The Other Game Theory (Gratification)

In the late 1960s and early 1970s psychologist Walter Mischel did an experiment at Stanford University on the subject of delayed gratification known as the marshmallow experiment.

The experiment became very famous very fast among both academics and non academic communities and communities. What they did in Stanford is that they offered to kids’ marshmallows and the researchers gave them 2 options.

Option 1: Eat the marshmallow now

Option 2:  Wait until the researcher come back and get 2 marshmallows

Most of the kids as one might imagine couldn’t resist or wait and ate the marshmallows right away. The interesting part of the experience is yet to come.  the children who didn’t wait for the second coming of the marshmallows had shown a behavioral pattern that is known as instant gratification and children who did wait for the second coming of the marshmallows did show the opposite behavior of that which is known as delayed gratification.

The researchers did follow up on the kids; it was found out that those with delayed gratification paid more attention in class, did better in their STA tests and did better in overall exams. A lot of researches found the experiment to be interesting enough to change variables and try different subjects yet they did end up with similar results.

Now this behavior is very relevant to adults’ as well not just kids and children lusting marshmallows. One can find such instant gratification behavior in every aspect in most of the grown up lives. We can see it in the New Year’s resolution that melts faster than the sugar in a tea cup, we can see the instant gratification in the study or work schedule that is always subjected to last minute cancellations or priority changes.

An appropriate number of writers would agree that the most difficult task in writing is the task of just sitting down and write instead of waiting for an inspiration or waiting for an influence. 

For sure someone’s life is not determined by weather he ate marshmallow or not yet there are two fields that can be linked to Stanford’s marshmallow experiment.

The first link is to games in general and more specifically is the link to video games.
The second link is to the management world in general and more specifically to organizational behavior.

Linking the marshmallow to Games:

what happened when Mario jump and eat the mushrooms?, He gets taller , bigger & sometimes it grants him the ability to throw fire. Now was that jump worth it?

Most of the games have this rewarding system that is related to the story or to the overall objective of the game that the gamer is playing, your character gains health, acquire new power, gains stamina or simply adds point to an existing meter or criteria.

The games are designed to feed that instant gratification behavior gamers don’t just win at the end of the game; they have small wins along the way.

There is another question that is raised at this point which is so what?
Even if games are designed feed that instant gratification why do we do it? Why does the gamers both young and adults get attached to games and invest these long hours.

The answer is Dopamine.  Here is a quote from psychology today explaining in short what dopamine is.

“Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that helps control the brain's reward and pleasure centers. Dopamine also helps regulate movement and emotional responses, and it enables us not only to see rewards, but to take action to move toward them. Dopamine deficiency results in Parkinson's Disease, and people with low dopamine activity may be more prone to addiction. The presence of a certain kind of dopamine receptor is also associated with sensation-seeking people, more commonly known as "risk takers."  End quote.



In other words games are designed as a pursuit of happiness system, the system satisfy both cognitive factors (dopamine release and instant gratification behavior).

So when we tell our children study now to become a doctor after 18 years we might as well just shoot them in the face. Why would a child have that long term gratification when he can become a Hero or better off a super Hero now?

Linking the marshmallow to management life:



In his Google talk author and game designer Gabe Zichermann mentioned an interesting fact he said that there was a game that virtualized the nuclear plant manager’s life and day at work, Gabe said that this game was downloaded and played by plant managers, but why?

Why would anyone spend his all day doing all the tasks related to safety and regulation and whatever admin work that comes with it, would like to play a game that simulates or virtualizes the same exact thing that just consumed the whole day?



The answer is again Dopamine and instant gratification. In the game things could go wrong, the plant might be in danger, the whole thing can collapse and finally the training might payoff.



The manager could in the game use all his tools and all his skills in creative ways to save the day and becomes the national hero that he or she always wanted to be.



According to the training magazine report for 2014 gamification is one of the most trending topics for business and corporate training.

If employees waited the feedback of their managers only in the yearly appraisals that means that the company or corporate is waiting a year to thank its employees. This means either the employees have an amazing delayed gratification behavior or they are seeking another company that appreciates its human capital.
Finally we end up with a quote from forbs magazine
“true gamification offers deeper engagement such as real-time feedback loops when people do things, social experiences and creating layers of engagement inside the company.  It isn’t just an enterprise version of Face book.  Badgeville describes the overall category as behavior lifecycle management (BLM). Duggan says it’s bigger than gamification because it incorporates all the ways we can measure and influence behavior. Badgeville describes it as encompassing trends such as game mechanics, big data, identity, analytics, reputation, social, community and collaboration. BLM is the process of measuring and influencing behavior to meet your business goals.”
http://onforb.es/1FNpyDu

Written by :Fouad  Ahmed
Twitter:@fouad_khafaga
Hotmail: Fouad_khafaga@hotmail.co.uk