Designing for Play Instinct: Gamification, Collective Voodoo and Mumbo Jumbo.

method that aims to accelerate performance by implementing game- style
incentivisation mechanics into nongame environments, such as businesses
and services. Currently, it is most often applied as a “user experience design”
(UXD) method, the contemporary convergence of human- computer interaction
(HCI), user- centred design (UCD) and marketing that aims to increase
user engagement, closing the “semantic gap” in the user experience (UX) by
providing a higher level of engagement for people using machines—through
call centre interfaces, for example. Quantifiable returns are indeed demonstrated
when more engaging elements are designed into any communications
touchpoint, a long- established tradition in both media and advertising and
HCI. However, the recent evangelization of both gamification methodologies
and “gurus” demonstrates a fundamental, and startlingly absolute,
absence of understanding of the paradigms of computing, design practice
and game studies in the gamification world