You've Been Played

Starred review from May 30, 2022
Hon (A History of the Future in 100 Objects), CEO and founder of game developer Six to Start, warns in this convincing outing that gamification—using “ideas from game design to make difficult or dull activities more fun”—has “become the twenty-first century’s most advanced form of behavioural control.” Tools purportedly designed to motivate students or increase worker productivity actually have insidious psychological effects, he suggests, often resulting in covert wage decreases, as employees are pressured into working more for no increased pay. Myriad examples bolster his case: he describes classroom behavior-monitoring apps that function as an “on-ramp to Foucault’s panopticon,” games used at Amazon that incentivize “returning from break faster,” race-against-the-clock timers that gives McDonald’s managers leverage to “discipline and punish poor performers,” and the “veritable bonanza of quests and bonuses” at Uber, “all to entice drivers into working as long as they possibly can.” Hon ends with detailed, practical steps to combat this trend: designers ought to “act ethically” and accept responsibility when their games cause harm, and legislation should be passed to mandate transparency regarding business productivity quotas and to protect workers’ privacy. This passionate survey is a wake-up call for workers and political leaders alike.

July 1, 2022

As a trained neuroscientist and game developer, Hon (A History of the Future in 100 Objects) takes a detailed look at how gamification is permeating every aspect of people's lives. After examining the incentives behind wildly successful videogames like his own Zombies, Run!, he explores gamification's use by companies like Amazon, Uber, Peloton, and Apple. He argues that the reward system that motivates people to complete tasks in daily life (such as a double star day at Starbucks) is manipulative and often ruins tasks at work, in schools, and within the larger geopolitical system. The examples are topical and include COVID, China's social credit scores, and QAnon. After thoroughly studying society's compulsion loop, Hon refrains from introducing the word "addiction" to his argument, settling instead on a status of "softlock" (an area of stalled progress) to describe the current relationship between gamification and society, leaving readers to wonder whether it is really their responsibility to humanize the gaming industry and its influence. VERDICT An expansive view of how gamification permeates modern culture that lacks a strong conclusion.--Tina Panik

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2022
Video games are the world's dominant form of entertainment. Hon, CEO and founder of Six to Start and co-creator of the fitness app Zombies, Run!, says he sees gamification helping people master skills and transforming learning into joy. However, his well-researched book peels back the layers on how corporations, app creators, schools, and workplaces are tricking people into completing tasks or offering private information with the hopes of earning badges, points, and other rewards. Many workers experience gamified surveillance technology through productivity figures and algorithms. For example, Uber offers quests where drivers earn money for each three-trip series. Often, drivers can't make a living wage unless they complete tasks like these, because they are contractors and cover their own car costs. Fitness apps, Hon notes, can cause anxiety when a user breaks a streak due to illness. He says the intrusiveness and manipulation by gamification has negative effects on our society, robbing people of the intrinsic motivation for doing something and forcing us to prove our worth through productive deeds. Anyone in the tech world and human resources will find this book helpful in making decisions about gamification.

COPYRIGHT(2022) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.