Day: August 27, 2013

One of the most powerful drivers of an entertainment product’s (e.g., game, movie, television show, book) success is the emotion the customer feels at the end of the experience. The juxtaposition of my experience playing Plants vs Zombies 2 and research I came across highlights the importance of the ending and how it would impact a game company. While reading Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking Fast and Slow (which I previously recommended and is the most important book I have ever read), he shows some very interesting research and examples that highlights the importance of the last stage of the experience. The underlying concept is called “duration neglect:” A person neglects most of the experience and bases their impression (whether it was fun/good or not) on the last segment of the experience. In the world of free-to-play games, this insight has very interesting implications. Continue reading “Happy endings”