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.
Seamless Onboarding from Civilization to Slack
Games have refined the art of teaching players the ropes without boring or overwhelming them. Sid Meier’s Civilization, a turn-based strategy game, is a great example of balancing depth with approachability. Civilization offers multiple difficulty levels and a comprehensive tutorial system, making it enjoyable for both newcomers and veteran players. This means a first-timer isn’t dumped into managing an empire unaided – the game gradually introduces concepts and lets players choose a gentler difficulty while learning. Despite Civilization’s enormous complexity, players stick with it because the learning process itself is engaging. In fact, the design is so ingenious that people will commit “endless hours to governance with only the joy of doing it as a reward”.
The best game tutorials feel like part of the game, not a separate lecture. They use interactive guidance: for example, an early level might gently force the player to use a new skill (jumping, building a structure, etc.) in a safe environment. Players enjoy mastering new mechanics when it’s paced right. Similarly, in digital products, a smooth onboarding flow teaches users the basic actions and value quickly, without long manuals.
Product design takeaway: design your onboarding like a game tutorial
Guide users through core actions step-by-step, especially on their first try, and do it in-context rather than dumping all instructions at once. For example, Slack’s onboarding is often praised for using tooltips and a friendly chatbot to introduce features gradually, just as a game would introduce new abilities. This approach lets users achieve something (send a message, create a channel) almost immediately, giving a sense of accomplishment early. Ask yourself: What is my product’s “Level 1” and how can I make it tutorial-like? The key is to get users to their “aha!” moment fast – show them the value while teaching the basics. Just like a game, your product should say, “Press Start to play,” and have users actually playing (using) in seconds, not reading instructions for hours.
Want to keep reading? To learn about information architecture in games like Overwatch, click here.
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