De-Gamification

Although gamification is so 2011, I bet we will be seeing it cropping up here and there in 2012 and beyond. Why? Because it is such a simple and yet powerful concept: we all know our 'games' and we all can come up with examples how certain incentives helped us achieve our goals, whether it was money, game points or esteem. So why not incorporate 'gamification' into more (social) activities such as health, education, environmental issues and make the world a better place? There’s nothing to loose, is there? Yes there is, gamification can crowd out intrinsic pleasure or moral motives. In other words, there is potential harm in gamification…

Tagged with: telos, gamification, psychology,

Loser-Centered Design

If every (design) company is jumping on the user-centered design bandwagon, shouldn't someone suspect that there is something fishy going on? I mean did I miss a fundamental paradigm shift in our society in the sense that everybody has become altruistic and only wants the best for each other? Group hug anyone? It is still business, Jim, and still as we know it. Simply put: with user-centered design there is something to gain. Better products you might say, at least that is the benefit that is fiercely promoted by the user-centered design followers. Wrong! User-centered design is there to cut cost. The costs of having expensive designers explore several possible products on end and only deliver a product that nobody wants. So it seems only logical to ask users in advance to give input and kill the darlings of the designers because the users are not interested in them. In the end users reduce the risk of designing unwanted products. So user-centered design is risk-centered design. And if costs are cut shouldn't we, as users, someone benefit from this, that is, not get better products but CHEAPER products. Not something I noticed recently as a 'user'.

Tagged with: psychology, user centered design,