Gamification
You can redesign just about anything to look
like a videogame. [1]
And one of the rules of Silicon Valley is that if it can be done,
it will be done.
You can give away points, prizes and badges to those who read about
politics; to those who study a foreign language; and to those who
exercise and eat in a healthy way.
But does it work? Or does it work only in the short term, when the
game part seems fun, while actually hampering the establishment of
the desired behaviour? [2]
Does it make sense? Who said that everything should be like a game?
Can it become addictive? Is it acceptable to force those who work
in a certain organisation to "play"?
Morozov says that if everything is a game, we become consumers
rather than citizens. [3]
We go from "The starry heavens above me and the moral law within
me" to "If I help that old lady cross the street, I will overtake
my friend or colleague in the standings".
And lastly: What if gamification's goal were precisely to avoid an
open discussion and a critique of the things that we gamify? [4]
[1]
Bogost, Ian.
Gamification Is Bullshit.
[2]
Fleming, Nic.
Gamification: Is It Game Over?
[3]
Morozov, Evgeny.
To Save Everything, Click Here: The Folly of Technological
Solutionism, Chapter 8.
[4]
Smoleń, Michał.
Gamification As Creation of a Social System, in: Kopeć,
Jarosław and Krzysztof Pacewicz. Gamification. Critical
Approaches, page 65.
