Kevin Werbach, who has been teaching a free Coursera MOOC on Gamification, spoke about teaching a free Coursera MOOC on Gamification at the $1k-2k/head GSummit, the gamification conference run by gamification consultant Gabe Zichermann.
Now you can pay $15 to watch a video of Werbach talking about teaching a free Coursera MOOC on Gamification at the $1-2k/head Gsummit, the gamification conference run by gamification consultant Gabe Zichermann.
Perhaps I’ll take this opportunity to share another small excerpt from my previously mentioned, forthcoming article “Why Gamification is Bullshit”:
A quick view of Gamification.co’s “getting started” guide reveals just how much Zichermann and his many intertwined organizations have to gain from colonizing as many related works as possible and claiming them for gamification’s empire. Of the seven steps in the gamification getting started guide, five of them involve consuming products from Zichermann and his companies: watching a video of Zichermann speaking (step 1); buying his books (step 4); paying to attend his conference (step 5); paying to attend more workshops at that conference (step 6); and paying to earn his gamification certificate (step 7). Naturally, should you require further or more detailed assistance, Zichermann also provides gamification consulting via his “gamfication agency” Dopamine, whose website featured an enormous photo of Zichermann’s head on a grey background, one eyebrow petulantly raised.
Comments
brock dubbels
The eyebrow of petulant scrutiny is an expression of affection for vulcans. Gamefication and com modification are logical.
Matthew
It’s so reminiscent of the self-help, get-rich seminar culture that it even borrows similar promises of success which, while inspiring the people who paid $1-2k/head to attend, are actually predictions of a future where larger entities (well-funded and already in motion) will keep them from ever competing. It’s just like Tony Robbins preaching the practices of the rich to people who are likely to be outdone by the rich already following those practices. I was awed by how Zichermann (in his closing speech at his Gamification Summit) laid out a future of widespread adoption of reward systems that will build brand loyalty for everyone, when what he’s describing is a fairly transparent prediction of monolithic global reward systems benefiting only the megacorps that unite to offer them. My inner ten-year-old is sighing for those who are learning the game, while playing the game, from people who are already winning the game. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhBXRJ3Vuw4#!&t=05m30)