What does this distinction mean for game developers? Good question! In my opinion, incentives are useful for creating habits–things we do with little or no decision or thought–and for learning small game turns. The second is a book by B.J. Fogg on habits and behavior change called Tiny HabitsHabits. 1 Both are good. But finding a vein of gold and hitting it with a pickaxe? That brings rewards in the form of minerals that go into my inventory, not to mention the amusing sound of “tink! tink!” So when my daughter gets a fanfare of “lesson completed!” after completing a task online, it’s a reward in the classic sense of the word. Reward, as “it” claims, is a term that has been widely used outside the context of psychology and behavioral science, where it is used to change behavior. Perhaps the difference is that rewards should be closely and directly related to desired behavior, whereas rewards may be more about feedback, progress and development of new skills? Honestly, I’m still thinking about that. Incentives, on the other hand, are better suited to what we usually think of as “goals.” “Goals” that require bridging the gap between “here” and “there” gradually and over time. Part of this process involves celebrating successes with some kind of reward to create good habits. If I put minerals into my team’s mobile robot, I get another reward in the form of gradual progress toward a mission goal and perhaps some recognition from my colleagues. The term “reward” is often used to refer to any benefit that follows a desired behavior, regardless of when or how closely associated with that behavior. Fogg has a complete model for behavior change and habit formation, to which he devotes his entire book. What do you think? Especially if you’re a game designer, you’d be interested to know what you think is the best use of rewards and incentives. It’s also important to motivate people to play Deep Rock Galactic by allowing them to improve their gear and unlock new types of missions over time. You play Deep Rock Galactic, a cooperative mining game with dwarves in space. One of the things that “it” emphasizes in this article caught my attention: the difference between rewards and incentives. But we know from decades of research on rewards and learning programs that the timing of rewards is critical.