This goal is more likely to make you come back more often and buy more games if it releases Again, just feeling like you've begun work towards Steam even provides a helpful progress bar showing how much more you have to spend toĬomplete the quest it has imposed upon you. But since the sale is the game, youĮarn these particular cards by spending money. Limited time set of trading cards themed around the sale. Valve has also doubled down on this effect during its Summer Sale event by creating a special, Of course, wets its beak a little on every sale in the form of a transaction fee. Just showing that you've begun progress towards that goal is enough toĬreate some mental tension over not having yet reached it, and some people will pester theirįriends or spend a bit of money to buy the missing cards off the Community Marketplace. To me) points out how many cards you have left to earn for every game and alerts you whenever
YouĬan't not get the cards, so like the car wash customers receiving two free starter stamps youĬan't not start your progress towards completing the set. Human nature with its trading cards by giving you random cards just for playing a game. I can, for example, tell you right now that I am missing the Soldier, Spy, and Engineer cards from Steam's Team Fortress 2 set without looking up anything. Since the sale is the game, you earn these particular cards by spending money" "Valve has created a special, limited set of trading cards for its Summer Sale. Tasks - indeed, they're sometimes difficult to take our mind off of. Research confirmed this gestalt idea that we easily remember the details around incomplete Ever felt hesitant to move on to the next area in a RPGīecause you have so many side quests unfinished in your current area? Same thing. That waiters were easily able to remember orders not yet delivered to tables, but forgot themĪs soon as the food was put in place. This effect has its roots in research done by Russian psychology Bluma Zeigarnik, who noticed Tended to come back more often and to wait less time between purchases. But those who got the "Buy 10, get 1 free" card with the 2 starter stamps The rest got a "Buy 10, get 1įree" card, but with two complimentary stamps to get them started. Half the customers got a blank "Buy 8, get 1 free" card. Researchers gave car wash customers a card that let them earn a wash if they collected enough List or filling in the final bit of progress to fill up a bar makes us feel good. We feel like we've begun progress towards a goal, it nags at our minds and checking it off our Towards completing what we start - something often called the endowed progress effect. The first psychological phenomenon that stands out to me has to do with a bias we have Psychology, behavioral economics, and social psychology. Well understood psychological phenomenon at play, representing disciplines like consumer Psychological tricks to get you to buy and play more games, you're not alone. If this all makes you arch one eyebrow and suspect that Steam just might be using some You're probably familiar with the concept. Up, which brings rewards like a larger number. Building badges out of trading cards also earns you experience pointsįor your Steam account. If you don't want to sell or ignore the cards, what do you do with them once they show up? AfterĬompleting a set, you can perform a little digital origami and craft them into a game badge.īesides sitting in your inventory, these virtual items grant cosmetic features for your Steam account, such as backgrounds or chat icons.īut wait. Just showing that you've begun progress towards that goal is enough to create some mental tension over not having yet reached it" The remaining cards must be tradedįor with other players or bought from Steam's Community Marketplace. Only get about half the cards in each game's set this way. If a game supports them, you get free cards from that game's set just for playing it. A few weeks ago the digital distribution juggernaut Steam rolled out a curious new program involving levels for your Steam account, badges, and trading cards - virtual trading cards.