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On Overchoice


JoelR

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Users usually like choices.  Except when the choices become overwhelming. 

Quote

 

From Wikipedia:

Overchoice is the cognitive process where people have a hard time making a decision when faced with too many options.  Offering too many equally good options becomes mentally drawing, because each option needs to be weighed against the alternatives.  People tend to feel more pressure, confusion, and potentially dissatisfaction with their choice.  Although larger choice sets can be initially appealing, smaller choice sets leads to increased satisfaction and reduced regret.  

 

Some implications for community design:

  • One of the dangers and challenges of a community such as ours is not in offering too much, but in organizing it within too many choices.  Users need to be able to navigate with a clear and simple design, and part of that means constantly considering the dangers of adding 'yet another' new category or section.  
  • How experienced users navigate is very different than how new users navigate.  Experienced users have a clear preference on where to go, so even when presented with 100 choices, they won't have the issue of cognitive dissonance since they will feel assured in their decision.  New users, on the other hand, will experience cognitive dissonance because they're not sure if they made the right decision.  

I was chatting with another community admin who offered 130+ categories (!) in one of his resource directories.  While offering some choices is good, offering that many can be overwhelming.  Most humans can process 3 - 4 choices for a simple decision and 5 - 7 choices for a more involved decision, but 130 is too much.  

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Cool_a

Posted (edited)

@JoelR

I would suggest a big community in a small hall leads to interaction with each other.

A small community in a big hall can lead to a lack of momentum and the community itself can begin to fail.

 

Perhaps an example of that happening while we speak is the huge choice of games in the Arcade.

While the games themselves have a *great* potential to inspire competition and fun, there such a large array of choices, you can get lost within the large hall, leaving a lack of momentum.

 

Some of these games are awesome. A game like Robo Sockets is like a different version of Tetris.

Yum.

 

Perhaps one game could be selected and prizes like levelling up your rank be awarded after a month etc.

Guys wouldn't necessarily play for the prizes, but who doesn't like to compete against friends.

But at the moment, I would suggest the grand hall is too big.

If you would like someone to promote say, one game per month, for example, then you probably know who might do that...

No names need be mentioned.

tiny-smileys-yesemoticons-023.gif

 

Edited by Cool_a
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4 hours ago, Cool_a said:

@JoelR

I would suggest a big community in a small hall leads to interaction with each other.

A small community in a big hall can lead to a lack of momentum and the community itself can begin to fail.

 

Perhaps an example of that happening while we speak is the huge choice of games in the Arcade.

While the games themselves have a *great* potential to inspire competition and fun, there such a large array of choices, you can get lost within the large hall, leaving a lack of momentum.

 

Some of these games are awesome. A game like Robo Sockets is like a different version of Tetris.

Yum.

 

Perhaps one game could be selected and prizes like levelling up your rank be awarded after a month etc.

Guys wouldn't necessarily play for the prizes, but who doesn't like to compete against friends.

But at the moment, I would suggest the grand hall is too big.

If you would like someone to promote say, one game per month, for example, then you probably know who might do that...

No names need be mentioned.

tiny-smileys-yesemoticons-023.gif

 

There are features like Game of the Week and Game of the Month.

I'm not quite ready to endorse the Arcade across the site since I've had reports of errors and it's officially in beta.  I'm also hesitant on the future of Flash, which powers most of the arcade games.  Flash is already blocked by all the major browsers and support will end by the end of the year.  

In general, I agree that a big community in a small hall is a better way of encouraging interactions.  

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