How Did We Get So Obsessed with Streaks?

The very best gamification really can make learning science and programming more fun; it really can make practicing the guitar more enjoyable; it really can make exercise more exciting. I just wish we devoted our efforts to making that kind of gamification that enriches people’s lives and fully aligns with their interests, rather than gamification

What offends me as a game designer, however, is how so much gamification made by corporations simply isn’t fun. Instead, it’s the thinnest, most thoughtless layering of aesthetics and mechanics from game design onto an unappealing activity.

in a world where everything is gamified, we can end up in a real life soft lock, but one that’s been designed deliberately to create stasis, where we’re distracted with flashy points and endless competitions that only provide the illusion of progress.

All of this comes down to the capitalist belief that life should be a straight line that keeps going up. Every month, my Apple Watch entices me with a shiny badge if I exercise more than I did in the previous month, despite the inevita

bility of me eventually getting ill or tired or needing to take a break. So much corporate gamification sees that i

Designers and gamers call this kind of repetitive busywork “grinding,” which is perfectly evocative of its needless, anti-fun nature – and yet it’s surprisingly persistent in modern games, and I suppose, life.

The way to design these things differently is to account for and respect the rhythms that exist in our lives. That means removing streaks from most apps and games: we shouldn’t reward people for running or playing or even writing 100 days in a row. Designers should recognise that people will need breaks and ensure their apps don’t punish people for

It really isn't normal for points and leaderboards and achievements to be attached to everything we do.

When we surrender the control of our motivation and the judgment of our performance to corporate-owned gamification, however shiny and well-marketed, we need to be damn sure it’s designed for our benefit.

“The gamification we encounter most often and most conspicuously in our lives doesn’t deliver the fulfilment or progress it promises. Instead, it maintains stasis. It keeps workers in line, funnelling profits to those who already have capital. It encourages us to study or train or play for goals that aren’t truly our own. And it reinforces the idea