When Gamification Goes Awry

Today is the first day of October and Q4. If almost every app is to be believed, today is a good day for a fresh start of, well, everything.

Just about every app has a streak feature. LinkedIn followed Apple News and the New York Times into the daily game market. Keeping that game streak alive ensures you return to the app daily. The companies get their Daily Active User count to grow and addict you to looking at targeted ads. These streaks are gamification features that make using the app daily fun.

At least, that’s the intent.

I started a Duolingo Japanese streak almost 200 days ago:

I downloaded Duolingo with a goal in mind: hit a year-long streak and have a toddler's vocabulary next year when I return to Japan.

That was a few months ago. I still want to achieve the goal, but I’m getting sick of maintaining the streak.

Duolingo has two forms of gamification: the streak and the leaderboard. The streak is a simple count of the continuous days with completed lessons. The leaderboard is based on experience gains from completed lessons this week.

I’ve reached the pinnacle of the Duolingo experience, sitting atop the Diamond League. Maintaining this pace requires a lot of work, often more than the 30 minutes a day I spent when I began this endeavor. Some of the people in the Diamond League are posting experience scores requiring hours of daily work. At that point, is Duolingo a fun educational app or a job?

My experience with Duolingo is a great example of how gamification works until it doesn’t. There’s a point where maintaining the streak requires more effort than the streak provides enjoyment. That’s what happened when I gave up my 1,903 daily writing streak, and that’s what’s happening with my Duolingo streak.

The thing is, all of these gamification streaks work. These features make me want to extend the streaks.

I want to close my rings every day. I want to write every day. I want to take pictures every day. I want to do all of these things because the apps are really good at instilling that desire. But, honestly, who has the time for all of this?

I guess I could walk on the treadmill while doing Duolingo and write about it afterward. But, you know what they say about being a Jack of All Trades?

Time is my most precious resource, and I simply don’t have a wealth of it right now. Maybe if someone builds a gamified app that helps you manage all of the gamified streaks you want but don’t have time for... No, that’s crazy talk.