The Loop
The core loop
Act, reward, invest, wait — and the fact that the loop is legible to the player is part of why it works.
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Section 04 · 3 pieces
The Loop
Free-to-play as a structure.
Act, reward, invest, wait — and the fact that the loop is legible to the player is part of why it works
Photo: Egor Komarov / Pexels
Act, reward, invest, wait. When the purchase moves from the door to somewhere inside the game, every decision in the loop starts answering to retention instead.
Everything in The Loop
The Loop
Free-to-play as structure
Removing the purchase at the door moves every design decision to retention.
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The Loop
What conversion does to design
When very few players ever pay, the design optimises for the ones who might.
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