Core Drive 5: The Bigger Picture
Social Influence & Relatedness is one of the best studied and practiced Right Brain Core Drives in gamification, with Development & Accomplishment being the well-studied counterpart Left Brain Core Drive.
Most people recognize spending time with friends as an intrinsically fun activity. Social Influence & Relatedness adds more fun to Core Drive 3: Empowerment of Creativity & Feedback as well as Core Drive 7: Unpredictability & Curiosity. It makes Core Drive 1: Epic Meaning & Calling more meaningful and Core Drive 2: Development & Accomplishment feel more like an accomplishment. Also, it gives people a benchmark on how they are doing with Core Drive 4: Ownership & Possession, as well as creates envy when others have what they don’t have (Core Drive 6: Scarcity & Impatience).
However, there is such a thing as oversaturation: where many platforms abuse the mechanics for mass friend-spamming, losing the original...