Vasiliy Sabirov, devtodev

Behavioral Economics in Games: Neither Players Nor Developers Are Rational, and This Is a Good News for Everyone

(White Nights Conference Moscow 2018)
The official conference website — http://wnconf.com

Transcript

1. BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS IN GAMES: Neither Players Nor Developers Are Rational AND THIS IS GOOD FOR EVERYONE VASILIY SABIROV, LEAD ANALYST & CO-FOUNDER
2. BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS Classical economics implies that all subjects act rationally. Behavioral economics says the opposite. www.devtodev.com | sabirov@devtodev.com
3. SURVIVORSHIP BIAS www.devtodev.com | sabirov@devtodev.com
4. SURVIVORSHIP BIAS www.devtodev.com | sabirov@devtodev.com
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. www.devtodev.com | sabirov@devtodev.com
6. SELECTIVE PERCEPTION Community management: • there will always be dissatisfied players; • focus on negative aspects; • learn to settle situations. www.devtodev.com | sabirov@devtodev.com
7. FEW WORDS ABOUT MEETINGS & BRAINSTORMS www.devtodev.com | sabirov@devtodev.com
8. FEW WORDS ABOUT MEETINGS & BRAINSTORMS www.devtodev.com | sabirov@devtodev.com • halo effect • bandwagon effect • closed set of variants (A or B) What to do? • de-identified data • A/B-testing as hypothesis testing • another spheres (e-commerce -> ABCXYZ analysis)
9. FEW WORDS ABOUT MEETINGS & BRAINSTORMS www.devtodev.com | sabirov@devtodev.com
10. MONETIZATION www.devtodev.com | sabirov@devtodev.com Source
11. 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 www.devtodev.com | sabirov@devtodev.com
12. ENDOWMENT EFFECT • create a trial version • give players an opportunity to invest something in your game • opportunity to dress up a character www.devtodev.com | sabirov@devtodev.com
13. ENDOWMENT EFFECT www.devtodev.com | sabirov@devtodev.com
14. TRICKS & EXPERIMENTS opportunity to choose www.devtodev.com | sabirov@devtodev.com Source
15. TRICKS & EXPERIMENTS paradox of choice www.devtodev.com | sabirov@devtodev.com Source
16. TRICKS & EXPERIMENTS paradox of choice www.devtodev.com | sabirov@devtodev.com Source
17. 4 TYPES OF PRICES • Rounded ($37) • Rounded with zeros ($34,00) • Exact ($24,35) • «Charm» (39,99$ or 34,95$) round numbers are easier and quicker to comprehend than exact numbers; our brain reads numbers from left to right; don’t use exact prices if a good is related to emotional purchases; if the price is less than 10$, use «charm» prices regardless of a good category www.devtodev.com | sabirov@devtodev.com Source
18. TRICKS & EXPERIMENTS .99 prices www.devtodev.com | sabirov@devtodev.com Source
19. TRICKS & EXPERIMENTS bait • web subscription (59$) • print subscription (125$) • print + web subscription (125$) www.devtodev.com | sabirov@devtodev.com Source
20. TRICKS & EXPERIMENTS bait • web subscription (59$) - 16% • print subscription (125$) - 0% • print + web subscription (125$) - 84% ARPU = $114.44 www.devtodev.com | sabirov@devtodev.com Source
21. TRICKS & EXPERIMENTS bait • web subscription (59$) • print subscription (125$) • print + web subscription (125$) www.devtodev.com | sabirov@devtodev.com Source
22. TRICKS & EXPERIMENTS bait • web subscription (59$) - 68% • print subscription (125$) • print + web subscription (125$) - 32% ARPU = $80.12 www.devtodev.com | sabirov@devtodev.com Source
23. TRICKS & EXPERIMENTS bait www.devtodev.com | sabirov@devtodev.com Source
24. ANCHORING www.devtodev.com | sabirov@devtodev.com
25. ANCHORING The share of African countries in the UN? More than 65%? How much? www.devtodev.com | sabirov@devtodev.com Source
26. ANCHORING The share of African countries in the UN? More than 10%? How much? www.devtodev.com | sabirov@devtodev.com Source
27. ANCHORING Anchor 65% -> 45% Anchor 10% -> 25% www.devtodev.com | sabirov@devtodev.com Source
28. ANCHORING Anchor 65% -> 45% Anchor 10% -> 25% www.devtodev.com | sabirov@devtodev.com Source
29. ANCHORING • don’t make prices too low; • give an expensive alternative; • show it first. www.devtodev.com | sabirov@devtodev.com Source
30. 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 www.devtodev.com | sabirov@devtodev.com Source
31. 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. www.devtodev.com | sabirov@devtodev.com Source
32. CASE: MAGINARY www.devtodev.com | sabirov@devtodev.com
33. CASE: MAGINARY www.devtodev.com | sabirov@devtodev.com
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. www.devtodev.com | sabirov@devtodev.com
35. We love games. We understand the process of game development and the needs of game studios. From marketing to game design - devtodev provides you with valuable insights for any role and any side of game development. devtodev for game studios www.devtodev.com PRODUCER ANALYST ACQUISITION MANAGER GAME DESIGNER
36. www.devtodev.com Here’s how we work
37. www.devtodev.com game design education course 20% DISCOUNT, ASK ME!
38. VASILIY SABIROV lead analyst & co-founder sabirov@devtodev.com www.devtodev.com THANK YOU!