by Mitori Liu
Oct 13, 2022
Story brief:
The mobile mini game “Yanglegeyang” has got many Chinese smartphone users addicted to it by its seeming simpleness of rules, province rank setting and low passing rate, reflecting the game developer’s good command of player psychology.
Story in detailed description:
According to an article on the Baidu account of Tech Planet (https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1745091806121877146&wfr=spider&for=pc), “Yanglegeyang” is another version of Fun Fest, in which players connect all same 3 puzzles in a big puzzle to pass to the next level. Although the simple rules give consumers confidence and ambition to win, the algorithm of the game controls the rate of passing. However, out of the collective sense of honor in terms of the province competition by ranking, and the belief that they could almost pass the game, a massive number of consumers kept on trying but ended up failing again and again and having to watch advertisements for extra assistance to win. The game developer has made full use of the player psychology to take huge profits from the game.
Implication:
Yanglegeyang is a good example of keeping users by manipulating their expectation and mentality by first delivering the message that everyone is able to play to increase player volume, and then to maintain the volume by setting the competition among player herds. Other designers who aim at developing widely accepted products should recognize the power of consumer psychology and learn from this case that it is crucial to demonstrate easiness in use of their products to consumers through marketing, and then applying some other psychological strategy in retail, such as emotional resonance and sense of exclusivity.