September 2014: Motivation

Hi all!

For September, I'd like people to think about the psychology of games.  As game designers, we need to understand these motivational triggers in order to design better levels, better virtual goods, and a better overall gameplay experience.  Motivation is of particular interest to the topics of Game-Based Learning and Social Impact Games because these games go beyond mere entertainment and usually have a specific learning or social objective.

Questions for Thought:

•  As designers, what tools can we employ to keep players motivated and on track with our gameplay objectives? 
•  How does player motivation fit into the design of your levels? Or your games?
•  What motivates players to buy virtual currency or goods?  Are there specific tricks or tips to this?

Feel free to add more questions to the end of this post.

As always, submission guidelines along with submission procedure can be found on the right hand side of the blog.  Topic suggestions and articles are welcome!