Gamification is Bullshit is Bullshit

In his article “Gamification is Bullshit,” Ian Bogost writes about his distaste for gamification. With great vitriol, Bogost denounces all forms of gamification as bull shit, saying that it is only a tool for marketers; that it perverts games. Game developers which make use of it are just taking the easy way out, Bogost says. He believes that the “bullshitters” which make use of gamification are not liars, since bullshitters have no interest in the truth.

I’m not sure what triggered his rant, but the truth is Bogost’s article is bull shit. Gamification is something which people do and have done naturally, way before video games were around. When children walk down the street and jump over cracks, they are gamifying their walk home to make it less boring. When you offer yourself rewards for completing small steps in a project at work, you are gamifying your work (“whistle while you work” is telling you to make a game out of a boring task). And doing this can make you more productive.

If Bogost’s beef with gamification is that some game developers overuse it, then his article should address that instead. It is an entirely different complaint. To throw out the whole idea of gamification is just nonsense. To say game developers who use it are just being lazy is ignorant and short-sighted. Game developers use gamification because games are funner when a player has clear goals, and gets rewarded for his or her actions. And most people play games with the goal of having fun.