Professor Game Podcast
#1 Gamification Podcast | Insights and Real-World Strategies to Boost Engagement, Loyalty & Retention. Professor Game helps innovators, product leaders, and educators use gamification and game thinking to create engagement that lasts. 🎙️ Hosted by Rob Alvarez — TEDx Speaker, consultant, and host of the #1 Gamification Podcast — each week brings you practical insights, case studies, and frameworks from 400+ global experts and proven real-world examples. Expect interviews with top practitioners in gamification, game design, and behavioral strategy, plus solo episodes where Rob breaks down practical frameworks you can apply in your team, classroom, or product. Join the movement to make engagement, motivation, and loyalty truly meaningful — with stories and strategies that transform the way people learn, work, and play. 💡 Listen. Learn. Apply Play to Your Strategy.
Episodes
Get the free Core Drives in the Wild guide, behavioral design applied to real products: professorgame.com/WildCD
Episode Summary
Victoria Ichizli-Bartels, author of fourteen books on gameful living and coiner of the term "self-gamification," explores how the role of the tabletop RPG game master maps onto the inner conversation we have with ourselves. She walks through Jill Bolte Taylor's "brain huddle" concept (a 90-second...
Get the free Core Drives in the Wild guide, behavioral design applied to real products: professorgame.com/WildCD
Episode Summary
Tetiana Kobzar, product designer with 18 years of experience and creator of the Comportance Framework, joins Rob to share how behavioral design turns clinical and educational software into products people actually want to use. She walks through the seven steps of Comportance (goal, baseline, emot...
Don't experiment on your own revenue with broken game mechanics. Get our guide "Core Drives in the Wild" to learn how to apply real behavioral science to your product: professorgame.com/WildCD
Most apps lose 77% of their users within the first three days because they treat onboarding like a tax audit instead of a human journey. In this episode, Rob Alvarez breaks down why your "helpful" 15-step toolkit might actually be causing cog...
Identify the exact strategies Sharon and Rob discussed so you can start increasing engagement in your own projects today. Grab our Core Drives in the Wild guide for free professorgame.com/WildCD
What if the secret to solving real-world isolation or preventing misconduct wasn't more rules, but better play? Sharon Wood, a veteran gaming executive who helped launch the original Grand Theft Auto, joins us to discuss her shift from comm...
Don't experiment on your own revenue with broken game mechanics. Get our guide "Core Drives in the Wild" to learn how to apply real behavioral science to your product: professorgame.com/WildCD
Most companies treat user churn as a data problem, but looking at "where" someone leaves doesn't explain "why" they lost interest. We break down the "Engagement Leaks," a phenomenon where record-breaking marketing spend fails to fix a product...
Exploring gamification for your product or org? Let's chat → professorgame.com/chat
We sit down with product leader and author Nesrine Changuel to explore the behavioral science of "Product Delight." Nesrine pulls from her extensive experience at tech giants like Google and Spotify to explain why emotional connection cannot be treated as an afterthought in product design. By distinguishing between purely functional requirements and...
Master the science of motivation and see how top experts do it right. Get the free 9-day "Core Drives in the Wild" email sequence here: professorgame.com/WildCD
We break down three massive gamification disasters from 3 huge companies to reveal exactly what happens when we ignore behavioral science. We explain how well-intentioned features like leaderboards and point systems can accidentally create toxic work environments or destroy...
Wondering if Octalysis fits your challenge? Quick intro chat → professorgame.com/chat
Most companies rely on traditional design thinking to build their products. That assumption is exactly why their retention rates flatline. In this episode, Rob Alvarez sits down with Joris Beerda, CEO of The Octalysis Group, to unpack the five-step Octalysis design process that drives engagement for Fortune 500 companies like Microsoft and Porsche...
Have a product challenge around retention? Quick intro chat → professorgame.com/chat
Leif Sorensen reveals why most corporate learning games fail. We discuss the "magic powder" fallacy, where companies try to cram too many behavioral frameworks into a single experience. Leif breaks down his process for building AI-generated learning games at Actee and explains why focusing on the transfer of learning is the real secret to changing ...
If you're implementing AI and want to realize that promised ROI, let's see if Octalysis fits → professorgame.com/chat
Breaking down why most AI projects fail despite being technically flawless. The problem isn't the code; it's the lack of behavioral design. By applying the Octalysis Framework, we see how to move away from "Black Hat" implementations that trigger resistance and identity threats. Instead, we shares how to design AI a...
I've interviewed hundreds of experts and now lead Engagement Strategy (EU) at TOG.
If you want help applying this, start here: professorgame.com/chat
Can a leader truly be effective without ever presenting a single slide? Clark Aldrich returns to the show to dismantle the "expert-led" model of management and education. He introduces Socratic Cards: a physical tool designed to replace passive consumption with active, high-stakes inq...
Have a product challenge around retention? Quick intro chat → professorgame.com/chat
Stop feeling like you're grinding without a progress bar. In this episode, we explore the behavioral science of "leveling up" in real life to combat burnout and invisible growth. By applying the Octalysis Framework we discusse how to map your career as an evolving skill tree. Whether you are a product leader looking to build meaningful user progres...
Recently funded and aiming for sustainable retention?
Intro chat (no sales pitch): professorgame.com/chat
What if your research team worked like a raid party? Raul Mora shares how bringing gamer language and MMORPG structures into academia boosted clarity, motivation, and long-term commitment. This conversation explores community design, role-based engagement, and why listening to gamers is the most underrated retention strategy in...
I've interviewed hundreds of experts and now lead Engagement Strategy (EU) at The Octalysis Group.
If you want help applying this, start here: professorgame.com/chat
Why do people ignore things they know are good for them and obsess over games instead? In this episode, we introduce the Octalysis Framework, unpacking the eight core drives of human motivation and explain how human-focused design leads to stronger engagement, higher r...
If you're considering gamification for engagement, retention, or loyalty, I'm happy to compare options with you: professorgame.com/chat
The biggest impact of gamification often happens in the least obvious places. In this episode, Rob Alvarez talks with David Dand about using game-inspired strategies in recruitment, leadership, and employee experience to attract better-fit talent, reduce churn, and build stronger, more human organi...
You'll get the same 14-day free trial either way—but if you use my link, you'll also be supporting Professor Game: 👉 professorgame.com/openyourskool
What if learning felt less like burnout and more like leveling up? We welcome Tom Vorselen, founder of The Study Coach, to explore how active learning, mindset shifts, and gamified structures help students and professionals overcome procrastination, manage time better, and achieve res...
In this heartfelt episode, Rob reflects on the profound impact his father, Mariano Alvarez, had on his life, particularly as a prominent actor in Venezuela. As he commemorates the 25th anniversary of his father's passing, Rob shares personal anecdotes that highlight the lessons he learned from Mariano, including the importance of believability in storytelling, the value of physical fitness, and the significance of generosity. Throu...
In this rare and deeply personal episode, Rob steps away from the traditional gamification conversation to speak as a Venezuelan. Blending lived experience, political involvement, and game-thinking principles, Rob reflects on the cost of doing everything "by the rules," the exhaustion of democratic paths, and why this moment matters so deeply to millions of Venezuelans around the world.
If you're considering gamification for engagement, retention, or loyalty, I'm happy to compare options with you: professorgame.com/chat
What if gamification isn't about rewards at all? James Portnow joins the Professor Game Podcast to explain why intrinsic engagement, thoughtful iteration, and strong design goals matter more than mechanics. From YouTube education to tabletop games, this conversation is packed with insights on build...
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