Badges, levels, points - they're all meaningless!

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A bit of a rant, but... it's all so meaningless. I open up Google Maps to look something up and am told that I'm a 'Level 6' 'Local Guide' and I'm 'only 2743 points away from Level 7'! Moreover, I'm being prompted to 'Earn my Novice Director badge'. As I drive around or walk around in my town, do you think it matters one jot how many points I have, or what my Level is, or what my virtual title is? Of course not!

To detox from this nonsense, I head into Booking.com's app to plan an away day. Ahem. Front and centre, I'm told that I need to 'Complete 10 bookings before 20 November 2024 to unlock Genius Level 3'! Eh? What? Why? What happens when I hit Genius Level 3? Did anything happen when I reached Level 2? Nope. 

Time to relax and chill. I start up Audible. Apparently I've collected the High Noon, Marathoner, Night Owl and 'Done & Dusted' badges. What do I do with them? Print them and sew them on a jacket??


I flick around some games. Oh, I've amassed 23,000 points in one of my games and 430,000 in another. But only 7 in my Chess app. What do any of these numbers mean?

Nothing. That's the answer. They're perhaps of some motivational use if you just used that one app or game and were trying to work your way towards a goal.

But meaningless in the context of a typical smartphone setup where most of us have installed, and use, around 50-100 apps daily. There is no way that anyone can keep track in their head of dozens of goals and badges and levels - and nor should they need to or want to.

So what's the point of it all? I suppose the developers are trying to engage their users more, to game-ify their applications - and maybe it works. The badges, levels, and points don't get in the way like adverts, after all. They're not annoying per se. 

But they're lost on me!

There's an old clichéd saying in the UK, from a game show, 'Points mean Prizes'. But here they don't. I could understand all these virtual numbers adding up to something that unlocked a feature in the app, or gave you extra powers in a game, or could be traded in for rewards in the real world.

But they don't. At all. Rant over. I'll get my coat...



Comments

Ted's Salmagundi said…
Apparently the more points you get, the more likely you are to get early access to new features in GMaps. And you are supposed to get "offers, discounts and invitations to special events by Google and partners". I've never seen any! This is quite widespread though and yes, is mostly about the feeling of 'belonging' I think rather than daily, tangible, (small as they might be) loyalty points at Tesco to spend. The same thing happens inside the Sony's Sound Connect (previously Headphones Connect), for example, which I stumble into on every new phone setup. There's nothing in it for me really! Just them collecting data.
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