Superhuman's Founder on How to Move Beyond Gamification
Rahul Vohra, founder of Superhuman, argues that true engagement in software, akin to the feeling of play, requires the application of game design principles rather than mere "gamification." He highlights seven key principles: defining concrete, achievable, and rewarding goals, building emotional engagement through design, creating rapid and robust controls, incorporating "toys" for exploration and delight, and understanding the concept of flow, where challenge and skill are balanced. These principles, exemplified in Superhuman's features such as the time autocompleter, aim to make software feel like a game, fostering a sense of reward, productivity, and enjoyment.
Vohra emphasizes that good goals are essential for a successful game experience. He further stresses the importance of emotional engagement, arguing that emotions are crucial for memory formation, making games more memorable and impactful. By applying these principles, software can move beyond the feeling of work and become an engaging, even enjoyable, experience.
Forget gamification. If you want to make software that feels like play, rather than work, it requires tapping into deeper, more intrinsic motivations. And that’s about game design. Rahul Vohra, the Founder and CEO of Superhuman, shares how he has designed an enterprise product that people actually want to play with. He breaks down the seven principles of game design and how they give users an experience that’s rewarding, fun, and productive.
Highlights
The reason business software today feels like work [0:50]
Why game design is not gamification [1:12]
The 5 factors Rahul uses when designing games [3:06]
Defining concrete goals for your products [3:44]
Exploring models to design emotion into your products [5:08]
Creating rapid and robust controls for business software[7:24]
Why the best games include toys [8:46]
Demo of Superhuman’s favorite toy — the time autocompleter [9:03]
Rahul defines flow and how to achieve it [10:56]
Why flow depends on balancing challenge and skill [13:50]
Summary of Rahul’s 7 Principles of game design [15:22]
Pull quotes
“Games need goals. In fact, goals are a defining feature of games. But we can't just have any goals. We need good goals. And for a game, good goals are concrete, achievable, and rewarding.”
“The best games create strong emotions because emotions are the foundation of our memory.”