DMB Digest: Gamification 101
Make everyday a game.
Gamification. I didn’t learn the definition of this word until my thirties. And it changed everything. Some people will have you believe that gamification is a brand new concept, that Santa Clause reached into his bag of tricks and delivered gamification to the hearth of the world sometime during the 1980’s. This is, of course, ridiculous. Humans have been making boring and tedious tasks into games since the beginning of boring and tedious tasks. In the eternally wise words of the Simpson’s Principal Skinner after being trapped by stacks of old newspapers in his garage:
Let this be a lesson to recycle frequently. For the next week I stayed alive by eating my mother's delicious preserves and maintained my sanity by dribbling a nearby basketball with my one free hand. I made a game of it. Seeing how many times I could bounce the ball in a day, and then trying to break that record.
Gamification. I just didn’t know what this was called during my formative years or that certain companies and institutions were studying how to apply the concept to manipulate my behavior. Now I know. And as they say, knowing don’t mean squat if you don’t do nothing about it. (Someone is saying that, right? I can’t be the only one.)
Before there was gaslighting, there was gamification, and while gaslighting serves no redeemable purpose, gamification can. All of us boring adults should be embracing the concept of gamification throughout our daily and yearly routines to bring magic and joy back into our lives.
Often, I feel like we live our lives with the goal of being able to achieve some level of comfort or indifference—a plateau that enables us to do whatever we want and live however we want without considering the limitations or ramifications. That has become the definition of the good life. That’s how I know I’ve arrived, if I can buy a new car on a whim and it’s no big deal. Or I can travel to visit friends or explore a new part of the globe without scrimping and planning for months or years to afford it. I see the commercials where a spouse buys their partner a $100,000 vehicle for Christmas (complete with a $300 red bow and ribbon). The couple is so happy for a day or the rest of the weekend or whatever. After that, I’m assuming they grow cold and board again. But hey, I guess they can buy matching snowmobiles or something.
But that’s not gamification. That’s just commercial lust. That’s lazy entitlement. It’s like we try to convince ourselves that if you have to work for something you’re still doing it the stupid way. Stop being such a schmuck. Now who’s gaslighting who?
At its simplest form, my parents taught me the concept of gamification when they taught me to work first and play later. Pay as you go. Earn your paycheck before you spend it. This is very simplistic, but it counts as a game. Level up. Master the difficult portions first. Earn the reward after the accomplishment. We understand this concept at a basic level. Deep inside us, this makes sense.
But then I got the idea of gamification beat out of me for nearly two decades by the American education system—a system based on starting with 100% and then being punished with deductions for every mistake and misstep you make along the course of each grading period. Whose stupid idea was this? How in hell is this supposed to encourage young people to progress or excel? To start someone off with their shiny reward before they’ve done any of the hard work and then tell them they will never see that shiny 100% again…unless they remain perfect to the end. Don’t slip up, or blam-oh! Say goodbye to that reward. Now the best you can do is 89%. But that’s not bad, right?
Then we graduate into the “real world” and we’re expected to challenge ourselves and acquire skills and level up and achieve our goals. But we’ve been taught to do this by not screwing up. By following instructions and being perfect. That’s why reality is terrifying for so many of us, and we live to escape anyway possible.
But if you can run an advanced mind-dump routine purging the scaffolding of your education directly into the crapper without erasing the content of said education, then you’ll find it possible to live your life more like a game. Not that life isn’t serious or important, but that life can be fun and rewarding—even when you screw up and have to start a portion of it over. That’s just the nature of the game. Once you clear a level, you won’t have to go back to the very beginning (unless you want to).
Set a goal. Work hard toward that goal. Reward yourself once you accomplish that goal. Set goals for the people in your life. Encourage them toward those goals. Don’t just do fun things because you can afford to do them. Reward yourself for accomplishments: for getting up at 6:30am to read or meditate or exercise successfully for a week for a month for a year. (Okay, that one’s not realistic for me. But it might be for you.) Reward a solid day’s work by catching up on the news regarding your favorite sports team at 5:00pm instead of checking in on said team all day long.
Take a small portion of your paycheck after you get it and order something you enjoy unboxing or collecting. Then wait until you get it to open it. Eat fruit locally and only in season.
Everything you come across in the commercial and marketing worlds is using gamification against you. They want your unearned engagement. They want your spontaneous indulgence. They want you to eat dessert for every meal. Just do what you feel like. That’s what will make you happy. Dopamine doesn’t have to be a reward. It can be a constant. A way of life. Give in.
But deep inside, you know this is gaslighting. It’s bull$&%#. During your stronger moments you know this.
From the Desk of DMB
Oh man. I got into the action this week, a man was it refreshing. I’m an action writer at heart. I love the pulse pounding scenes. Life and death. Stuff is flying and all your senses are buzzing. Short sentences. Fast movements. Strong verbs. Blood, sweat, and tears. I can’t help it. This is what comes naturally for me. I stumbled into pulp fiction by accident. But in pulp fiction I found myself. I love the book I’m working on. It’s a project that’s brewed in my brain for over a decade. I had to write it. But it’s been a challenge. I’ve had to go against my nature to do so. For the last few months, I’ve been looking forward to writing what I’m writing now. And it feels great to finally do it. Booyah! Let jeopardy reign!
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