[Tech Talk] Work Like Mobile Games... The Revenge of 'Gamification'

Services Incorporating 'Game Techniques' Developed One After Another
Motivational Effects Through Gamification
Productivity Improvement Nudges VS Human-Restraining Burdens

Nowadays, you can find people enjoying games on their smartphones anywhere. As humans, people of all ages and genders enjoy games.

How much more comfortable would life be if even tasks we dislike or find bothersome could be done like a game? Surprisingly, applications (apps) based on this idea have recently taken over our daily lives. These services are called 'Gamification.'

Even Unpleasant Tasks Like Games... Gamification Apps Penetrate Daily Life

Health management application (app) Cashwalk. It is a representative gamification app case that encourages users' voluntary participation by providing monetary rewards upon achieving health goals. [Image source=Cashwalk]

Examples of gamification can be found everywhere in daily life. One example is the popular "Manbo Walking" app in Korea. Manbo Walking is a simple app that automatically counts the steps of smartphone users.

However, some Manbo Walking apps partner with insurance companies to encourage voluntary participation from consumers. If users succeed in reaching a specific number of steps per day, they receive a small refund. This is a typical example of a 'gamification' app that gives daily missions and rewards users upon completion.

Gamification apps are also applied to self-development. For example, the well-known foreign language learning site 'Duolingo' combines learning with role-playing games (RPGs).

When learners log into the app and make daily progress, they accumulate 'experience points' and 'level up.' This is a gamification example that compares actual learning progress to the growth of a game character.

Games Stimulate Human 'Dopamine'

When playing games, the human body secretes dopamine.

Gamification is a marketing strategy that introduces 'gameplay techniques' to websites or apps targeting consumers to induce voluntary participation. Even with the same service, gamification increases consumers' perceived satisfaction.

Why are humans attracted to gamification? Games are activities with simple rules. They involve completing given missions and receiving corresponding rewards.

Our brains have a function that releases a neurotransmitter called 'dopamine' when a specific action is completed. When dopamine is released, we feel excitement and motivation.

Dopamine is an important substance that consistently motivates us when we strive toward 'goals' such as exercise, studying, or self-development, but it is also released when playing games and receiving rewards.

The biggest difference between games and other activities is that games allow interaction with 'goals' through visual and auditory feedback. Within games, we can check mission progress through gauges, character status, level numbers, and so on. The reward effects are even more dramatic.

Therefore, even the same task becomes much easier to immerse in and achieve goals more smoothly when gamified. This strategy of guiding human behavior toward more productive and positive directions through specific stimuli is called a 'nudge.'

Gamification: Productivity Innovation or a Tool to Squeeze Humans?

Gamification program inside the logistics center revealed by a former Amazon employee. [Image source=TikTok]

However, gamification does not always bring only positive effects. What if work tasks at the office are 'gamified'? While employees might become more engaged and productive, companies might also gain a new tool to squeeze humans to their limits.

This dilemma has even sparked real controversy. In 2021, the giant American retail company 'Amazon' attempted to introduce a 'gamification program' at one of its logistics centers in the U.S.

The program, first reported by the American corporate insider media 'The Information,' was called 'FC Games.'

The core of the program was that each logistics worker's 'score' increased as they performed tasks, encouraging voluntary competition among workers based on their scores. Workers could exchange their earned points for various items within the company.

At the time, Amazon stated about the gamification program, "The game is an option, not mandatory for all employees, and employees say they enjoyed this option," adding, "We have taken their feedback and want to expand the program to more logistics centers."

However, many who heard this news expressed discomfort. They worried that if the gamification program were abused, it could create unnecessary tension among employees or worsen the already harsh working conditions of logistics center workers.

Like many technologies developed so far, gamification can become a tool to enhance human life or a burden that constrains us, depending on the entities implementing the technology and the appropriate supervision by regulatory bodies.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.