the.com/gamification

putting a scoreboard on things that were never a game so you keep doing them anyway.

means applying game mechanics like points, badges, streaks, and leaderboards to non-game activities to manipulate motivation and behavior.

from coined in 2002 by programmer nick pelling, but it exploded after 2010 when app designers realized dopamine loops sell better than instructions.

for instance

duolingo streaksguilt-trips 500 million users with a sad owl daily

starbucks starsturned coffee loyalty into a leveling system in 2009

peloton leaderboardmakes strangers race each other mid-workout since 2014

stack overflow reputationprogrammers answer questions for imaginary internet points

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