Technique · Actionable Gamification
Onboarding by segment: Level III (OCT-M09)
Map where each user segment's motivation breaks across the four phases, then give each segment its own first steps and route to progress: admins and end users, new and returning users, creators and viewers. Chou's warning case is a product where only the most aggressive users stay.
Plain label: separate journeys for different user groupsAlso known as: Level III Octalysis, segment onboarding
How it works
Segments act for different reasons, so a single journey leaves some of them without a drive at the step where they drop out. Level III crosses segments with the Experience Phases; in Chou's example, achievers stall mid-journey, explorers get confused early and socializers never try because nothing social is visible. Data-driven business segments are safer than player types, which Bartle himself doubted outside games people choose to play.
Before you start
- Measurement readiness L3 or higher.
- Behavioral data that separates the segments, and enough users per segment to read drop-off
How to build it
- B2B
- Separate first-run paths for the admin who sets up the account and the end users who join later, each ending in its own first win.
- Web
- Buyers and sellers get different onboarding, with a seller's first win defined as a listing viewed, not a profile completed.
- Mobile
- Returning users skip the tutorial and land on what changed since their last visit.
What can go wrong
- Designing only for the most obsessive users.
- Segments based on demographics that don't predict behavior.
- More segments than the team can maintain.
Pairs well with
- Use business segments first; use player types only with their caveat.
- Give leaders and moderators their own progress path (AG p.490).
In practice
Where it shows up
Limits
What we don’t claim
- Octalysis is a practitioner framework built from observing games, not a validated scientific model.Actionable Gamification Ch.15, pp.399-400
- Bartle himself doubted his player types outside the settings he studied.
Sources
Actionable Gamification · Yu-kai Chou
Ch.3, p.42 · Ch.3, p.43 · Ch.3, p.44 · Ch.17, p.480
Source IDs: OCT-M09
Book content is paraphrased, never quoted at length. Last verified October 24, 2026.
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