All you really need to get started in Player Dynamics Design

I’m Weszt Hart, a Player Dynamics designer. I speak and write about how to make it safe to be social and more rewarding for everyone online.

Among all the questions I’ve gotten asked about Player Dynamics in the last few years, there’s one that’s begun to stand out:

“How do I get started in Player Dynamics Design?”

I haven’t always had a good answer. For a while, I admit, I simply said I didn’t know. This is a new type of design and, honestly, I’m not entirely sure how I got here.

However after a lot of deep thinking (and caffeine), I think I’ve got a decent answer.

Start with one thing

All you really need to get started in Player Dynamics Design is to remember one thing: Player Dynamics is about social conditions.

That’s it. Social conditions. More specifically, Player Dynamics is about creating optimal social conditions in and around online social systems, often games.

So as a Player Dynamics designer, you can expect that no matter what, your goal is to create the best possible social conditions for people.

You could be dealing with an emergent disruptive behavior — social conditions. Exploring ways to visualize reciprocal actions — social conditions. Ensuring voice overs aren’t fostering negative stereotypes — social conditions. Penalty escalation ladders, name check services, social progression systems — social conditions, social conditions, social conditions.

Are you getting it?

You see, everything you need to know, including all the skills and tools, stems from the fact that Player Dynamics is about social conditions.

Start with “social conditions” and you can figure out much of the rest.

Think about affect

Many things can affect social conditions in online products. For Player Dynamics designers, it’s always a question of control versus influence:

What do we control?
What influences are we promoting or mitigating?

Things we “control” as designers include features, services, systems — really anything we make. Influences outside our control include user generated content, world events, trends in the industry, and the like.

When you think about what’s affecting social conditions, you can guess what kinds of things you as a designer will need to design for and know well.

Take the next step

So hopefully you see that all you need to get started in Player Dynamics Design is to remember one thing: social conditions. Everything else you need to know stems from this, including:

• Familiarity with social behaviors, what affects them, and how to design for them
• Multi-minded thinking and digital thriving
• Deep understanding of online games, social apps and systems, and moderating disruptive behavior
• Ability to develop dynamic journey maps, wire flows, system design docs, and more.

Hoping this helps — happy designing!

Want to stay in touch with the latest news from Riot Games and our Player Dynamics team? Follow Weszt and Riot Games on LinkedIn to learn more about our latest programs, including the Fall 2022 Riot + IDEO Open Innovation Challenge.