Episode 96 What is Analysis Paralysis?

What is Analysis Paralysis?

Hi and welcome to Experience Points by University XP. On Experience Points we explore different ways we can learn from games. I’m your host Dave Eng from games-based learning by University XP. Find out more at www.universityxp.com

On today’s episode we’ll answer the question “What is Analysis Paralysis?”

Virtually all games have decisions that need to be made. Some of those decisions are dependent on player goals; motivations; or otherwise incentives for them to accomplish.

Most orthogames and competitive games require decisions from players to advance their own strategies and win the game.

However, the need and desire for players to make correct and successful decisions is one that plagues most gamers no matter which game they’re playing. As a result, sometimes the decision-making process can become downright debilitating.

That’s when “analysis paralysis” takes hold and prevents players from making meaningful choices in a reasonable time frame. But what exactly are the root causes of analysis paralysis and how can the negative effects of it be addressed?

This episode will define analysis paralysis as well as the obvious and not so obvious negative effects stemming from it. Analysis paralysis extends from an overwhelming amount of information and options for players in addition to their interpretations of the game state.

As a result, sometimes players default towards making instinctual versus rational decisions to avoid the paralysis that comes from considering too many options.

This episode will review these characteristics of analysis paralysis as well as how individuals make choices and the framework in which they come to those decisions. The results and solutions to those decisions will be discussed as well as how the overall speed of the process is fluid in the face of players’ motivations, frameworks, and goals. 

Lastly, this episode will close on analysis paralysis and its use and applications in gaming as well as how it can be mitigated through the design process.

However, analysis paralysis isn’t limited to just gaming. Therefore, outside applications will be discussed as well as strategies for how it can be mitigated at an individual level.

Analysis paralysis - or paralysis by analysis - is a phenomena in which a person or group of people over think a given situation which slows down the path towards making a specific decision. This causes them to become “paralyzed” without a decision being made within a reasonable time frame.

Often, those suffering from analysis paralysis will find themselves feeling overwhelmed about the status of their decision. That is because there is a constant nagging fear that making an error, or at least making a sub-optimal decision, will result in some significant consequence.

This is further compounded by the often sheer volume of information or options of choices for the individual that causes them to be unable to make a decision.

The volume of information; the different and varied choices; the fear of making an incorrect choice; and the inability to create a framework towards resolving a decision in a timely manner all contribute and influence a person’s analysis paralysis.

While analysis paralysis can occur in different contexts; it is often seen in games where players get a reputation for taking a long time to make a decision.

One of the biggest effects of analysis paralysis felt by others is the lack of a choice that slows or stalls a group or collaborative process. Often, this stems from the weight and the significance of the decision to be made in which the wrong choice could end in catastrophe.

Therefore, individuals attempt to avoid this by evaluating all reasonable and possible decisions that can be made and simulating or projecting the outcome of those decisions.

The negative effect of this is that often these individuals get caught up in the whirlwind of permutations that leaves them with the inability to make a clear and confident decision.

This is especially true in game play when previous decision and choices made have resulted in less than positive outcomes. Therefore, individuals come to worry about decisions they have to make in the future in order to avoid replicating those outcomes. Often this means that fear comes to dominate the decision making process.

While avoiding compounding errors is a certain aspect for analysis paralysis; perfectionists may also suffer the same fate as they will strive to make decisions that either establish or maintain a streak or unblemished record.

While mistake avoidance and perfectionism can both contribute to analysis paralysis;  individuals may also become the victim of “decision fatigue” in which the need to make several important decisions in a row during the same time period can cause them to undermine their decision making framework.

Such a result makes it so that making future decisions becomes harder and harder as more information is considered.

The effects of which can be seen in organizations where interpersonal trust is low and where individuals must provide evidence for specific and particular actions more often than not.

This results in individuals not wanting to or waiting to share critical insights with one another as often “not enough information” is available to draw a significant conclusion.

One of the most common characteristics that people have when they suffer from analysis paralysis is the overload of information and the various and different options available for them to action.

As a result, these individuals struggle to make a decision because of a desire to make sense of what is happening with this information and how to take proper and reasonable action.

While information available on a particular topic might be limited to specific circumstances such as a game, scenario, or simulation; analysis paralysis can also be found from those who are prone to research certain topics when making a decision.

With the breadth and plethora of information available; this makes it so that a seemingly unlimited source of information can be obtained on virtually any subject. This compounds the decision making problem behind analysis paralysis because information provided in the scenario causes further “information anxiety.”

Information gained from the situation, combined with research, and possible outcomes and options for the individual creates a perfect storm for those who are already indecisive.

This problem is further exacerbated by those who are especially worried about making the wrong decision. As a result, they are unable to commit to making any kind of decision which stalls processes, projects, and forward momentum.

Therefore, one of the steps towards alleviating or reducing the anxiety cultivated by analysis paralysis is to reduce the amount of information available for a given decision.

This can be done by selecting only the most reliable, applicable, and relevant sources and prioritizing their importance in the relationship to making the decision. An example of this is when making real life purchasing decisions for a particular item.

While one might be able to research ALL of the information for all items in this particular make and genre; it would be easier to select a specific type or manufacturer and further selectively prioritize from there.

The plethora of different and various amounts of information serves as one of the sources for developing analysis paralysis. An additional challenge is over thinking problems given this deluge of information.

Often this comes about due to a lack of prioritization of outcome for the particular decision. Therefore, one of the key steps for prioritizing the outcome is determining both the short and long term benefits of the decision.

This is most frequently examined in game scenarios for simulations. Here, players must often make strategic decisions early on in the game to prioritize certain specific aspects of the player’s agency such as to act aggressively and contentiously towards opponents or developing a stronger player economy.

Such choices are often highly specific to a certain game. However, the results of such an indecision is great, as anxiety is connected to the potential larger problems that may arise from an incorrect decision made early in game play.

Therefore, it often helps players in game play situations to determine the scope of such decisions. Whether those decisions are large – strategic - ones or if they are smaller - tactical - ones and how the resulting outcomes affect and change the game state.

In turn, the scope of such decisions can be connected to decisions scenarios outside of games. For instance, decisions about particular jobs or professional opportunities are strategic choices that affect and influence a career trajectory.

Whereas individual connections and conversations with coworkers and other colleagues will often have smaller and more limited results.

Often, one of the ways that individuals make decisions is to commit to either a rational or an instinctual decision. These choices can serve some individuals betters than others; however it is important to note where one methodology is more relevant than the other.

Those who are more prone to making instinctual or “knee-jerk” reactions may do so too quickly for important decisions that require a more measured and rational analysis.

This could result in the “extinct by instinct” phenomenon where individuals can make “fatal” decisions based on a hasty judgment or gut reaction.

However, this is often not the case for those who are prone to analysis paralysis as over thinking a series of choices is a general characteristic of such an issue.

Despite this, those who suffer from analysis paralysis can limit the scope of their decision making framework by attempting to limit their foresight into the future response and role of their choices. As often thinking too far ahead could cause individuals to “read” too much into decision which likely has a more limited scope than they perceive.

This is even more the case when players are engaged in a state of Yomi which seems to understand opponents’ future moves and how they might respond to a player’s actions now and in the foreseeable future.

While determining these player actions this far into the future and through multiple permutations is not impossible; it is often beyond the scope; capacity; and feasibility of individuals players for the purposes of routine game scenarios.

An additional component to players making rational versus instinctual decisions is that they may become too focused on decision optimization without first realizing fundamental limits of a particular decision or a system.

This is most relevant and applicable in game play as the magic circle outlines the expectations and behaviors of opponents to make moves and decisions within a certain reasonable framework during game play.

Of course, one of the main drawbacks that individuals have when suffering from analysis paralysis is that they have trouble arriving and committing to a decision.

Most often this is due to their over thinking the entire decision process. Therefore, another way to combating analysis paralysis is to better understand how people make decisions.

One of the ways that most people make decisions within scenarios - games included - is that they attempt to maximize the most good or benefit from themselves. These “maximizers” often look for the best possible advantages or “deals” in order to discover and commit to a particular solution or decision.

However, this can often lead to analysis paralysis when all decisions are treated the same way as some situations could have clear advantages and disadvantages whereas other decisions only have tangential and marginal benefits.

Therefore, a lag in the decision making framework negatively affects the productivity and actions of other people involved in the decision making process.

Another way to address analysis paralysis is to reduce the “decision load” or consequences of a few larger decisions into smaller decisions. This means taking these smaller steps that allows individuals to shed the weight of one large decision onto several smaller ones whose impact is limited.

An example of this in games can be found in abstract classics like Go where each move is constituted by a decision on stone placement. While each move alone may not be consequential; the synergetic quality of all a player’s moves inform and affect their overall strategy.

Likewise; a person who is struggling  with wardrobe choices may to choose to make a smaller choice like selecting a pair of shoes or trousers and then building the rest of their outfit from there.

The structuring of this decisions framework also helps to balance the cognitive load of making such decisions in a rapid-fire fashion. Making singular, long-term, decisions deteriorates with each additional choice that is provided.

Therefore, a good strategy to avoid analysis paralysis is to either reduce the number of decisions made; reduce the number of choices or options for those decisions; or reduce both.

Despite this, individuals may still face analysis paralysis based on any level of decision that they make. In this case, it helps to identify and determine what their goals are for the short and long term ahead.

Decisions regarding a career track are much weightier than deciding what to have for lunch.  Therefore, it’s helpful to determine the scope and outcome of choices made in everyday decisions, strategic decisions, and gameful decisions and where they fall on the priority scale.

While reducing decisions may not be helpful for all scenarios; sometimes reducing options in a simplistic manner is. Therefore, if you can review your options and determine that they all require more than a simple “yes or no” then consider eliminating half of the remaining options in order to avoid analysis paralysis.

Examining a decision making framework is important for all decisions as well as those who are attempting to avoid analysis paralysis. But so is making sure that the solution made is worthwhile and in your best interest.

Therefore, it’s important to determine what the particular outcome, strategy, or goal is from making such a decision. Ensuring that this is clear will help set the stage for selecting and committing to a particular solution.

While the decision making framework was examined before; it’s also useful to determine what separates a “bad” solution from “not-so-bad” and “good,” “great,” and “perfect” solutions. 

This is important because many of those who suffer from analysis paralysis do so because of a fear of making a sub-optimal choice. However, sometimes there is no way to make a “perfect” solution; and instead we must settle for the “good” or “not-so-bad” ones.

Perhaps one of the most recognizable and shared sentiments of those suffering from analysis paralysis is the lack of speed in making decisions.

This can often become a larger problem in specific instances as critical decisions need to be made in a timely fashion to avoid larger and more disastrous consequences that are due to a hold-up in the process.

Therefore, decision makers can avoid analysis paralysis by prioritizing and asking themselves which options align best with their most important goals and values. 

Doing so ensures that they can commit to a strategy that will hopefully inform their decision-making processes for similar decisions in the future. The formation of this strategy ideally makes their future decision process proceed more quickly.

While it’s not advisable for all decisions; it can sometimes help to commit to a decision without investing too much time into the process of making the decision. This can sometimes border on making “instinctual” choices.

But, if you are already properly aligned with your strategy for pursuing decisions that best serve a particular goal or outcome, then your choice framework is already set.

This can often be practiced in situations that are lower stress or at least don’t have critical outcomes like selecting a different route to walk back home or what to order for dinner.

The speed of decision making is probably the most applicable and relevant for table top games where players are asked to keep the pace and the cadence of a turn-based game moving.

However, their inability to make decisions aligned with their strategy and expected outcomes can make it difficult to regularly play with these individuals.

While many may already know the effects and the results of analysis paralysis; they may not know the exact term for it. However, in tabletop gaming circles, this term may already become all too familiar.

The proliferation of new strategic table top games in the last few decades that often involve some tough decisions make it especially difficult for new and novice players to make decisive choices.

This is often compounded with the addition of different and diverse scoring criteria and rubrics which can change from play session to play session and for game to game.

For seasoned players, this may just serve as a fact of engaging with these modern adaptations of games. Whereas for other players, it can be a daunting and paralyzing experience.

Perhaps one of the easiest ways to avoid analysis paralysis through game play is with abstract two players games where thinking about moves ahead of time is limited because the game state can only change so much in one turn.

This can however be complicated with more in-depth and strategically diverse games such as Chess and Go which have an innumerable number of permutations that can paralyze players who are challenged to think several moves in advance.

However, the condition that probably informs and influences analysis paralysis for table top players is affiliated with their play style and disposition more than anything else.

Attempting to maximize a particular gain or at least avoid grave misfortune is often the cause for elongating the decision making process for these players.

Perhaps the cause and structure of games themselves often lead to the result and the effects of analysis paralysis for gamers. The aspect of taking turns makes it so that other players cannot take any actions while it is not their turn.

Therefore, games designed with real-time elements; simultaneous action selection; or at least actions that take place or resolve at the same time can mitigate the effects of analysis paralysis.

Another feature that game designers can use to reduce and resolve the effects of analysis paralysis is to at least limit the scope and options for players to take. This is part of dealing with and adjusting to the effects of analysis paralysis by consciously limiting your choices.

Game designers can take this choice into their hands by assigning players a limited number of “budgeted action points” that they can use during their turns. This makes it so that not all options are open and on the table for them to take.

Similarly, designers can also make open information more available to players such as searchable discard piles of cards. Doing so ensures that the game state information is knowable and available to all players and thus can inform decision making.

However, the inverse may also be true as knowing too much information could also potentially cause further paralysis by players. This means that designers must carefully balance the benefits and consequences of such design choices and how it may aggravate or reduce analysis paralysis in players.

There are other ways of avoiding analysis paralysis for players during the game that involves simpler solutions such as implementing a timer for play in which player decisions must resolve within a specific period in order to be relevant and applicable.

Another simple means of addressing analysis paralysis is to inflate the point value of certain scoring conditions.  This means in games where ending scores are over 100+ points identifies decisions where only 1-2 points are at stake as less consequential.

This is compared to other games where final scores are in the 5-7 point range. In that case, 1-2 points could represent a big swing in the end game state.

This episode originally addressed analysis paralysis outside of the gaming context and then related it to how other players and designers interact, mitigate, and otherwise surmount its effects.  That said, analysis paralysis has further reach effects than what is present in tabletop gaming.

Analysis paralysis possesses a larger effect in a modern world more that is awash with decisions and a seemingly unlimited amount of information that can be discovered and researched.

This is perhaps most true with purchasing decisions where a seemingly endless number of reviews, promotions, features, pricing, and other characteristics can serve to both inform and paralyze buyers.

Therefore, it is necessary to determine how to best make decisions given a limited scope of information to achieve a specific goal.

One such strategy that people could employ is to limit the timeframe in which a given decision can be made. This is like tabletop games that utilize a game timer or similar structural element.

Making this choice prevents you from being overwhelmed by both unlimited time and unlimited information.

Additionally, individuals can also work to “chunk” or compartmentalize information into manageable  smaller decisions that have a limited impact and scope.

This makes it so that there are fewer “big” decisions that could have lasting impacts and several smaller decisions which give individuals the opportunity to experience different outcomes with a smaller investment.

The most popular of which are free trials for products or services which gives a consumer an opportunity to judge for themselves the value of a particular decision.

Lastly – for all except the most influential of decisions – a consideration to take into account is that not all decisions are completely final or absolute. Rather, most decisions have a finite scope and application and rarely have such lasting effects as to really warrant serious personal debate.

We’ve covered that the root of the issues sand problems with analysis paralysis is the dedication of the person to the over thinking a particular decision or process. Therefore, taking the steps to cope with analysis paralysis lies in addressing that framework.

Part of what allows players to cope with this is lies with remaining flexible. Rigid thinking does have its place;  but acting on fear for particularly disastrous outcomes can make coming to a decision difficult.

This means that instead of focusing on a decision to avoid the greatest disaster; it can be helpful to focus on solutions that provide good, better, and best, outcomes for the decision maker.

This is also tied to decision makers determining and deciding on what are the most important and highest priority decisions first; and then giving those decisions the most attention.

Decision fatigue is a real possibility for those that suffer from analysis paralysis; therefore, it’s helpful to first determine what decisions deserve your attention first prior to dedicating time, resources, and patience to making them.

Likewise, making many important decisions back to back can be difficult, challenging, and exhausting. This means that it’s important to consider taking breaks or least giving yourself a respite between decision making activities so as not to be overwhelmed.

These breaks can be also be used as good opportunities to review and consider how you’ve handled similar moments like these in the past; how you surmounted those challenges; and how you can use those lessons for the decisions that you are going to make in the future.

This episode defined analysis paralysis as well as its negative effects for decision makers, stakeholders, and other gamers alike. We considered analysis paralysis as an extension of having an overload of options and information which can cloud how and when a decision is made.

This is combined with thinking and situational observation of the decision maker and how the impact of both can influence and affect the decision making process.

The decision making process was also reviewed as based on rational versus instinctual choices and how the effects of both influence how people come to make decisions and in what capacity they do so.

This capacity was outlined through a review of the decision making framework for how those decisions are resolved and the overall speed and effect of such decisions.

While analysis paralysis does have an influence and effect outside of games; it is perhaps best known infamously through tabletop gaming circles for slowing down the pace of play. Therefore, this episode examined analysis paralysis in tabletop gaming as well as how it can be reduced or eliminated through different design choices.

Finally, strategies, tips, and other factors were considered for those coping with analysis paralysis and how to use them to come to better, more informed, and positive decisions faster.

I hope you found this episode useful. If you’d like to learn more, then a great place to start is with my free course on gamification. You can sign up for it at www.universityxp.com/gamificationYou can also get a full transcript of this episode including links to references in the description or show notes. Thanks for joining me!

Again, I’m your host Dave Eng from games-based learning by University XP. On Experience Points we explore different ways we can learn from games. If you liked this episode please consider commenting, sharing, and subscribing.

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