Behavior Loops and Dojos
When working on the first Halo, game designer Jaime Griesemer said something that would turn into one of the most memorable quotes in the game industry:
“In Halo 1, there was maybe 30 seconds of fun that happened over and over and over and over again. And so, if you can get 30 seconds of fun, you can pretty much stretch that out to be an entire game.”
Of course, this statement isn’t the whole story. As Griesemer pointed out in a later interview, there’s a lot more nuance to his claim than first meets the eye.
Regardless, there’s a clear takeaway: you can build a system around a satisfying, repeatable loop. The core of the Halo experience can be boiled down to 30 seconds of fun. It’s pretty easy to describe just what it is that makes those 30 seconds fun — you could talk about the challenge, the movement system, the responsive weapons, the music, and so on. When you’re craving to play Halo, you’re craving those 30 seconds.
James Clear — of writing one of the best books on habits fame — echoes Griesemer:
“The goal in any sport is to finish with the best score, but it would be ridiculous to spend the whole game staring at the scoreboard. The only way to actually win is to get better each day.”
It’s the process that matters, not the end goal. The results will come if the process is sound. If you practice good ski skills when you’re on the slope, and do so consistently, eventually you will become a great skier. If you make an app every week, in a few years you’ll become quite the competent software dev. 30 seconds of fun.
The Dojo
(Source)
An idea closely related to the behavior loop is the dojo. The dojo is where you go to practice — it’s where you put in your reps. It’s the place you leave knowing that you’re just that much better now. Dojos facilitate behavior loops.
The other thing about dojos is that they’re extremely active. You generally spend a few minutes watching a demonstration, and devote the rest of the time to practice. You’re not just a passive attendant, you’re involved.
While you might be picturing a physical dojo here, it gets way more interesting when you start thinking about the dojo as metaphor. I find it fun to ask myself, for example: “how would the dojo for X look like”?
How would a dojo for language learning look like? Is it a physical place, or is it a piece of software? Do you have conversations with others, or is the learning solo? Maybe it looks like Babbel or Duolingo. Maybe it doesn’t look like them at all.
What about musical instruments? I’ve been playing around with an app called SimplyPiano for several months now. The basic structure is: you go through lessons of increasing difficulty, the app listens to you play notes and chords, and gives you feedback accordingly. It’s a simple loop, and you can jump into it whenever you want, for however long you want. Dojo.
Coding lends itself to this way of learning quite elegantly — just open up your favorite editor and start working away! If you want something more structured, platforms like LeetCode and HackerRank are there for you.
What would a dojo for math look like? Drawing? Biology?
A Couple Caveats
It’s important to note that there has to be a close correspondence between a behavior loop and what you’re trying to learn — ideally one-to-one. The bigger the difference between your behavior loop through which you learn and the real thing, the less effective your learning will be. Tacit knowledge doesn’t seem to transfer well between domains.
It’s also important for the behavior loop to be informed by good practices. It’s quite possible to set up a faulty loop — thus your foundations will be faulty as well.
This idea of dojos is tantalizing, and I’m eager to explore it more. I wonder how many domains you can actually apply it to. Are there some cases where this heuristic of behavior loops and dojos wouldn’t work? It’ll be fun to find out…
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Great work Sav. Interesting subject and good approach, gaming is a good example and also is close to younger generations. Keep it going on.
Thank you. One might see every day as a training iteration. Plan a good day, repeat and master it, and it will be a loop for a good life. So how does your optimal day look like?