[PAXDEV2019] Implementing Behavioral Economics Model into a Game Server

Implementing Behavioral Economics Model
into a Game Server

Who we are
• Behavioral economics-based AI company
• Analyze games and user’s behavior and their motivation-
to-play
• Develop and service recommendation system based on
the user’s motivation-to-play

What I am going to talk about
1. Meta model for user’s motivation-to-play
2. How to measure each motivation based on player’s log data
• Analysis cases
3. Integrate the model-driven analysis into the game server
4. The results and use cases
5. Conclusion

Behavioral economics?
Behavioral Economics
• Integrated from psychological research into economic science
• Study of the effect of psychological, emotional, social factors
on economic decisions of individuals

Motivation-to-play
Motivation
Decision
& Action
It takes too much
time to level up.
Games are pushing
too many pop-ups
and ads.
My character is not
strong enough!
There are not
enough PvE
contents I want!
There are not many
cute characters.
There are not many
PvP contents I want.

Motivation-to-play
RETENTION
Want to be
famous To kill times
Catch
monster Play PvP
Collect
characters
App open
rates, times
Personal
information
Device type
Love for the
character Motivation
Behavior
Superficial
factors

Meta model for motivation-to-play
SocialPersonal
Intrinsic
Extrinsic
Personal
Satisfaction
Social
Interaction
Personal
Rewards
Public
Recognition
• McGuinness M. 2015. Motivation for Creative People: How to Stay Creative While Gaining Money
• Rigby, S. and Skinner, T. GDC 2014, The Importance of Player Autonomy: Motivating Sustained Engagement through
Volition and Choice
• Baron J. GDC 1999, Glory and Shame: Powerful Psychology in Multiplayer Online Games
• Ryan, R.M. and Deci, E.L.2000. Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations: Classic Definitions and New Directions

SocialPersonal
Intrinsic
Extrinsic
Personal
Satisfaction
Social
Interaction
Personal
Rewards
Public
Recognition
Volition and Choice
Inherently interesting or
enjoyable

SocialPersonal
Intrinsic
Extrinsic
Personal
Satisfaction
Social
Interaction
Personal
Rewards
Public
Recognition
Volition and Choice
enjoyable
Leads to a separable
outcome

SocialPersonal
Intrinsic
Extrinsic
Personal
Satisfaction
Social
Interaction
Personal
Rewards
Public
Recognition
Volition and Choice
enjoyable
outcome
Need for self expression

SocialPersonal
Intrinsic
Extrinsic
Personal
Satisfaction
Social
Interaction
Personal
Rewards
Public
Recognition
Volition and Choice
enjoyable
outcome
Need for self expression Other people’s opinions
matter

Who are social-intrinsic people?
SocialPersonal
Intrinsic
Extrinsic
• Harmony
• Collaboration
• Loyalty
• …
Personal
Satisfaction
Social
Interaction
Personal
Rewards
Public
Recognition

Who are social-intrinsic people?

Who are social-extrinsic people?
Personal
Satisfaction
Social
Interaction
Personal
Rewards
Public
Recognition
SocialPersonal
Intrinsic
Extrinsic
• Recognition
• Appreciation
• Awards and Prizes
• …

Who are social-extrinsic people?

Who are personal-extrinsic people?
Personal
Satisfaction
Social
Interaction
Personal
Rewards
Public
Recognition
SocialPersonal
Intrinsic
Extrinsic
• Money
• Privileges
• Opportunities
• …

Who are personal-extrinsic people?

Who are personal-intrinsic people?
Personal
Satisfaction
Social
Interaction
Personal
Rewards
Public
Recognition
SocialPersonal
Intrinsic
Extrinsic
• Pleasure
• Learning
• Meaning
• …

Who are personal-intrinsic people?

Analysis methodology
How to define & parametrize & analyze the motivation model?

Econometrics Methodology

Behavioral Economics vs Econometrics
• Behavioral economics: Study of the effect of psychological,
emotional, social factors on economic decisions of
individuals
• Econometrics: Statistical methods for empirical analysis

Behavioral Economics vs Econometrics
• Behavioral economics: Study of the effect of psychological,
emotional, social factors on economic decisions of
individuals
• Econometrics: Statistical methods for empirical analysis
BUILD A MODELQUANTIFY PARAMETRIZE ANALYZE

Case 1: Play Garden
Social interaction in the social game (Play Garden)
Personal
Satisfaction
Social
Interaction
Personal
Rewards
Public
Recognition

Case 1: Play Garden
Shutdown law in South Korea
forbidding children under the age of
16 to play online video games
between 00:00~06:00

Case 1: Play Garden
Research Question: How shutdown law changed
the social interactions among players?
Shutdown law in South Korea
forbidding children under the age of
16 to play online video games
between 00:00~06:00

Case 1: Play Garden
Social interaction Network effect
Find social interaction in Play Garden1

Case 1: Play Garden
As more users use a service,
they create more values, and
more people join

Case 1: Play Garden
More users ↔ the number
of concurrent users
Use a service & create
more value ↔ play time

Case 1: Play Garden
Parametrize social interaction
The number of concurrent
users and their play time
Social
interaction
Network
effect
2

Case 1: Play Garden
• The number of concurrent
users
• Total play time
• Other variables that may
affect the players:
• Level, gold

Case 1: Play Garden
Build a model measuring social
interaction and the effect of
shutdown policy
3

Case 1: Play Garden
The number of
concurrent users
The number of
concurrent users
The user’s play time
- The user’s level
- Gold
- Weekend
- School vacations
- Demographics
Source: Kwon and Suh (2013)

Case 1: Play Garden
The number of
concurrent users
The number of
concurrent users
- Gold
- Weekend
- School vacations
- Demographics
Shutdown Law

Case 1: Play Garden
2SLS
Select the right methodology
and analyze
4
Chow Test

Case 1: Play Garden
2SLS
A methodology for analyzing
the effect of independent
variables on the dependent
variable when there are
feedback loops in the model
and analyze
4
Chow Test
A methodology for testing
the presence of a structural
break at a specific event in
time series data

Case 1: Play Garden
and analyze
4
The number of
concurrent users
The number of
concurrent users
- Gold
- Weekend
- School vacations
- Demographics
Shutdown Law

Case 1: Play Garden
The number of
concurrent users
The number of
concurrent users
- Gold
- Weekend
- School vacations
- Demographics
Result: Before shutdown law
No network effect

Case 1: Play Garden
Result: After shutdown law
Network Effect & Reverse
Network Effect
The number of
concurrent users
The number of
concurrent users
- Gold
- Weekend
- School vacations
- Demographics
Shutdown Law

Case 1: Play Garden
Network Effect
More concurrent users
Play time
Fewer concurrent users

Case 1: Play Garden
Network Effect
Play time
Reverse
network effect

Case 1: Play Garden
Network Effect
Play time
Network effect

Case 1: Play Garden
Network Effect
Play time
Network effect
Social Intrinsic

Case 2: Ever Planet
Public recognition in MMORPG (Ever Planet)
Personal
Satisfaction
Social
Interaction
Personal
Rewards
Public
Recognition

Case 2: Ever Planet
Social distance is the gap
between different groups; social
class, race, gender, or sexuality.
In the virtual world, social
distance is the level difference
between existing users and new
users.

Case 2: Ever Planet
Social distance is the gap
between different groups; social
class, race, gender, or sexuality.
In the virtual world, social
distance is the level difference
between existing users and new
users.
Research Question: Does social distance
influences the player’s behavior in games?

Case 2: Ever Planet
Public recognition Social distance
Find public recognition in Ever Planet1
The gap of levels among users;
mostly between existing users and
new users.

Case 2: Ever Planet
Source: Kim and Lee (2013)
Social distance ↔ the
difference between the
user's level and the
average level of all users.

Case 2: Ever Planet
Parametrize public recognition
the difference between the
user's level and the average
level of all users.
Public
recognition
Social
distance
2

Case 2: Ever Planet
• The difference between
the user's level and the
average level of all
users.
• Total play time
• Accumulated play time
• The number of players

Case 2: Ever Planet
Build a model measuring
public recognition and its
effect on the player’s behavior
3

Case 2: Ever Planet
Social distance
The number of
concurrent users
- Accumulated playtime
- Number of days passed
- Weekend
- School vacations

Case 2: Ever Planet
A methodology for analyzing
panel data when group
means are fixed for each
group.
and analyze
4
Fixed Effect

Case 2: Ever Planet
and analyze
4
Social distance
The number of
concurrent users
- Weekend
- School vacations

Case 2: Ever Planet
Result: As users have been playing more, they play the less today
(-)
Social distance
The number of concurrent
users
- Accumulated
playtime
- Weekend
- School vacations

Case 2: Ever Planet
Result: But the social distance makes people behave differently; the higher
level, the longer they play
- Weekend
- School vacations
Social distance
(higher level)
The number of
concurrent users
(+)

Case 2: Ever Planet
How to manage the social distance?

Case 2: Ever Planet
The example of
Divisions and Tiers
systems in online /
offline sports

Case 2: Ever Planet
# of players
Agent-Based Model
A computational model
for simulating the
actions and interactions
of autonomous agents

Case 3: Mobile Personal Health Record
Personal satisfaction in mPHR (My Chart in My Hand)

Research Question: Which feature makes
people to have higher retention rates?

Personal
satisfaction
Self-monitoring
Find personal satisfaction in mPHR1
Tracking and updating
the user’s health
information Personal
Satisfaction
Social
Interaction
Personal
Rewards
Public
Recognition

Parametrize personal satisfaction & other features
The average and the
frequency of usage
2
Source: Lee et al. (2018)
Personal
satisfaction
Self-monitoring
• 𝐴𝑉𝐺_𝑆𝑀𝑖: Average usage of
self-monitoring function by
patient i
• 𝑆𝑇𝐷_𝑆𝑀𝑖: Standard
deviation of usage of self-
monitoring function by
patient i

Build a model measuring each
feature’s effect on user retention
3
The average usage of self-monitoring
function
The standard deviation of self-
monitoring function usage
User retention
- Demographics
- The level of illness)
The average usage of other functions
The standard deviation of other
function usages

Cox proportional hazard
A methodology for
analyzing the expected time
until an event of interest
happens
and analyze
4

Result: People with personal satisfaction have higher retention rates.
The average usage of self-
monitoring function
The standard deviation of self-
monitoring function usage
User retention
- Demographics
- The level of
illness
The average usage of other
functions
The standard deviation of
other function usages
(+)
(-)

3 Steps for implementing motivation model into games
RECOMMENDDEFINE FIND
(1) Define and parametrize the
motivation you want to find
Personal
Satisfaction
Social
Interaction
Personal
Rewards
Public
Recognition

(2) Find each player’s motivation
based on the player’s log data

(3) Send recommendation
message based on the
motivation
THE PERFECTIONISTS
THE COLLECTORS
FRIENDSHIPS

Automate the 3 Steps of implementing motivation model into games
(3) Send recommendation
message based on the
motivation
THE PERFECTIONISTS
THE COLLECTORS
FRIENDSHIPS
(1) Define and parametrize
the motivation you want to
find
(2) Find each player’s
motivation based on the
player’s log data

Implementation
Integrating the model-driven analysis into the game server
Gameplay
Log Data
Features Preprocessed
Data
Motivation
Model Analysis
Result Data In-game
recommendation
message
Game Player

Implementation
Gameplay
Log Data
Data
Motivation
Model Analysis
Result Data In-game
recommendation
message
Game Player
1
Preprocessing
• Data connector
• Batch with dependency
• Generate features

Implementation
Gameplay
Log Data
Data
Motivation
Model Analysis
Result Data In-game
recommendation
message
Game Player
1
Preprocessing
• Data connector
2
Analysis and Segmentation
• Motivation analysis with the
preprocessed data
• Segment players with a specific
motivation

Implementation
Gameplay
Log Data
Data
Motivation
Model Analysis
Result Data In-game
recommendation
message
Game Player
1
Preprocessing
• Data connector
2
Analysis and Segmentation
• Motivation analysis with the
preprocessed data
• Segment players with a specific
motivation
2
Send
recommendation
message to the player

The result of automizing the three steps:
Retention rate
increased by 13%
User engagement
increased by 45%
In-app purchase
increased by 8%
Real case example:
Result of applying motivation-based recommendation system
in mobile game

Wrap up
• Define and find the motivation of players in games
• Personal Satisfaction
• Social Interaction
• Personal Rewards
• Public Recognition
• Find the players with analysis methodology
• Recommend items and contents based on the motivation

References
• McGuinness M. 2015. Motivation for Creative People: How to Stay Creative While
Gaining Money
• Rigby, S. and Skinner, T. GDC 2014, The Importance of Player Autonomy:
Motivating Sustained Engagement through Volition and Choice
• Baron J. GDC 1999, Glory and Shame: Powerful Psychology in Multiplayer Online
Games
• Ryan, R.M. and Deci, E.L.2000. Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations: Classic
Definitions and New Directions, Contemporary Educational Psychology 25, 54–67
• Kwon, H., Suh, C. 2013, The Effect of the Shutdown System on Social Games,
Business Administration Research 6, 1-12
• Kim, M., Lee, B. 2013, Are There Too Many Superheroes? Analysis of the Social
Distance in Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game,
https://ssrn.com/abstract=2330090
• Lee K, Kwon H, Lee B, Lee G, Lee JH, Park YR, et al. (2018) Effect of self-
monitoring on long-term patient engagement with mobile health applications. PLoS
ONE 13(7): e0201166. https:// doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0201166

Thank you.
Homepage: www.sentience.rocks
Hyeyon Kwon: h.kwon@sentience.rocks

[PAXDEV2019] Implementing Behavioral Economics Model into a Game Server

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