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cheunste | 3 years ago

The word you're looking for is "Gamification" and I honestly, I fucking hate it. The problem with Gamification in this context is that apps like Duolingo that uses Gamification to award you good boy points (daily streak) in the form of streak building mainly to build up "good habits". Unfortunately, the reality is that there is only so much what one app can do before it starts holding you back and become detrimental, but because of the gamification aspects of an app and how some people really really want their good boy points they don't want to abandon it and deep down, they probably don't want to. Now some people just end up thinking that one app is the one and be all solution and end up being "expert beginners" while in reality, they had to abandon it and do something deeper (like reading an actual book in another language) or else they'll never learn to being competent.

You can even take this further with reading books. Sure, you can get a star by reading a book for like an hour a day...if you're using Apple's iBook or whatever. That just means you're locked out of other books not on that platform or books you have in other unsupported formats or gasp physical books.

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woojoo666|3 years ago

If I'm understanding you correctly, you're saying that gamification is addictive and traps people into the small catalog of gamified apps? While I agree that a tolerance to more "painful" material is useful for broadening your reach, it's still possible to do both. To value gamified apps for their tight feedback loops, while being conscious that there are other materials out there that may provide other benefits despite not being as gamified