Spoiled for choice: The psychology of choice overload in games, and how to avoid it

Spoiled for choice: The psychology of choice overload in games, and how to avoid it

It's easy to give your players too much choice. This post discusses the literature on excess choice and its relevance to designing choices in games. Crucially, evidence suggests that choice overload is most likely to damage the experience of new players.

A quick look at what the research says about how to avoid overwhelming players with too many options and turning them off of mechanics or entire games. See also Barry Schwartz on the paradox of choice and there’s room for more analysis on option categorization and its relationship to chunking or the way it turns one overwhelming decision into a short series of manageable ones.