We’re prone to turning ordinary objects into extensive, never-ending collections with no practical use other than our own self-satisfaction. But unlike an unlimited collection of random things, collecting limited sets activates a strong sense of incompleteness and a craving for completion.

Those low-key uncomfortable fragmentary sensations we have whilst our collection is yet to have that satisfying feeling of wholeness haunts us until its conclusion. The missing items are not simply names tacked on a sheet but prey that must be hunted down, triggering a primitive gathering impulse.

Niantic and Nintendo artfully used the full potential of this pairing with their famous game Pokémon Go. Amid all the chaos of modern city life, we are now used to watching people glued to their cell phones, walking in an alternate universe, oblivious to what’s happening around them, just to catch one more Pokémon and advance one more step to complete the collection.  

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The game’s slogan says it impeccably: “Gotta Catch 'Em All”. It’s a perfect slogan that elicits the powerful combination of the Zeigarnik Effect with the Collection Bias: we want to complete our collection since its incompleteness weighs on our minds until done. 

They offered additional, skilful challenges to collect sets of Pokémon during certain events, which awarded different rewards and medals. We can use this pairing for the sake of completeness, but there can also be a Reward and the associated Status with more challenging sets. Some Pokémon are even restricted by region so you’d literally have to travel to Japan to unlock certain monsters.

By releasing a set of widgets to collect, there’s an impulse to do it, even with nearly useless rewards such as a digital badge, because the psychological mechanism of passionate possessiveness is different from regular consumption. It has other, higher level motivations as it involves hunting, searching and gathering in a continuing quest for a sense of closure.