What makes video games fun and keeps us playing them? In this podcast episode, we discuss what motivates people to play video games. Motivation is essential in games. If players aren't motivated, they won't play the game. Game designers have many years of experience using different tricks to motivate players. Some examples are rewards, scores, levels, stories, and playing with friends. We discuss how some games today use techniques to get players to spend more money on things like battle passes. We question if some of these techniques take advantage of players by making them spend a lot of time unlocking things they already paid for. Game companies need to think carefully about player motivation and act responsibly. We touch on the behaviour model by Dr. BJ Fogg. His model says a behaviour happens based on three things - motivation, ability, and prompt. Game designers try to make missions easy but exciting to increase motivation and ability. But sometimes, players can get hooked when they lose track of why they are playing. We give our takes on compulsions being complex, and discuss how more research is needed. Next, we discuss how to study motivation as a games user researcher. Crucial things to look at are the context where players use the game and their different abilities. Juicy feedback, like fun sounds and visuals, can also increase motivation. Surveys alone may not reveal all motivations, so other techniques should be used, too. We wonder how massive games like Candy Crush appeal to many players globally. We posit these games offer many features that speak to different motivations - like achievements for competitive players and social features for social players. Games should also consider accessibility so more people can play. In conclusion, we agree motivation is complex and changes across culture, age, and other factors. More exploration is needed into player motivations we don't even know to ask about yet. This makes for an exciting future of user research in the gaming world. 🔗 Related Links: The Game UX Podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/game-ux The Acagamic Tip Tuesday: https://view.flodesk.com/pages/64795efe644615ff2d1ae1a6 The Book: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/games-user-research-9780198794844/?promocode=ASPROMP8