[AndrewKemendo]

I both love this and hate it at the same time.

As a father of three I recognize how hard it is to get kids to do the stuff they are supposed to and that is good for them without hovering over them or just forcing them to do it. Anything that makes good habits easier is a win in my book.

At the same time, if we gamify everything that takes willpower, even the good for us stuff, then we slowly chip away at the ability to be internally motivated when there is no immediate benefit/reward.

I also recognize that minimizing ego depletion [1] across the spectrum throughout the day could make it easier to make better decisions - a big thing for kids behavior actually.

My guess is that this is a net gain overall, but I am concerned slightly that hacking motivation/willpower might have some drawbacks that we don't see yet.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ego_depletion

[hybridtupel]

My thoughts go in the same direction. But in my opinion gamification is more problematic than you described it. There are just too many tasks we have to do regardless of getting rewarded or not.

The other problem is, the more we gamify our world, the higher the reward must be to keep us happy or challenged. Then "offline" activities like meeting friends are not exiting and rewarding any more.

[chatwinra]

Good point. re: drawbacks- what about creating a reliance on the game itself? If the game is removed, will the kid stop brushing their teeth?

[AndrewKemendo]

Well, this is the point. If we do things because we have added in a "game" feature, then will we stop doing those things if/when the game is removed from it?

Gamifying good behavior is just the latest form of "Nudge theory" which applies positive feedback or design elements to guide users toward a specific action. I think in an of itself is not a bad thing but has had some criticisms [1].

[1] www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/new_scientist/2011/11/does_nudge_policy_work_a_critique_of_sunstein_and_thaler_.html

[tomwrenn]

Oh I think we see it already xp.