Classical economics and Behavioral economics
- Survivorship bias
- Selective perception
- Endowment effect
- Tricks and experiments. Opportunity to choose
- Paradox of choice
- The .99 prices
- Anchoring
- The power of free
- Visualization
- Games are an emotional product
- Here’s how we work at devtodev.com
Author Bio
Vasiliy Sabirov, Lead Analyst & Co-Founder at devtodev.com. 7+ years of game analytics experience.
Check devtodev Education Center for more articles and exclusive webinars on mobile analytics - https://www.devtodev.com/education-center.
Behavioral Economics in Games. Casual Connect London 2018
1. Behavioral Economics in Games
Why Players Do Not Always Make
Rational Decisions and How to Use it
When Developing Games
29–31 May 2018 | London
Vasiliy Sabirov
lead analyst
devtodev
5. Survivorship bias
Surveys and customer development should be done not only for
your current users, but also for those who churned.
Not only for those who pay, but also for non-paying users.
Don’t focus only on success.
9. Endowment effect
● people value things that they already own more than those they
can get
● don’t take away virtual currency, players will find where to
spend it themselves
● instead of taking away, give less (but give!) resources
10. Endowment effect
● create a trial version
● give players an opportunity to invest something in your game
● opportunity to dress up a character
15. Tricks and experiments
4 types of prices:
○ Rounded ($37)
○ Rounded with zeros ($34,00)
○ Exact ($24,35)
○ «Charm» (39,99$ or 34,95$)
Source
16. Tricks and experiments
○ round numbers are easier and quicker to comprehend than exact
numbers;
○ our brain reads numbers from left to right;
○ don’t use exact prices if a good is related to emotional purchases;
○ if the price is less than 10$, use «charm» prices regardless of a good
category
Source
28. Tricks and experiments
Anchoring - conclusions
● don’t make prices too low;
● give an expensive alternative;
● show it first.
Source
29. Трюки и эксперименты
Power of free
Free vs Paid:
● Кейс Amazon:
○ заказать одну книгу за $20 + $5 за доставку?
○ заказать одну книгу за $20 + одну за $15 + доставка за $0?
Примеры доминанты “бесплатного”:
● F2P-игры
● ночь музеев
● кейс с подарком в виртуальной валюте
Источник
30. Tricks and experiments
The power of free
People like when something’s free:
● Night of museums
● F2P games
● Free samples
Gifts in currency:
● 30% in short-term revenue
● 10% in long-term revenue
Source
32. Tricks and experiments
Visualization - how to use it?
● the order of packages in the shop;
● “the most popular offer” and other
additional information
Source
33. Tricks and experiments
A few more recommendations
○ The rule of the hundred
■ P < $100 -> discount in %
■ P > $100 -> discount in $
○ Choose numbers with fewer syllables;
○ Visualize difference between two prices;
○ The currency symbol is important: if you don’t specify currency, conversion
can be higher.
Source
34. Conclusions
People make emotional decisions,
especially in games. Games are an
emotional product.
Our aim is to turn this players’
feature into a win-win strategy.
35. In today’s highly competitive F2P market creating a good game is only a part of success. There
are so many problems that developers have to solve during the app lifecycle.
www.devtodev.com
There are so many
problems that game developers
have to solve