3 Reasons Why You Are Addicted to Medium
I recently wrote an article that three components make a game addicting.
I recently wrote an article that three components make a game addicting.
The Craft of Game Design: 3 Components that Can Make Your Apps Addicting
Learnings from the techniques of “fun games.”medium.datadriveninvestor.com
The three components required are 1. An attractive goal (motivation), 2. Users’ ability to act, and 3. Reward. After writing on Medium for about a month, I realized that Medium checks all of the components of an addictive game.
This explains why there are so many articles about writing and making money on Medium, as fellow writers are completely captivated by the platform.
The below diagram represents the summary of how Medium applies the craft of game design to make its platform attractive for writers.
1. Goal
For a game to be addicting, the goal has to be attractive enough to be worth pursuing. Medium addresses this with a pretty attractive goal for most of the writers on this platform: money.
No matter your influence on the platform, you are guaranteed to make some form of financial merit from the first article you write, whether it be one cent or a little more.
Medium also has merits that are by-products of gaining followers and traction: networking, opportunities for other writing gigs, and an inherent skill improvement of your writing, a versatile skill essential in work, daily communications, and business.
Another critical factor of the goal is that it should be aptly difficultーnot too easy or not too difficult. There is a perfect balance for a game to be motivating, and the key is to allure the player into a state of “flow.”
The difficulty can vary for different writers. For some, Medium’s difficulty level is too high as most new writers quit after writing after a few articles or a month. This state is depicted as the bottom right region on the diagram. And that is why most people say it is better not to look at your stats or financial income daily. On the other hand, it is easy for some naturally talented writers or “lucky” writers to achieve a flow state.
2. Action
Another critical factor is the intuitiveness of the service. Writing a blog for the first time can be intimidating. However, Medium lowers the hurdle by a considerable amount, empowering someone to draft an article within three clicks.
Also, formatting on the Medium platform is straightforward and comfortable. Importing high-quality images, making bullet points, subtitles, etc., are intuitive tasks on the platform.
Medium even offers a curation guideline and tips on making your articles stand out amongst the crowd.
3. Reward
Finally, the method in which a game rewards the player is also essential. In my previous article, I mentioned two important factors: intermittent reinforcement and a sense of growth.
I believe Medium satisfies both criteria quite well. Intermitted reinforcement is the idea conveying that a particular action will be strengthened if the reward for an action is “uncertain.” The number of likes, followers, and fans is pretty unpredictable. Also, the amount of virality an article gets is pretty random, too. Hence, the randomness motivates writers to keep writing consistently until one gets a break.
Another factor that is important to the reward system is giving the user a sense of growth. Medium has many mechanisms for the user to feel this: number of followers, claps, reads, and views.
It is no surprise that Medium has all of the components of a good game design, given that Ev Williams is behind the service. And if there are more writers, the attractiveness of the content increases, increasing the number of readers, and hence the number of writers, creating an expanding cycle for Medium. Therefore, I still think Medium as a platform is still in its early days.