This is the fourth post in a series about UX design principles we can draw on from video games. Click here to start form the beginning.
Ever spend hours building a virtual life in The Sims or conquering empires in Civilization? Surprise — that's great UX design at work. Video games are masters at onboarding players, keeping them engaged, and rewarding their efforts. I'm exploring how popular video games (The Sims, Civilization, Overwatch, Fortnite, Candy Crush, and more) create addictive and intuitive experiences. More importantly, we’ll translate those gaming UX principles into practical takeaways for your digital product — no cheat codes required!
Before I dive in, a quick note: I'll use examples from games purely to illustrate UX concepts. You don’t need to be a gamer or know these titles in detail – we’ll explain the context and draw out the practical insights for product design.
Rewards and Achievements: Gamifying Motivation in Overwatch & Fortnite
Human beings love rewards. Video games tap into this by giving frequent rewards for desired behavior – whether it’s points, items, badges, or unlocking new levels. In Overwatch, players receive loot boxes for playing games and for good sportsmanship. These loot boxes contain cosmetic goodies like new character skins or victory poses, which don’t affect gameplay but carry social prestige and personal satisfaction. The mere anticipation of “what’s in the box” is a powerful driver to keep playing matches. People are intrinsically motivated by things like power, status, curiosity, and social contact. Games know just how to push these buttons.
Another great example is Fortnite's Battle Passes: players who purchase a seasonal pass then unlock a tiered series of rewards by completing challenges and simply playing regularly (building those engagement loops). This clever design means players pay for the privilege to be rewarded – and it works phenomenally, with Fortnite boasting one of the highest retention rates in the industry.
Product design takeaway
Introduce gamification elements – points, achievements, levels, or tangible rewards – to encourage and reward the behaviors you want from users. The key is to tie the reward to something users already find enjoyable or valuable (intrinsic motivation). Duolingo gives you XP, streak counts, and fun icons (like a little owl cheering you on) when you complete lessons, which keeps users coming back daily. Habit-tracking apps often have streaks and “level-ups” to make forming boring habits feel game-like. Even a simple thank-you message or progress indicator can be rewarding. Twitter, for instance, surfaces the number of likes and retweets your post gets prominently (a form of social reward that makes you feel influential), effectively displaying metrics “as if users were collecting points". This visibility of social feedback encourages people to tweet more, chasing the little dopamine hit of seeing numbers go up – analogous to leveling up in a game.
To implement this, identify key actions in your product (posting content, completing a task, referring a friend) and design a reward around it. It could be a points system, a visible counter, unlocking new features (like how some tools unlock “pro” features as you engage more), or community recognition (user titles/ranks in forums). Make the reward immediate or at least incremental. Games reward even small steps (every enemy defeated gives some XP, for example), not just the end of the whole journey. So find ways to pat users on the back often – micro-achievements.
One more lesson: positive reinforcement beats negative. Games reward correct actions; they rarely punish mistakes harshly, or players would quit. In your product, focus on rewarding what users do right rather than highlighting errors. If a user falls short of a goal, you can still frame it positively: e.g., “You answered 7 out of 10 questions! Only 3 more to improve – you’ve got this!” versus “3 questions wrong.” Keep the tone encouraging. Your product should feel like a supportive coach, not a strict boss.
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