Less is more… Or is it? Why simple is not always the best way to make something fun.

Most often than not, one of the main questions an event planner or an app designer has is, how can I ensure my participants will do what I need them to do? If you think on the individual level, simple calls to actions and instructions might help, but the bigger the group or user base, the harder it is to coordinate and predict how people will act.

 Non game designers usually rely on simplicity to avoid complex unwanted interactions, but simplicity comes with some trade-offs:

1. Too simple can become too boring: complex is not synonymous to difficult, but, more often than not, that is how it is designed. Simple to explain can easily become simple to do, which makes it dull under many circumstances. If a participant can predict boredom, they will avoid the activity altogether.
2. Not enough room for creativity: simple tasks might have only one way to complete them… by following instructions. While this might help you predicting behaviors, it will reduce the desirability of doing the behavior again in the future. 
3. Simple stuff can rack up complexity: if you design simple activities, you will end up filling up with many activities, because of point number 2. As your players will stop doing the activities fast, you will have to come up with new “simple” stuff to keep them hooked.  
4. Simple rules can allow for complex emergencies: in a social environment, if you don’t have enough rules and restrictions, you can create chaos amongst the players. Chaos is not always bad, until you see all the misuses of social media.
5. Simplicity invites patches: because of point number 4, designers find the flaws of their designs too late and start adding patches and new rules to control the situation. These new rules create more complexity in the end, but also can create noise, like what happens every time YouTube changes its algorithm or monetization policies. 

How do game designers tackle this problem? They don’t shy out from complex game systems, because they know how to train their players and how to navigate them. A “simple” game like candy crush might have more interaction rules than most social media platforms, and social games often have to account for many possible player interactions. 

That happens because games are easy-to-learn complex systems that ensure the players develop the skills required to play in an optimum manner, while creating all the barriers and restrictions required for reducing behavior noise: game designers are expert social engineers. How? By designing loops: repeatable actions that remain interesting for hours. Repetition builds the skills and trains the brain, both in the individual and in the social sphere. 

Does this mean your app or event must be a game? No! Gamification uses all the knowledge game designers have accrued on dealing with complexity and social engineering and can apply it outside of games into real serious environments. You can apply this to help players understand how to network in your event, or how to interact with strangers in your social app. You can go beyond the simple mechanics you have seen used over and over again and create something really spectacular, if you are willing to take the risk!