Escaping the Non-Place: Video Games as Inspiration for UX
Digital products feel like non-places
Many of my digital experiences today feel cold and alienating. Screens are either blindingly white or dark like a cave. Images and text are locked into rigid grids, like soldiers ready for battle. I am lost in deep menus and search filters, teleporting from one page to another without ever sensing where I am or where I’m going.
These are non-places. Places I pass through without presence, without experience. They are functional but meaningless. But not all digital experiences feel this way. Video games rarely do. I’m not suggesting that websites and apps should be more playful. That's the most common pitfall. What I mean is that video game spaces and interactions feel more natural. Other digital experiences should too.
Video games do it better
Video games are unapologetically hedonistic - they delight the senses. They look, sound, and feel good. But it’s more than surface-level beauty. Game spaces feel natural because they have depth: perspective, light and shadow, changing conditions. Also, you don’t just click and teleport; you move through them, and in doing so, you feel there.
Games often have very variable interfaces, but players learn them naturally through experimentation. Each small success builds on the previous one, creating a feeling of instant and continuous progress that encourages them to keep going. This steady momentum not only feels good but also gives a sense of mastery and achievement.
Players have agency; they feel in control. Yet at the same time, they submit to what the game designers had in mind (this always blows my mind when it’s done well). Agency and submission in a delicate dance: players follow the rules and pursue the quests they’re given, while still feeling empowered and in charge. Video games aren’t afraid. They push and challenge the player. Sometimes they even make them feel sad or frustrated, but only for a while. Emotions shift, and that’s part of what makes the experience meaningful. Most importantly, video games aren’t afraid to surprise. The best ones do this consistently and with purpose.
People work in groups. Games are often multiplayer experiences built around collaboration and shared goals. Players meet other players, admire each other’s skills and creations, interact, and help one another. They foster community. That is real life, yet designers of many digital products often ignore this part of being human.
It probably boils down to this: Video games create memories. Long-lasting user experience is based on memories.
What to do
- Please, if you aren’t already: Study games. Study how they interact with players, what feelings they evoke, and what relationships they build. Your users already know the language of games. Stop ignoring that. When you interview them, ask about the games they play. Then play those games yourself.
- Again, this isn’t about turning every digital experience into a game. It’s about designing for presence, learning, agency, emotion, and community. Of course, always with respect for context and accessibility.
- Hire researchers and designers who play and have built games. Learn from them.
- Put video games on your list.
Keep UXing!
