Wonderfully iconoclastic blog post on the purpose of games.
Games are good, points are good, but games ≠ points.
And living or dying is important. Games offer fail conditions as well as win conditions. They are able to deliver the high levels of emotional engagement they’re famed for because they’re also adept at delivering the lows of loss, humiliation and frustration. The world of user experience…
I think you’ll enjoy the read, for what it’s worth to non-gamers. Maybe.
Emotions and the waste of triggers, the clumsy commercial seduction that wastes shades of living.
Comments:
‘Gamification’ as it is now has more in common with Pavlov’s dog than actual meaningful interaction.
Play is what makes the game, not rewards.
…challenges for each other to foster engagement and motivation – and not graphical rewards for brainless, repetitive actions.
‘Pointsification’ in and of itself is not a game.