Welcome

OP's Chief Mentor

# Welcome to Octalysis Prime

Yu-kai wrote the following words in the introduction to [Actionable Gamification: Beyond Points, Badges, & Leaderboards](https://www.amazon.com/Actionable-Gamification-Beyond-Points-Leaderboards/dp/1511744049), and I believe they apply to this book as well.

\*This book is dedicated to those who passionately believe in something and have the courage to pursue it in the face of circumstantial obstacles. We are surrounded by social and economic systems that are designed by others long ago to fulfill their own dreams, but some individuals manage to take a leap of faith, risk social rejection and even persecution in order to create more meaning in their own lives and the lives of those around them.\*

\*You inspire the world and move humanity forward. I salute you for doing what I continuously strive for but may never fully reach. I hope this book will help you on your journey towards making a difference.\*

![Yu-kai shows off his book, now available in hardcover & on Audible](/resources/agb01.png)

My name is Erik van Mechelen and I've worked with Yu-kai for about four years. In that time, I've come to know something about the Octalysis framework within the walls of Octalysis Prime and also through weekly conversations with Yu-kai. (You might consider 'Conversations with Yu-kai' as a possible subtitle of this book.)

This guide will get you started in exploring Octalysis Prime, which is the best way to enter into further exploration of gamification and behavior design.

In addition, I plan to highlight relationships I've formed with various members, who in turn have taught me much and contributed to making Octalysis Prime a place to which I continue to return.

![OP member Ashlin Parker performs in New York](/resources/ashlinparker01.png)

If you like to listen to music while reading like I do, you might try the [Ellis Marsalis Quintet Live at Dizzy's in New York, Nov 2016](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brkd44ERuxQ) featuring OP member \*\*Ashlin Parker\*\*, on Trumpet, son of OP member Frank Parker. (Ashlin uses inspiration from the Octalysis framework in his Jazz History course at Tulane to reflect on quotations from jazz greats.)

## Also Known As (AKA) the Wiki

\*If you go back to the Table of Contents, you can click on any section in this book to jump to that section.\*

In the second half of 2019 our product team found a great flow and was able to release numerous updates to the Octalysis Prime Island. Annual member Frank Parker noticed in a recent Office Hour that releases tend to happen on Tuesdays, as part of his larger commentary on enjoying our non-announcement of updates to the Island, whether that be a new video, geomon, item, or altogether new feature.

![Ulric finds & shares new items on OP Slack](/resources/memberdiscovery.png)

During this time as the Community Manager, I was watching our primary hangout spot in the Tavern and main channel for Island Feedback (for now, on Slack), where I noticed a mixture of technical feedback, feature requests, and questions about how things worked. How might we begin to respond to this deluge? (Niels den Daas, another annual member, shared with me in a February 2020 video call that a public roadmap might serve the curiosity of the feature requests, which was a start.)

But how to address technical questions, strategy queries, guidance on learning pathways?

Instead of overly trusting my gut, I went to the analytics:

I took a brief look--burying myself in analytics is something I am careful to avoid so as not to become married to previous ideas about what is important--and I was surprised to see certain top-level results:

![January is new high-water mark for videos watched](/resources/Jan2020videos.png)

It was exciting to see how many of Yu-kai's now 500+ videos had been watched. There were also a few more notable stats:

For what it's worth, my personal Key Performance Metric as the Community Manager is...yes, Retention, which can easily be measured by noting monthly churn.

We know from Yu-kai's work and the Octalysis framework, however, that a term like 'retention' or 'monthly churn' is not very human-focused. To give an extreme example: If all I did as the Community Manager was bribe members to stay or threaten them if they suggested leaving (invoking CD4 or CD8), my job wouldn't be fulfilling and worse, these tactics could backfire.

From a gamified work perspective, Yu-kai and I have worked together to find not only this Key Performance Metric, but also an understanding of how we work together--he supporting my work, and I offering new ideas and executing them--which involves a conversation about how my role should revolve around and evolve with respect to that KPI, all the while maintaining a certain level of autonomy and creativity (CD3). The development of this Wiki has come about precisely as a result of this conversation we have as employer-employee. Yu-kai said, in a meeting, "I think it's time for a Wiki," and I said, "I think I'd like to dig into that, and I think all of you (my teammates) should contribute to it, but I'd like to get started on it." And so the Wiki was conceived. Now, in keeping with this same "conversation" around how we gamify our work, the duration in time between conception and birth of this Wiki should be minimal. How it looks and feels from the moment of its birth going forward, as it grows, should also change.

Maybe you'd like an example of how the Wiki will change over time. Well, if you read an early version of the Wiki (the OP FAQ), you probably noticed numerous gaps. You might have thought, Why is the OP team emphasizing this set of questions (geared toward new members) rather than describing the intricacies of later stage Powerups? And this was a good question. Well, without directly answering why we did that, you will see that this Wiki does indeed include lengthy discussions about each of the Powerups.

(One of our hesitations about publishing overly much about Octalysis Prime Strategy--that is, how to best gain EXP, how to best acquire Chou Coins and join the 1%, or how to best learn about gamification so as to complete your Octalysis Level I or Level II Certificate--is that we didn't want to steal our members' destinies. For some player types, there is irreplaceable value in the discovery of a path he or she wants to take around and through the Island. In writing this Wiki, we believe that most of this explorer player type will not spend too much time in this Wiki, because they won't need it to have an energizing and motivating experience. However, perhaps you, who read this now, are among the player types who enjoy having some guidance...When the Student is ready, the Teacher appears...maybe you see this Wiki as a kind of teacher.)

If you're already part of OP, you probably have a good idea about what Gamification is. If not, a good place to start is with Yu-kai Chou's book, [Actionable Gamification: Beyond Points, Badges, & Leaderboards](https://www.amazon.com/Actionable-Gamification-Beyond-Points-Leaderboards/dp/1511744049)

\*Actionable Gamification\* is also available as a Downloadable Item within Octalysis Prime, for 10,000 Chou Coins, which can be achieved in a relatively short time span even as a Freemium member. Much more to come on Downloadable Items when we discuss how Octalysis Prime caters to various learning styles with video content as primary and summaries, spreadsheets, member challenges, and quizzes as secondary learning options.

Before I share how to get properly started in Octalysis Prime, let me provide responses to a few of our most-often asked questions.

## Is this a game?

OP is not exactly a game, but it is a (mainly video) learning experience with game mechanics in them.

As Yu-kai developed the Octalysis Framework in gamification and behavioral design, he feels that the semantics are not as important as how one feels in the experience.

Some members have certainly turned OP into a game, whether by collecting Chou Coins to purchase new items and enhance the experience, by challenging Geomon (wild creatures on the Island) to test their gamification knowledge, or by devising strategies to better gain EXP as they watch more and more videos about gamification.

Other members don’t care about the “game” so much.

They prefer to participate in the OP Design Challenges, watch all Yu-kai’s videos, or bring their actual projects to Yu-kai’s Office Hours every Thursday.

## What is the value I get from OP?

Each member’s journey is different. How do we know? Because we ask every new member when they join.

Despite the many reasons to join and stay for a long time, there are a few broad categories:

\* I’ve read Yu-kai’s book Actionable Gamification (maybe even multiple times) and want to go further in the journey.

\* I want the power of behavioral design and/or gamification to improve my company/school/organization’s business metrics and solve engagement related problems in our products and services.

\* I want to raise money for my company or need to figure out how to persuasively ask for a promotion or raise.

\* I want to reach my maximum potential in my career, workplace, relationships, parenting, and all other aspects because I understand how the brain works and know how to motivate myself and others.

\* I want to be in a community with people from around the world that will support me in my daily endeavors and give me feedback on my ideas or strategies to improve my life.

\* Having played thousands of hours of games as a child (and adult), I like being around people like me who can together figure out how to translate all those gaming hours to make the world a better place.

...and hundreds more reasons from our OP Members why they chose to be a part of the OP Community.

\* Once you upgrade to Premium, you gain access to a private Slack group, attendance at weekly Office Hours with Yu-kai Chou, and the ability to enter periodic Octalysis Prime Design Challenges to test your skills and gain gamification certificates.

## When is a mobile version coming?

Yu-kai believes in the philosophy of being excellent in a few places instead of sucking everywhere. As a result, we want to first make the desktop browser experience as amazing as possible (85% of people who go on yukaichou.com are from desktop) before diluting our experiences on other platforms.

The desktop experience is becoming 80% of what Yu-kai feels good about, so we believe in mid-2020 we should be able to launch a mobile counterpart to the Desktop Experience. We appreciate your patience.

## What are the 8 Core Drives?

The 8 Core Drives are the foundation of Yu-kai’s Octalysis Framework. Based on Yu-kai’s research, all our behaviors are motivated by at least one or more of these 8 Core Drives, which means that if none of these Core Drives are there, no behavior happens. Some Core Drives are White Hat (making people feel great but no sense of urgency), while some are Black Hat (feeling urgent but uncomfortable). Some Core Drives are Extrinsic (goal or rewards oriented) while some are Intrinsic (experience-oriented).

Below is a set of examples on how to use the 8 Core Drives to interpret motivation to be part of OP.

\*\*Core Drive 1: Epic Meaning & Calling\*\* - Being part of the gamification movement & transforming the world

\*\*Core Drive 2: Development & Accomplishment\*\* - Leveling up your design skills and acumen

\*\*Core Drive 3: Empowerment of Creativity & Feedback\*\* - Getting feedback from members on your projects and seeing how your strategies on the Island work or don’t work

\*\*Core Drive 4: Ownership & Possession\*\* - Collecting more Geomons and seeing your Companion reflect your level of skill and growth

\*\*Core Drive 5: Social Influence & Relatedness\*\* - Interacting with dedicated, passionate members from over 20 countries

\*\*Core Drive 6: Scarcity & Impatience\*\* - Content found nowhere else with Yu-kai’s unique and quirky insights

\*\*Core Drive 7: Unpredictability & Curiosity\*\* - New video content each week and design challenges every month

\*\*Core Drive 8: Loss & Avoidance\*\* - Missing out on the chance to make great friends and become an expert practitioner of Octalysis Gamification, using human-focused design to make experiences engaging and sustainable.