+++ robin wilde
10
+++ robin wilde
This month , I started a new job . I know , I know - but this one pays better than editing Cubed . It ’ s pretty good fun , as work goes , and I like my co-workers and the tasks I have to do . But it got me thinking about people whose jobs aren ’ t so enjoyable . If you ’ re working a job that ’ s menial , repetitive , or otherwise unpleasant , what motivation is there to get you through a day ?
Extra pay , obviously . But for those working for small or struggling businesses , that isn ’ t always possible . The same problem befalls more comfortable conditions , or extra perks .
One solution which is often suggested is gamification . This rather long-winded term has a long history in and around our industry , but for those who haven ’ t encountered it , a primer .
Gamification is best explained as micro-rewards for ordinary actions . When you collect loyalty points at a
supermarket , or earn a score for commenting on a website you frequent , that ’ s gamification . You even get gamification on top of actual games - Xbox Live ’ s gamerscore and a wide variety of achievements add value to an activity while remaining external from it .
This principle as applied to the world of work isn ’ t new - from the old Stakhanovite ideal in the Soviet Union to sales quotas in modern call centres . But increasingly , it gets pulled out as a solution to lack of productivity in all sectors . Just this month , business magazine Forbes ran an article headlined “ Underperforming And Uninspired Team ? Unleash The Power Of Gamification ” which came to the stunning conclusion that , in 2016 , “ Gaming isn ’ t just for teenagers ”.
With technology like Tinder and Facebook likes ubiquitous in society , it can be tempting life ' s not all a game
to
think gamification works . It does , socially . As a method of engaging with the frivolous . But if you ’ ve ever spent the day waiting for notifications on an important life event and fretting when That Person doesn ’ t engage , it doesn ’ t always feel good . Far from enhancing flow , it can grind it to a halt .
For all it ’ s invoked by capitalists looking to the future , the thinking is remarkably lifted from the old Communist regimes . Instead of individual initiative and creativity in problem solving being encouraged , workers were set collective quotas . If they met them , they would be rewarded , and if they failed they would be punished . All this encouraged was working to the rule , and increasingly drained employees of a sense of achievement . It had this effect in East German steelworks and coalmines - think of the risks in a creative environment .
We have to realise that work and our economy are not a game , and that instant gratification , the shot of endorphins we get from an Xbox Live achievement , is not a good long-term motivator . Giving a bricklayer a point for every brick won ’ t help them in the long term . Seeing the beautiful edifice of the finished building might .
But this is a lesson for games as well . The swoosh of a level up or the climbing of a tournament ladder are excellent motivators for certain types of play . Games can be fastpaced , exciting and varied enough to offset the downsides of quota-based thinking . But to focus on that might be to miss the potential of the medium . Very few games offer a properly slow burn , save for a few walking simulators , and even long story-driven games offer shots of adrenaline along the way .
From a medium which is expected to be fun , or at least compelling , this is understandable . Games have to sell , and actively driving away players through early dullness is not a viable business strategy , to say the least .
But we have to move beyond profitability as a sole driver of creativity . For all the riches gaming and gamification can bring , we have also to consider the things it may make us lose .