This is the sixth 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.
Player Agency and Customization: The Sims and Red Dead Redemption
In The Sims, players have an almost god-like agency over their virtual people’s lives – they set goals (or no goals at all), design houses, choose careers, and essentially create their own narrative. There’s no “right way” to play The Sims. This freedom to make choices and personalize the experience is a huge part of why it’s so compelling. The Sims succeeds by being a sandbox – a flexible system where user creativity and preference rule.
In non-game products, we often emphasize simplicity and convention – which is good – but we shouldn’t ignore users’ desire for agency and personalization. When an app allows a user to tailor the interface or set their own path to accomplish something, it can increase satisfaction and loyalty. Think of how much people love dark mode or the ability to rearrange their dashboard widgets; these features give a sense of ownership. Or consider software that has advanced settings that power users can tweak – it’s analogous to game “mods” or customization options that keep enthusiasts happy without burdening casual users.
Product design takeaway
Whenever possible, let users shape their own experience. This can range from simple UI customization (themes, layout options, notification preferences) to more substantive flexibility (custom workflows, integrations, and feature toggles for advanced use-cases). A game like Red Dead Redemption even allows players to switch between first-person and third-person views, adjust HUD size, etc., purely for preference – and the core experience benefits because each player feels comfortable in their chosen style. In your product, if one size doesn’t fit all, offer choices.
Another way to empower users is through meaningful choices and branching paths. In game narratives, meaningful choices create emotional investment (see: like every RPG ever). For a product, a “meaningful choice” might be how a user customizes their profile or uses your service to meet personal goals. As product people, we normally try to streamline a single flow, but consider if your user base has distinct personas that could use different flows. Designing a few “character classes” of user experience can be powerful.
Lastly, encourage creativity and exploration in your UX. The Sims is essentially a toy for creativity – players come back to build wild new houses or experiment with sim lifestyles. If your product can incorporate creation or customization, even at a small scale, it can engage that creative desire. Examples: allow custom labels or categories, let users create content (user-generated content is a big engagement driver, after all), or provide an open API for those inclined to extend your product. This way, advanced users feel like they can hack or expand the product (like building their own house in The Sims), increasing long-term attachment. Design flexibility where it counts. Give novices a clear, easy path (don’t force complexity on them), but give experienced or curious users the knobs and dials to make the product truly theirs. When users feel a product is an “expression of you” (to borrow The Sims 4 slogan), they form a stronger emotional connection to it – and that’s UX gold.
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