Every episode of the Professor Game podcast, hosted by Rob Alvarez of The Octalysis Group. Honest breakdowns of gamification, behavioral design, and the Octalysis Framework, applied to real products, retention, and engagement. New episodes weekly, plus interviews with leading experts.
The Secret Framework That Keeps Users Coming Back | Episode 417
Exploring gamification for your product or org? Let’s chat → professorgame.com/chat Episode Summary Exploring where Marty Cagan’s Silicon Valley Product Group methodology and the Octalysis framework reinforce each other and where they leave gaps. He argues that product discovery answers what users need but […]
From Viral Spike to Sticky Play: Doug Weitzbuch on Building Housle | Episode 416
Episode Summary Doug Weitzbuch recounts launching Housle, the Wordle-for-real-estate daily guessing game, after producing Netflix’s Buy My House. He describes the post-press traffic crash that followed his initial launch, the unplanned Barstool Sports “Mostly Sports” segment that 10x’d his daily player count, and his […]
Epic Fight? Here’s What Really Happened | Episode 415
Exploring gamification for your product or org? Let’s chat → professorgame.com/chat Episode Summary Rob Alvarez announces he has joined The Octalysis Group as Head of Engagement Strategy, Europe, and explains the path from a 2017 Octalysis Design Challenge finalist position through subsequent roles at […]
From Fan to Creator: Jaime Schwarz on the IP Economy | Episode 414
Episode Summary Jaime Schwarz, holder of the world’s first NFT patent (filed 2017), argues that centralized platforms have turned gamification into extraction (a digital sharecropping system he calls techno-feudalism) and that the next economic frontier is an IP economy where co-creators hold transferable rights. […]
The One Choice That Will Determine Your Online Success | Episode 413
Episode Summary Rob Alvarez argues that content alone cannot sustain an online community and identifies three “engines” that turn passive followers into committed members: recognition (being seen, heard, and valued), shared language (in-group rituals, memes, and phrases that build identity), and the third space […]