Activity operation: lottery activity gameplay design

The lottery originated from gambling and is a gambling-style entertainment activity with "shackles". Although it is restricted by the shackles, the "small risk for big wins" stimulates people's subconscious gambler mentality and arouses human greed, making people unable to stop. Therefore, it has always been favored by games and operating activities, and various lottery playing methods have emerged one after another.

1. Why do we all like “lottery”?

For users,

First, we like to make a small investment for a big gain and gain something without any effort.

The desire to obtain greater returns with smaller investments is an instinctive drive in our human development. Gambler mentality exists in everyone's subconscious mind, which is the most primitive greed of the ego. Therefore, we always like and expect to get something for nothing, and lotteries just satisfy this desire of ours.

Second, the tendency to be overconfident

Although we all know that "nine out of ten gambling cases result in loss" and the probability of winning the lottery is very low, our mentality of relying on luck makes us always overestimate our chances of success. It is this confidence that makes us willing to take tentative actions even though we know the results. This is why, even though we know the probability of winning the welfare lottery is so low, it still attracts many people to do it.

Third, get the thrill of victory through simple rules

The rules of a lottery are often relatively simple. Compared to the sense of accomplishment we get from winning through layers of hard work in our daily lives, the pleasure brought by a lottery is simpler, more direct and real-time, so it is extremely tempting to us.

For operations,

First, control costs with a little effort

Raffles create the illusion that anyone can win a jackpot by using a limited inventory of prizes, or give people the illusion that you are the next lucky winner. Like a black hole, they continue to attract people to participate. The more people participate, the lower the marginal cost. You can attract more people at a very low cost.

Second, blur the value, clear inventory, stimulate consumption, etc.

If we want to sell an item worth 10,000 yuan, and we directly put a clear price on it, users may not be able to accept such a high amount. However, if we put it in a lottery , where they only need 10 yuan each time to get the prize, users may try their luck. Through their continuous behavior, the actual investment of their users is blurred, and they pay for the equipment. The 1 yuan treasure hunt that was popular in China before actually made use of this mechanism.

Third, stimulate activity, improve retention, user growth, etc.

Random rewards are a key step in the addiction model. The Skinner box experiment also shows that compared with fixed rewards, random rewards are more conducive to the persistence of behavior. Therefore, products often use random rewards to attract user retention. If users get good rewards at the beginning, they will think they are very lucky and continue to stay. If they do not get good rewards at the beginning, it can also attract users to continue to invest, which becomes one of the effective means to attract user activity.

2. Three psychological stages of participating in the lottery

The mental journey of users participating in the lottery can be divided into three stages. According to the different psychological characteristics of users in the three stages, we can adjust the mechanisms and rules in a targeted manner to give users the best gameplay experience and reduce users' participation costs, including actual costs and psychological costs.

1) Trial stage

Users at this stage tend to be very skeptical about the returns from lotteries. They will only give it a try if it is within the cost they can afford. Therefore, at this stage, the main thing is to reduce the cost of users' first participation, such as some free lotteries opportunities, 100% winning methods, etc., to guide users to try.

2) The Chosen One

Users enter this stage after having won a prize once. This unexpected reward can make them confident in their RP, think that they are the chosen one, and be full of expectations and motivation for subsequent participation rewards. Therefore, the core of this stage is to maintain and strengthen the user's idea of ​​being the "chosen one" through mechanisms such as guaranteed draws and cumulative probabilities, so as to prevent users from giving up because of being hurt by the uncertain probabilities.

3) Addiction stage

After being strengthened in the previous stage, this stage can already be called a gambler. Through the theory of Skinner box, we know that at this stage, even if the expected reward is not obtained in the short term, the behavior may continue to be maintained for a long period of time before dissipating. But at the same time, users have already paid a considerable cost and obtained the rewards they expected, so their enthusiasm will be reduced and they will return to rationality. Therefore, at this stage we need to blur the value of users' actual investment through gift tests, token conversion, etc. We can also upgrade the rewards to continuously stimulate users.

3. Rules of play at each stage

1. The Exploration and Doubt Stage

The core is to trigger user behavior by reducing the user's trial cost and giving users appropriate rewards to pave the way for the next stage. Some common lottery rules are as follows:

1) Free trial opportunity

Before users participate in the event in depth (recharge or complete tasks) to get a chance to win a lottery, they can be given 1 to 3 free trials to lower their defenses and help them participate in the event smoothly. At the same time, free opportunities can be used to cultivate user behavior and help users understand and recognize the event. Free opportunities can also be given or refreshed according to the number of days, but the overall gift should not be too much. With limited costs, too many gifts will reduce the value of each draw and also convey a cheap feeling to users.

2) Newcomer guarantee

When a user participates in a lottery for the first time or a few times, he or she will definitely receive a relatively large reward. Users are not familiar with this mechanism, so it helps them build up initial confidence in their current RP and lucky draw activities, and thus they are full of expectations for getting bigger rewards, which in turn increases their motivation and enthusiasm for continued participation.

3) 100% sure win

Filling the prize pool with prizes of relatively reduced value, such as points and coupons, as a guaranteed reward to achieve the concept of 100% winning is also a means of removing users' defenses. However, this gimmick is currently used more frequently, and users have become immune to this kind of lottery, so the effect is limited;

4) Give away lucky draw items, loss aversion

Before the user participates in the lottery, they will be given some props buffs that can be used during the lottery, such as probability doubling cards, winning result doubling cards, etc. Props usually have a countdown and are emphasized visually. Driven by loss aversion , users’ motivation to participate in conversions is strengthened. The key to giving props away is to effectively convey the value of the props to users, while giving users a sense of exclusivity, surprise, and scarcity.

2. Fantasy of the Chosen One

The core is to maintain and strengthen the user's confidence in their RP and avoid the loss caused by not getting the expected prizes for a long time. Common lottery rules include:

1) Cumulative probability

Cumulative probability is a pseudo-random probability algorithm that provides a safety net. If a user has not won the grand prize for a certain number of times, he or she will definitely win the prize next time or the probability of winning will be increased. This kind of rule can directly tell users. For example, if a player frequently uses the game and fails to win the SSR for 100 draws in total, then he or she will definitely win the next time. This can give players a fixed expectation and to a certain extent reduce the frustration of players who have not won. Moreover, when users reach a certain level of winning, they may continue to draw for the grand prize. It is also possible not to tell the players, so that they think it is their own 'luck', and thus they have full faith in the probability of winning and their own luck, and continue to participate.

2) Guaranteed rewards

A guaranteed design where players can get points (fragments) as rewards every time they draw, regardless of whether they win or not. The accumulated points can be exchanged for some rare items. Create a feeling for users that every lottery draw is valuable. This is essentially similar to the mechanism of accumulating a certain number of draws to win the jackpot, but the points gameplay is more flexible. Users can use different points to redeem items, and it is not necessary to accumulate a certain number of points to achieve the result.

3. Addiction stage

Users are already deeply involved in the gameplay, but as their involvement increases, they are also more likely to feel fatigued and bored. Therefore, it is necessary to constantly keep users fresh and attract them to continue participating.

1) Blurring the value and strengthening the winning experience

Blurring the costs paid by users, weakening the user's concept of how much money each draw equals by giving away lottery opportunities, discounts for consecutive draws, token conversions, etc., or avoiding direct linkage with the perceived amount of effort required. Make users think they are getting a chance to win a prize at a very low, vague cost. This can not only reduce players' frustration of not winning the prize, but also stimulate players' continued participation.

2) Reward upgrades and continuous stimulation

Upgrading and changing rewards. When players continue to participate to a certain extent, users have already obtained most of the current rewards and are no longer interested in the prize pool. It is necessary to replace the prizes in the prize pool and add new prizes to continue to attract players, or upgrade the prize pool. After the number of user participation reaches a certain level, a higher level prize pool can be unlocked to attract players to continue participating. For example, there are often gold treasure chests, silver treasure chests, ordinary treasure chests and other prize pool levels in the game;

3) Change packaging to maintain freshness

Regularly changing the pages, gameplay packaging and design elements can prevent players from becoming aesthetically fatigued and reduce their desire to participate. At the same time, for some users who have a low RP and did not win their desired prizes, it is a hint of starting over. The new packaging means a brand new beginning, and their RP may also change. It is human nature to get tired of the old and love the new. Therefore, although the underlying probability of the lottery can remain unchanged, the packaging must be updated regularly to maintain freshness for users.

IV. Conclusion

In short, the lucky draws in marketing activities and games should be designed based on the three psychological stages of users, with the probability and gameplay designed to protect the user's participation experience. With moderate and active participation, you can experience the fun of the lottery and use it as a leisure and entertainment activity to spice up your life. But we should also avoid disguised gambling, excessive participation and addiction, which will affect our normal life.

Author: I am Ge Xiaohao

Source: I am a small account