About the method
RPM is a design method for generating social satisfaction in multiplayer games. The core strategy of RPM is to help players attribute feeling good about themselves with other people.
RPM is designed for the practical application of a wide range of social science insights without the need for upfront study or preparation. If you’re a designer trying to make a multiplayer game (or other social product) more satisfying, RPM is here to help.
What do you mean by social satisfaction?
Though satisfaction may be a familiar concept to game designers, social satisfaction and social rewards may not.
Social satisfaction refers to how much a game delivers on anticipated social rewards. Social rewards are the pleasurable feelings people get from a positive social interaction. If a game is intended to be a social experience, it should produce social rewards. The more social rewards there are, the greater the satisfaction.
Because simply attributing a good social experience to someone else can be enough to make a game experience more satisfying, the concept of attribution also plays an important role in RPM.
For more on RPM, social satisfaction, and attribution, please check out Social Rewards and Other Big Ideas Behind the RPM Method.
Using RPM
The RPM method is divided into four steps:
- Step 1: Requirements (R) — Identify what’s required of individual players so they feel good about themselves in the game.
- Step 2: Partners (P) — Seek ways to make requirements more satisfying by involving other players.
- Step 3: Moments (M) — Envision how to make the shared moments memorable.
Step 4: Proposals — Distill the outcomes of the previous steps into feature proposals.
RPM can be used by individuals or groups, as part of a design toolkit or as a workshop exercise. Users of the method:
- Proceed step-by-step by looking at different dimensions of socially satisfying experiences.
- Leverage prompt lists to generate fresh ideas and insights.
- Look for themes across steps that could become standalone features.
Step 1: Requirements (R)
The Requirements step is about getting a clear understanding of how the game currently makes players feel good about themselves.
Identify requirements
Begin by identifying requirements for players to feel good about themselves. We recommend looking for as many as time allows, but even a few requirements can be valuable:
Step 2: Partners (P)
Now you’re ready to think about how “feel good” requirements can be even more satisfying by adding at least one partner into the mix. You’re looking for ways to turn “me” moments into “we” moments.
Generate partner involvement ideas
Come up with ways you might involve other players in the experience of the requirements you’ve identified in the previous step. Ask yourself:
- How can partners make these more likely and satisfying?
- How can partners be prompted to take action themselves?
- What new capabilities could you create to let partners contribute?
Use the Partners prompt list
The following are some (but not all) of the ways you can involve partners in requirements:
- Near without fear — Compel players to come together around a requirement while reducing worry that teammates will interfere with achieving personal goals.
- Better (or richer) together — Increase personal strength and / or gains through the presence and contributions of teammates.
- New abilities — Expand, extend, or enhance possible interactions or capabilities of players to enable more social activity.
- Interdependence — Create mutual dependency between players to require teamwork in order to achieve goals. (There are three types of interdependence to consider: pooled, sequential, and reciprocal.)
- Reciprocity — Develop tit-for-tat systems whereby players want to return what they’ve received from other players.
- Curiosity hooks — Prompt interest in others in various ways, such as novel achievements, unique items, or even a fear of missing out.
- Reward signals — Give players the ability to express and receive feedback about positive personal characteristics.
- Multiplayer combos — Enable players to perform powerful new moves that require multiple players to execute.
- Comebacks — Empower players to help a fallen teammate bounce back. Consider introducing self-sacrifice into the mix, even if it’s temporary.
- Positive externalities — Create mechanics that benefit others, though there was no intention to do so.
- Automatic actions — Invent reasons players must react immediately to a teammates need. Greater deliberation can reduce contribution.
For other idea prompts, check out the following:
Extra credit: Consider cognitive biases (from both points of view)
Cognitive biases are essentially mental shortcuts our brains use to help us deal with the many challenges of life. These can be both helpful and unhelpful, depending on the situation.
If you want to go the extra mile using the RPM method, consider how the following cognitive biases could hurt — or possibly help — your ideas for bringing partners together. Try looking from every partner’s point of view.
- Loss aversion — Tendency to avoid painful losses.
- Risk aversion — Tendency to choose a safer option.
- Self-serving bias — Ascribing success to yourself and failure to others (or other factors).
- Actor-observer bias — Attributing personal behavior to external causes and the behavior of others to internal causes.
- Fundamental attribution error — Attributing behavior to what “kind” of person someone is rather than situational factors.
- Pygmalian effect — The tendency to perform better when people expect us to.
- Dunning-Kruger effect — Overestimating one’s own abilities due to a lack of knowledge.
Step 3: Moments (M)
The third step is about coming up with ways to make the moments feel like they matter and identifying any overlooked opportunities.
Make the moments memorable
Begin Step 3 by identifying existing moments where requirements may be fulfilled. Then, generate ideas for moments that could exist.
Use the Moments prompt list
To generate ideas for moments, try using the following prompts:
- Salience — Make the moment obvious and distinctive compared to other ongoing activities.
- Tangibility — Show the moment in the context of gameplay (think: a human is not a HUD).
- Replays — Allow the moment to be relived again in some way.
- Group cohesion — Visualize the importance of “us” and what’s happened together.
- Pleasing duration — Keep players together long enough for the moment to be meaningful without being tiring. Afterward, give players time to miss each other.
Consider the characteristics of “model moments”
To generate ideas during the third step of RPM, designers can also use The Model Moments Framework. The framework is organized around nine characteristics of social moments most worth imitating (i.e., “model moments”):
- Multiple — Two or more people are involved.
- Mutual — Everyone involved is contributing.
- Meaningful — The moment matters, even if it’s low-key.
- Noticeable — The event is noticed by others (this is important for imitation).
- Desirable — Viewers want the feeling for themselves.
- Achievable — The event is possible for viewers.
- Repeatable — Events like this will happen again (i.e., not unique).
- Relivable — The event can be revisited (ideally).
- Ephemeral — The moment doesn’t last too long.
Keep in mind that these are characteristics that social moments can have. More is better, but it’s not alway possible, or even necessary, to have them all.
Extra credit: Look for overlooked moments and opportunities
The following prompts can help you find additional opportunities for “feel good” moments — if you still have time and energy!
- High and low — Explore ways to emphasize both intense and idle activities (sometimes chill moments are more meaningful).
- Group rituals — Bring people together in a meaningful way through recurring ceremonies.
Step 4: Proposals
The final step of the RPM method is essentially making something out of R, P, and M.
Create proposals
Take the ideas you’ve generated in each step and distill them into a few feature or project proposals. Keep the proposals brief but descriptive.
Final thoughts on the RPM method
When you’ve completed all the steps of the RPM method, you hopefully have a wealth of fresh ideas for how to make your game more socially satisfying. Choosing which ideas to pursue is ultimately up to you and the goals of your game and company — we wish you the best of luck!
Now what?
To continue reading about how to make games more social satisfying, we recommend the following articles:
