Seth Godin delivered an interesting message this week: there is often no correlation between effort and value.
We, in the games industry, romanticize the “crunch” and value the difficulty of creation: “This game took us five years eating pizza; therefore, it is valuable.”. This happens especially in the indie space, I have to say.
But as Godin argues, software isn’t worth more just because it was hand-coded. The player doesn’t pay for the eight years of blood, sweat, and tears; they pay for something entertaining.
Selling Effort, Not Entertainment
Game developers often sell their effort (months spent developing, solving a massive technical debt, or writing a thousand pages of lore) rather than their utility (the value the player extracts).
A game’s success is not determined by its complexity or its budget. It is determined by how efficiently and deeply it connects with people making them let discover new things. You are selling flow, mastery, social connection (Gregariousness), or the thrill of acquisition. More in general, instincts fulfillment.
That’s why a three-week prototype that perfectly fulfills the instinct of Acquisition with a simple, addictive loop will generate more value than a five-year AAA project with complex mechanics that confuse or exhaust the player. The player will pay more for the thing that is useful (solves their boredom, satisfies their urge to collect) than the thing that was difficult to make.
The Value Equation: Effort vs. Impact
The moment you shift your focus from effort to impact, your design choices become ruthlessly efficient.
| The Wrong Metric (Effort) | The Right Metric (Value/Utility) |
| “We spent 3 months developing this tool.” | “This tool reduced iteration time by 50%.” |
| “This feature required 10 artists and a custom rendering pipeline.” | “This feature drove 30% higher D7 Retention because it amplified the core [Instinct].” |
| “The lore is 500 pages thick and highly integrated.” | “The player’s curiosity is satisfied in the first 5 minutes of play, leading to high Session Length.” |
Stop selling the struggle. Start focusing on what matters.
Focus on Utility
To apply the Godin Principle to your work, make this shift today:
- Define the Utility: For every feature you build, ask, “What is the specific utility this gives the player?” (e.g., “The utility of this new combat loop is the feeling of Assertiveness and mastery, which we will measure via win rate and feature usage.”)
- Scope, scope, scope: Ruthlessly eliminate any work that increases effort but does not commensurately increase utility.
- Charge for the Use, Not the Cost: When presenting your work to publishers or stakeholders, never lead with the cost of creation. Lead with the projected impact on player behavior (according to the cultural moments and trends, connecting with the instincts) and business health (Metric Improvement).