Researchers found that people predicted their future enjoyment better when they were forced to base their predictions on other people's enjoyment. This also resulted in them actually experiencing more enjoyment, even when they didn't know what they were supposed to enjoy! We already know people suck at predicting their future enjoyment, but see how external (or surrogate) experiences are just as influential as our own opinion?

Therefore, we should train players to enjoy our games, not just trick, cajole, or demand them to. It's hard to quantify this last lesson, but the closest I can come is suggest we show players that a world you create is fun even when players are not there yet. Let them want to join, embrace them when they do.

Never tell them that what they've done in the game doesn't meet the designer's "standards." Never give them rewards or experiences that serve no purpose but as consolation prizes -- even those should gleefully be part of the game. They won't love it if you don't, and if they don't love it, they won't accept it. When they run out of things to accept, they'll reject the game itself.

In Conclusion

From all these findings, we can distill the most important contributors to game-related happiness, which are in no way mutually-exclusive:

1. Trust (between player and designer/system)
2. Agency
3. Acknowledgment
4. Importance (of player, within "social" context)
5. Fairness

These are not just generalities of gamer happiness, but of human happiness in general. The only factor completely missing here is physical health, and while I want to say that's really not our problem, hit games like Guitar Hero, Wii Fit, and Dance Dance Revolution made it their problem.

In some ways, game designers should compare themselves to policy makers and relationship counselors. We are in the business of enriching our players' lives. If we do it sustainably, we end up reciprocating, and they will too. We should ask how the pieces of pleasure we prepare for them will fit into their lives.

Unlike pleasure alone, happiness changes the players' perspectives on how they fit into the game's "vision". When happy, player satisfaction can turn into pride, and that translates to word-of-mouth with deeper conviction, stronger fan communities, and a higher worth ($$$) associated with the game. Happy gamers willfully continue to develop your game for you, through culture, community, and loyal play. Pleasure makes for a great release week, but happiness builds great franchises for years to come.

Suggested Reading:

Stumbling on Happiness
by Daniel Gilbert

The Mind of the Market
by Michael Shermer

The Happiness Myth: Why What We Think Is Right Is Wrong
by Jennifer Michael Hecht

Economics and Happiness: Framing the Analysis
edited by Luigino Bruni, Pier Luigi Porta

Happiness: Lessons from a New Science
by Richard Layard