Many game designers think the key to successful monetization is creating pain points for players.
But this often leads to mediocre conversion rates and significant churns.
Why?
Because Pain points give players two options to relieve the pain:
1. Pay
2. Close the game
And many will choose to close.
A more effective strategy is to create Desire:
Make players really want something that requires a purchase.
Desire also causes a form of Pain—the Pain of not having what they want.
But there’s a crucial difference:
– Pain points offer two choices to relieve the pain: pay or leave
– Desire offers only one: obtain the Desired item
This way, players feel like they’re making their own decisions and getting extra value for their money.
In the “carrot and stick” system, the carrot always wins.
Desire > Pain
