4 ms·

Why is everything about gamification nowadays? Do I really care about some badge telling me or others how "well versed" or "well read" I am about a particular t

by borski 15y ago

Why is everything about gamification nowadays? Do I really care about some badge telling me or others how "well versed" or "well read" I am about a particular topic? Shouldn't that knowledge be attained through conversation, instead?

methodin 15y ago
Or you could look at it as a form of addiction similar to how WOW and other MMORPG games have you do mundane tasks to get a reward which is in and of itself meaningless. The more they can get you to read articles the more it benefits them. For some people it takes incentives other than knowledge to perform the act of learning.
- astrofinch 15y ago
  The way I look at it, if a technique works for getting myself to learn stuff I'm happy to take advantage of it. E.g. if fantasizing about using obscure physics knowledge casually in a conversation is going to help me learn physics, and I want to learn physics, I'll fantasize away. I don't see much utility in reading the news though. I'd much rather see this on a video lecture site.
- MikeCapone 15y ago
  "For some people it takes incentives other than knowledge to perform the act of learning." That there is the reason why I'm happy about it. At least it's for a good cause. Making reading news more fun for a large fraction of people isn't a bad idea...
- a3_nm 15y ago
  These badges encourage people to click on articles, not necessarily to learn anything from them. Maybe they will still learn, but maybe it will encourage them to skim (even) more. You can sometimes obtain very unexpected results if you provide an incentive for something which is almost (but not quite) the thing that you want to favor.
- fjw 15y ago
  "The more they can get you to read articles the more it benefits them." While it is an interesting idea, it seems more likely that the badges will just encourage people to click on random links in order to game the system and level up, rather than actually spending time and reading. Google needs to find a way to encourage depth and not breadth.
Hisoka 15y ago
It's especially annoying 'cause they're borderline invading my business idea that I'm implementing. Come'n, gamification should be the next big thing.. but let it be the next big thing 2 years from now, NOT now =)
- robtoo 15y ago
  Sometimes I feel like a grumpy old man, but I do feel that gamification was the last big thing. Chore Wars was funny and original, but foursquare et al. just treat their customers like a bunch of five year-olds earning gold stars for being a good boy. And you don't even get chocolate once you get ten of them.
  - Hisoka 15y ago
    I think it will always remain a big thing because the underlying concept feeds into intrinsic desires of human beings for positive reinforcement. But the thing is it works more effectively in areas where there's a bigger context with meaning - not things like checking in... there's no sense of accomplishing for checking in.. it's just random noise. Same with this Google News thing. It works better in things like Chore Wars where you get the sense of "DONE" and "WIN" when you get the chore done AND when you get the positive reinforcement. For FourSquare, it just doesn't give you the same dopamine release. In fact, the concept of 4Square works more because it lets you see who else also checked in. They didnt have to do the badges concept.. could've saved it for others. greedy bastards
patio11 15y ago
This is demonstrably going to increase their engagement numbers, with the goal that they break people of the habit of going to nytimes.com for news and instead search for their news on The Googles because if you do it through The Googles you get your magic Google points for it. Google likes to encourage people to do all navigation through the Googles, not through the navigation bar, because this gives them more product (i.e. you) to sell to their customers. It also makes the rest of the world even more dependent on the good graces of Google, which is an unalloyed Good Thing for them.

by borski 15y ago

methodin 15y ago

Or you could look at it as a form of addiction similar to how WOW and other MMORPG games have you do mundane tasks to get a reward which is in and of itself meaningless. The more they can get you to read articles the more it benefits them. For some people it takes incentives other than knowledge to perform the act of learning.

astrofinch 15y ago
The way I look at it, if a technique works for getting myself to learn stuff I'm happy to take advantage of it. E.g. if fantasizing about using obscure physics knowledge casually in a conversation is going to help me learn physics, and I want to learn physics, I'll fantasize away. I don't see much utility in reading the news though. I'd much rather see this on a video lecture site.
MikeCapone 15y ago
"For some people it takes incentives other than knowledge to perform the act of learning." That there is the reason why I'm happy about it. At least it's for a good cause. Making reading news more fun for a large fraction of people isn't a bad idea...
a3_nm 15y ago
These badges encourage people to click on articles, not necessarily to learn anything from them. Maybe they will still learn, but maybe it will encourage them to skim (even) more. You can sometimes obtain very unexpected results if you provide an incentive for something which is almost (but not quite) the thing that you want to favor.
fjw 15y ago
"The more they can get you to read articles the more it benefits them." While it is an interesting idea, it seems more likely that the badges will just encourage people to click on random links in order to game the system and level up, rather than actually spending time and reading. Google needs to find a way to encourage depth and not breadth.

Hisoka 15y ago

It's especially annoying 'cause they're borderline invading my business idea that I'm implementing. Come'n, gamification should be the next big thing.. but let it be the next big thing 2 years from now, NOT now =)

robtoo 15y ago
Sometimes I feel like a grumpy old man, but I do feel that gamification was the last big thing. Chore Wars was funny and original, but foursquare et al. just treat their customers like a bunch of five year-olds earning gold stars for being a good boy. And you don't even get chocolate once you get ten of them.
- Hisoka 15y ago
  I think it will always remain a big thing because the underlying concept feeds into intrinsic desires of human beings for positive reinforcement. But the thing is it works more effectively in areas where there's a bigger context with meaning - not things like checking in... there's no sense of accomplishing for checking in.. it's just random noise. Same with this Google News thing. It works better in things like Chore Wars where you get the sense of "DONE" and "WIN" when you get the chore done AND when you get the positive reinforcement. For FourSquare, it just doesn't give you the same dopamine release. In fact, the concept of 4Square works more because it lets you see who else also checked in. They didnt have to do the badges concept.. could've saved it for others. greedy bastards

patio11 15y ago

This is demonstrably going to increase their engagement numbers, with the goal that they break people of the habit of going to nytimes.com for news and instead search for their news on The Googles because if you do it through The Googles you get your magic Google points for it. Google likes to encourage people to do all navigation through the Googles, not through the navigation bar, because this gives them more product (i.e. you) to sell to their customers. It also makes the rest of the world even more dependent on the good graces of Google, which is an unalloyed Good Thing for them.