How Niantic utilizes emotions to manipulate player behavior.My bookcase, top shelf so you know itsgood.One of my favorite Pokmon is Trubbish, a tiny trash bag full of personality. Trubbish claims this spot for many reasons: for being from the region based on my home of New York City, for rightfully roasting the city as dirty, and in no small part for all the undeserved hate received upon its initial reveal. This silly little guy is just a toothy cutie with so much love togive.One of the great things about Pokmon as a brand is how every single creature is a favorite for somebody somewhere. The series has a curious way of bringing together a diverse assortment of people through shared passion. Pokmons staying power stems from the attachments we form with our creatures. I still have Pokmon caught and trained over decades in digital storage. The thought of parting with any of my massive collection gives me no amount of pleasure.That very same power stemming from emotional bonds is also utilized by the mobile spinoff Pokmon Go to harness its own unique power: the ability to be so poorly designed yet so deeply addictive. Niantic, the developer of Pokmon Go (PoGo) twist this strength to their advantage, using it to hook players through repeating cycles of gain and loss. Players become ensnared within an ecosystem designed to encourage the chase of that next high through the apps use of time-limited manufactured scarcity. The scarcity, in turn, causes FOMO, the fear of missingout.Please dont misunderstand. I very much enjoy Pokmon Go; its my favorite addiction. As a player myself, I write this article holding both love and fear inside me. I deeply love the Pokmon brand as well as my creatures contained within the mainline series games and mobile PoGo app. I also feel fear, specifically of some form of retaliation. The developer has a demonstrated pattern of treating players with disdain and responding in unpredictable, often unhelpful ways.As a designer however, I cannot help myself, questioning and dissecting the mechanics utilized to keep me coming back for more. Despite the realization I am often not having fun engaging with gameplay mechanics, WHY do I keep playing? What does the app actually offer? Well, it offers FOMO. A seeming lack of respect for players. A mediocre to poor user interface. Inconsistent accessibility advances. Shifty data collection practices. And yet, despite it all, I still find myself thinking about the app first thing in the morning and right when I close my eyes atnight.Pokmon Go launched in 2016, revitalizing the Pokmon brands popularity to levels not seen since the Pokmania of the late 1990s. Pokmon itself has long been a mainstay of pop culture, becoming the highest-grossing media franchise of all time spread across games, animation, trading cards and more to a total sum of over $100 billion USD. While Niantic has multiple apps under their care, PoGo is by far their most popular. It has helped the company grow their valuation to nearly $9bUSD.These Pokmon-themed jumbo jets epitomize the omnipresence of Pokmania in the late90s.As a longtime Pokmon fan, I downloaded PoGo on day one but found the app lacking depth. It wasnt until a few years had passed that I returned to find a wildly different experience. As a designer, I discovered a decent product without sufficient care applied to craft its interweaving systems and interactions. As a player, I discovered my very first Pokmon dressed in a fun Halloween costume. Which is then stronger, logic oremotion?Overall, the apps interface is satisfactory but unoptimized. As a daily player, the locations of numerous key features used semi-regularly remain challenging to learn. I am consistently seeking out how to initiate a playgroup known as a party because access is buried behind a three-tab submenu within the page detailing player stats. Such difficulty is common throughout the entire experience. Features are located within unintuitive menu locations. Such design choices fail to facilitate the easy formation of mental models that aid user comprehension.There are numerous examples of this throughout the app. News updates are contained behind a two-tab submenu at the top of screen under three levels of pages from the bottom of another screen. Thats at least three clicks and several moments of confusion before remembering the proper path. Despite gaining a sort of muscle memory to brute force my way through the interface, I have to apply conscious effort often to complete tasks. It is the ineffective (bad) design itself that screams, I dont know where anythingis!One of the key tenets of Pokmon is catch em all. Doing so has always required trading between players. PoGo actively discourages trading, a key gameplay mechanic. Within the app, the trading user flow (the path taken from screen to screen) is slow and clunky. Rather than encourage trading through a quick, seamless experience, the app wastes players time booting them out to the main page after each completed trade. To their credit, finding your way back to the trade only requires clicking into player stats, navigating the submenu to locate the friend list, then scrolling through your full list (or sometimes not.) At least the actual trade menu is a confusing design with unclear instructions for navigating forward or back. Simple, effective design.Similar time-wasting interactions crop up throughout the broader experience, not merely trading. A few seconds often does not amount to anything significant. However, these interactions accumulate within an environment that creates demand through the use of time-limiting content. Fighting Rocket grunts, PoGos main antagonist, includes three to ten seconds of flavor text without any diversity, practical use or method to disengage. Raid battles, the equivalent of boss fights, include lengthy intro animations. Most battles end with generous animations (three to five seconds) and again more flavor text. Keep in mind that both battle types are time-locked to no more than 45 real-world minutes in total. For an app built around catching the best creatures, a lot of time is wasted getting to the part where you can catch creatures.As far as accessibility is concerned, the current design is inconsistent. A number of great features do exist. One piece of clever design allows single-handed play. One broadens the use of haptic feedback. Yet another combats color blindness, including visual icons to display weather or shiny statuses. (For those unaware, shiny Pokmon are rare spawns with alternate color combinations.) Catching shiny spawns is always a moment of excitement and triumph, yet someone with color blindness might miss out without non-color-based notifications. Kudos,Niantic.However, such successes providing equal opportunities to all players are quickly matched by careless design. The capture success ring, used to aim and display the probability of catching a Pokmon, is expressed solely through color. A colorblind person would need to learn other methods to comprehend the chances of success or risk wasting supplies. A colorblind person may not even realize the feature exists. A handful of small visual functions exist that I only personally learned of through my local community sharing tips and tricks in conversation.I will show respect to Niantic for the consistent A/B testing performed to optimize the app (or optimize, depending on how pessimistic the app makes me feel any given day) with various visual and layout tweaks. Some changes have made the app more aesthetically appealing though also more technologically demanding. Other changes, such as the overhaul of player avatars, have been met with fierce backlash from the player community. Despite vocal opposition and continued pressure on the developer, Niantic saidnothing.A developer has every right to change their product to suit the aspirations they envision for success. However, a product cannot be successful without customers. Consider the numerous examples of Niantic promising specific bonuses for timed events (remember FOMO: if you dont play now, youll miss out!) only to backtrack later via tweet offering decreased or entirely different bonuses. Examining any design tweaks alongside their history of and inability to properly message official changes via press releases or other channels, I often dont know what to expect at best or am expecting something different at worst. For a company worth $9b USD, this concedes a basic lack of respect for players. Perhaps it is a sign of internal management issues. (Why notboth?)It is important to understand how design can play a role in creating addiction before continuing. In his book Hooked, Nir Eyal details how habits, a precursor to addiction, can be built through certain repeating design patterns. These frameworks occur over four stages. Initially a Trigger, such as a push notification or advertisement, is required to cause a user to engage with a product or app. Afterward, an Action is taken, whether clicking a button, scrolling a feed or catching aPokmon.A visual representation of the different stages in Nir Eyals Hooked model, courtesy of the authorswebsite.This leads to the most critical step in the process, the Variable Reward or any unique content that changes upon each individual interaction with a product. Offering something new with each experience subsconsciously teaches users that something great is always just around the corner, such as a video that makes us smile or that rare Pokmon spawn we have been seeking out. This variation in what we find, specifically when it is something we like, causes the release of dopamine in the brain which in turn causes us to feel good. Positive feelings keep users engaged with a product longer. Just one more swipe. Just one more round. Just another minutemore.By engaging often enough, the user will begin to establish the Investment within a product. Investment operates similarly to the sunk-cost fallacy, where users feel commitment through the amount of time or effort placed into a product. This could potentially look like establishing a lengthy list of personal friends on Facebook, a photo collection of life experiences on Instagram or even a trained roster of creatures in PoGo. Consider me guilty ascharged.After enough passes through this Hooked cycle, users eventually internalize what were once external triggers, converting them into internal triggers. A push notification alerting you of new photos from your friends becomes a thought: I wonder what my friends posted online. I should check. Internal triggers can manifest as thoughts or feelings. It is here that a habit isborn.Habits and addiction can be viewed as two sides of the same coin. Both are patterns of recurring thoughts, both conscious and subconscious. Transitioning from habit into addiction is not only nuanced but also outside my area of wisdom and expertise. Lets instead examine how Niantic uses these tactics to build a product that utilizes emotion to keep users in their mobile ecosystem in spite of the previously discussed poordesign.As mentioned, I stepped away from playing PoGo at launch. The mechanics did not translate to my brain which was more familiar with the mainline Nintendo games. Returning to the app to catch costumed Pokmon was an exciting experience that the mainline games did not have. What a fun way to see my first Pokmon! After spending time growing comfortable with the app and later integrating myself into a local player group, I learned the general sentiments stewing within the community. Top of this list? Niantic only cares about the money, not theplayers.Caught 10/25.From a design perspective, I find this subjective sentiment to hold some objective weight. Examining recent updates, the app has made it easier and quicker to spend Pokcoins, the in-app currency. Coins can be acquired slowly through gameplay (a daily limit of 50) or more quickly and in more significant amounts through real-world currency (at a rate of roughly 100 coins per $1 USD.) I find it revealing that facilitating microtransactions via the proliferation of coin usage and event tickets takes precedent over quality of life, gameplay-centric improvements but I do not find it surprising.Designing for sales via microtransactions is not new, having become a genre unto itself known as gacha games. What is new is Niantic finding mainstream gaming success. Pokmon Go is an outlier, the developers most successful and profitable product by a wide margin. Without the strength of the Pokmon brand behind it, PoGo most likely would not have found anywhere the level of gaming success ithas.The most recent updates provide more options to spend your coins in locations where the app makes interaction unpleasant. For example, I often find my in-app storage full. To catch more Pokmon, I need to have free space. A new button recently appeared, encouraging me to buy more storage space directly from within my storage instead of requiring me to make a conscious choice to navigate to the in-app shop. An optimist would argue this makes the action easier to complete. A realist would point out how slow it is to sort through Pokmon in storage, making clearing space one of the most labor-intensive tasks in the entire app. A pessimist would ask, Why waste time clearing space when you can instead spend money to get back to gameplay more quickly?This focus on encouraging spending habits through specific interactions extends even further. A newer feature to the app, small and large Pokmon (XXS and XXL respectively) offer nothing to gameplay outside of the anemic PokContest feature. Contests can be entered to win rewards such as supplies and experience points. Critically however, the Pokmon used in contests take up additional storage space. The apps newest feature repeats this pattern. Known as Dynamax raids, these particular Pokmon are primarily used to catch additional Dynamax Pokmon. Instead of using previously caught creatures, the app encourages players to catch additional copies in order to catch more, initiating a repeating cycle, taking up storage space and making the need for additional storage increasingly necessary.Also worth noting is players can opt to spend coins after Dynamax raids to increase the rewards received. Again, the pessimist asks, Why play more when you can spendmore?The screen players encounter after a completed Dynamaxraid.For rural players or those with disabilities, one of the most vital features facilitating playability and accessibility is a remote raid pass allowing access to high-level raids. These remote passes remove the need to physically be present in a location with sufficient players, typically dense urban environments. High-level raids are often the only way to gain powerful and/or legendary Pokmon. In a shocking reversal, the developer limited the number of remote raids allowed daily and increased the cost of passes 250%, from $1 USD to $2.5USD.This has been a sore spot in the community for ages. Niantic chose to discourage remote raids instead of encouraging in-person raids. Disappointingly, Niantic chose to do so in a way that actively hurt their most disadvantaged players instead of uplifting those able to play in the specific way the developer deemed as optimal. Negative reinforcement (increased real-world cost and less ability to participate for some) was utilized over positive reinforcement, such as better stats or rewards for in-person raids. Overall, I think this says a lot about the relationship between developer andplayer.Why though? Why choose to make such changes? That is the real question.All the information presented so far supports my primary assertion: Pokmon Go is intentionally designed to promote specific player behaviors through means both subtle and overt using the Pokmon franchise as leverage Except the behaviors discussed are not the behaviors intended.To put it simply, Pokmon Go is not aiming to be a thoughtful or well-designed game. The app preys on our emotional nature as human beings to encourage purposeful play patterns through the use of manufactured scarcity. The app solidifies these patterns into habit in service of collecting user GPS / location data. It hides this goal behind creature-collection gameplay, wearing the Pokmon brand as a mask like an antagonist walking through a foggy setting in a horrorfilm.(Note: This design ethos is in direct contrast to Nintendos own design creed, optimizing software for the fun and enjoyment of playing games. It is important to point out that while Nintendos design philosophy emphasizes the joy of play, their business philosophy is distinctly less consumer-friendly. For the purposes of this article, I am focusing on the philosophy and principles of design, not business.)The app is designed as a means to collect geospatial data in large quantities. That is speculation on my part. However, when I shift my perspective when considering Niantics design goal from earning revenue via microtransactions or even creating a fun Pokmon game to collecting GPS information, a lot of decisions in the app regarding encouraged player behavior make moresense.Niantic was founded in 2001 by a team of geospatial scientists and researchers as an augmented reality (AR) company. Their first project was an interactive map and model of the planet known as Keyhole. Three years after its founding, the company and its product were both acquired by Google who later renamed the product as GoogleEarth.For a company with expertise in complex navigational mapping tools, the transition to gaming was certainly distinct. I dont believe it is fair to suggest that developers at Niantic might completely lack any passing interest in video games. However, it is fair to suggest that leaping from one product category to another, entirely different category would not maintain some traces of what camebefore.Niantic used their development knowledge to create a product that habitualizes users into walking vast distances, collecting GPS data of routes, roads, paths, etc. as the user played. They utilized the strength of the Pokmon brand to supply reasons for users to want to collect this sort of data. By limiting the availability of creatures available, the app preys off players fear of not collecting powerful versions of their favorite Pokmon. FOMO and purposeful design choices turn players preexisting desire to catch em all into an addictive act, very cleverly supplying the developer with a recurring source of the type of revenue actually soughtafter.Piggybacking off the Pokmon brand was truly inspired. It allowed Niantic to make a product with minimal polish and lackluster game design techniques because Pokmon the brand had nearly twenty years of already established history when Pokmon Go launched in 2016. History breeds loyalty. Loyalty breeds a willingness to overlook flaws. The Pokmon brand breeds a unique, if entirely fabricated, emotional connection to creatures that exist only through digital sprites, animated cartoons and stuffed plushies.Perhaps it really is just a product meant to earn income through player purchases. That is plausible. Consider this: while the brand attracts a wide range of ages and backgrounds, Pokmon has always held a large percentage of children among its player base. Knowing how the app utilizes emotion as a means to encourage specific play behavior, how ethical is it to design a product with that goal? Does it become less ethical when considering the clear correlations gacha gaming has with gambling and the ages of the Pokmon user population?I cannot provide definitive answers to those questions. Perhaps the apps goal is truly as straightforward as collecting income via microtransactions. Perhaps itsnot.Niantic recently announced its plans to use data collected from users of its products to create a large geospatial model to train AI models to navigate within the physical world. Perhaps this is a positive thing; perhaps not. Do we choose to again trust a company who manipulated us once already? Its turtles all the waydown.Living in a world where artificial intelligence (AI) not only exists but is proliferating, we as humans have to shift our mindsets and willingness to accept facts in certain ways. AI can quickly and easily create almost-lifelike content without the need for a skilled artist to supply talent, time and desire. These tools have shifted the status quo. We as humans must learn to adapt as well. This requires self-awareness and flexibility, two key strengths in our modernworld.Once again, please dont misunderstand. As both a designer and player, I aim to supply the tools, knowledge and conversation to allow informed choices so that users have the agency to make their own decisions. All too often, choices are made for us, most often recently with the goal of training cryptic AI systems with obscured motives. What do we sacrifice in service of such goals? What benefit do wereceive?Humans have been smarter than computers for all of recorded history so far. That may change one day. We as humans have the benefit of emotion and complex reasoning abilities whereas computers are better at precise calculation. Until the day comes when computers become smarter than us (and hopefully beyond that day), we have the ability tochoose.To choose whether we want to sacrifice our agency and our data to companies whose motivations we cannot be sureof.To choose how we utilize our human freedoms and community.To choose which Pokmon gets the status of being labeled somebodys favorite.Trubbish, a toothy cutie with so much love togive.Pokmon Go: addictive by design was originally published in UX Collective on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.