Tom Chatfield - 7 Ways Games Reward The Brain

Tom Chatfield

"7 ways games reward the brain"

In this talk, Tom Chatfield starts with talking about the rise in popularity in video games that create a virtual world, such as "Second Life" and "World of Warcraft". This is accented by the fact he brings up that 8 billion dollars worldwide are spent on virtual items that only exist in these games. He then goes into how game designers make the games engaging by taking tasks, such as collecting 15 of something, and manipulating them so they prove to be not too easy and not too frustrating. This is done by adjusting probability of items appearing by how far the player is in the game, adding additional items to keep the gamer engaged, and so on. Chatfield then lists seven ways that games engage their players; experience bars measuring progress, multiple long and short-term goals, rewards for effort, rapid and frequent feedback, an element of uncertainty, windows of enhanced attention, and interactions with other people. He then goes on to say that many fields in the world, such as business and education, could fix some of the problems they have by integrating some of these ways that video games engage their players.

I got a lot out of this talk. I am a huge game player myself, and agree with him on how these games can be very engaging. And I also think a lot of real-world fields could learn from video games on how to be more engaging. As a specific example, I have found computer technology classes that were completely based on lecture to be very difficult to learn from, as they lost my attention fast. I feel I get more out of a class when I'm able to explore the subject hands-on. It's much more engaging than listening to a lecture. I think people could definitely learn something from how reward systems in games work.

Amazon listing for Tom Chatfield's book

A description of a book by Chatfield about how gaming is becoming pervasive in many other areas of media and life.

Tom Chatfield's blog

The official blog of Tom Chatfield, with entries on various topics including speculation on gaming and technology.

The Education Arcade

An organization exploring games that make learning engaging.

Steven Levitt Analyzes Crack Economics

Steven Levitt

"Steven Levitt Analyzes Crack Economics"

In this talk, Steven Levitt discusses what he found out when an associate of his did research with a crack-dealing street gang. He begins with the history of the crack epidemic starting in the early '80s. Crack was a drug that generated a lot of revenue due to its unique high, and a stereotype has emerged of crack dealing being lucrative and making people rich. Levitt then shows that the hierarchy of a gang is similar to a chain of McDonalds. The area leader can make hundreds of thousands of dollars, while a dealer on the lowest level (known as a foot soldier) only makes an average of 3.50 per hour. Unlike a McDonalds, dealers on the lowest level don't get promoted to higher levels, and the gang leaders stay as the gang leaders, leaving no room for other dealers to rise. Levitt also points out that crack dealing has a seven percent probability of dying rate per each year a dealer is in a gang. Levitt then concludes his talk by comparing and contrasting some scholarly economic theories with some of the observations the gang members made about their economics, all in colorful street language; for example, taking financial losses is more frowned upon than in legitimate business, as the dealer doesn't want to look "weak as shit".

I was really impressed with this talk. I have had experiences with drug dealers in the past, and I noticed most of them brag about making money more than they can actually flaunt the money they made. In the talk, Levitt mentions about how the drug leaders can manipulate future gang members by leasing the fancy cars they drive instead of being able to own them; drug dealers are often extremely manipulative, who can convince others they can make a lot of money, when they really intend to make sure they never get bigger than them. This is a good wake-up call for anyone who thinks joining a gang and selling drugs is lucrative; it's not.

Freakonomics website

An official site for Steven Levitt's book Freakonomics, which is about using economic theories unconventionally to explain real-world problems and events.

Steven Levitt Wikipedia page

The Wikipedia page about Steven Levitt, summarizing his life and career, including his statistical analyzing of crime in America.

Gangs or Us article, "Crips, Bloods, and Crack"

A brief history of the rise of crack cocaine in the early '80s and the wars between the competing Bloods and Crips gangs.