Apple is working on bringing watchOS 11 in a few weeks, and one of the features that got people excited is the ability to have rest days on the Apple Watch.
It’s amazing how that wasn’t possible before, but I’m glad it’s here. The human body needs to rest, and as such you wouldn’t expect someone to work out every day just to close their ring.
A lot of apps employ similar gamification strategies, which is unhealthy, and I hate it.
I used to be a huge Snapchat user, and its streaks feature ensured I opened the app every single day even if I wasn’t inclined to do so. That little fire emoji next to a friend’s name with the number of how many consecutive days you’ve sent pictures to each other was really valuable.
However, things started changing. On top of outgrowing the app, it started to feel like I’m forcing myself to keep the 1000+ streaks active.
It’s quite telling when it reaches a point where you’re doing the bare minimum just to keep a streak active.
On Snapchat, that’s usually a black photo with a lightning bolt or fire emoji. On Duolingo, that’s taking one short lesson or a practice session.
I mean, it’s desperate if a Bible app introduces gamification. Yes, you can spin it that it’s getting people to read a scripture every day but that’s not usually the case. Someone can simply open the app and close it swiftly after. I began to dislike this feature in YouVersion Bible and I’m not alone.
Those are just three examples of apps that I quit or barely use because of gamification.
I think we, as developers, should re-evaluate if apps really need gamification added to them. For some, the strategy is to ensure constant use of their apps but it shouldn’t be the case.
Of course, it will seem like turning a huge ship since in most cases some big tech is involved but generally, something needs to change as it’s clearly becoming unhealthy for most.
Explore Further
- Inside the global computer crash - have a listen to this The Vergecast podcast (starts after the Crowdstrike IT outage discussion) where Adrian Hon talks about his experience with Fitness apps and his approach to co-creating the popular fitness game Zombies, Run! without including streaks and aggressive notifications but relying solely on a good storyline/motivator:
- Broken Streaks and Broken Hearts.
Cheers ✌️
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