Gamification

There was always that strange sensation of stepping outside after hours on GTA and feeling you were still in the game space. As if you could just open the door of any car and get in.

There are a few things being discussed here. First of all the switch from a mass media driven manufacture of consent to a app/smartphone driven incentivisation of behaviour. That was the main thrust of the thread. Other things which have been touched on have been game as metaphor, and behaviours learned from games crossing over into real life. There's also Pokemon style use of the real world as game space.

Well that's a political question and like all political questions hinges on what, if anything, we feel entitled to demand now, at this juncture in the timeline. Is it better? Is it better than we deserve? Is it an ideal? What can we, scum, reasonably demand?

Sally Formica is at work. She has a bottle of Zoop Juice on her work bench. Ricky Dandelion drinks Zoop Juice. He has a special arrangement with the company. He drinks it in all his videos and even mentions it in his lyrics. He has similar arrangements with a number of other commercial sponsers.
Sally is wearing her workclothes. A kind of jumpsuit in pink velour. All the girls wear them. The boys have identical jumpsuits in baby blue. She works hard. She doesn't want to be the one in the dunces cap, not again. The shame of it! It's Nancy Drain wearing it this week, that's three weeks running for her. She's beginning to take on the apperancce of a martyr. As if she has taken this burden upon herself, to spare the others. But it's wearing her down. And she's missing out on all the perks the others can earn. Like the free bottles of Zoop juice. Sally wants to wear the crown. That's the perogative of the most productive worker. Darren Haynes has been wearing it ever since she started here. He's like a machine! He gets his compound X free now. Two tablets per day and as much Zoop Juice as he wants. He doesn't speak to anyone. Not while he's working. Doesn't even look at anyone. Only has eyes for his work. He's a legend. So Sally's not sure she'll ever wear the crown. Not while Darren's around. But there's all sorts of other awards you can win. She's had one already. Most improved worker. She won that the week after wearing the dunce's cap. The ignominy spurred her on and it felt so good when they recognised her efforts. She's an important member of the team now. They told her so. In front of everybody. She felt like she would burst with pride. It was at Team Assessment. They have those every week. They all get together on Friday night. That's where they crown the employee of the week and where they give out the dunce's cap. They read out everyone's figures. You have to stand on the stage while they read out your figures. They have figures for everything. Punctuality, productivity. They even have the number of times you took a toilet break logged and if its a really high number they read it out and everyone laughs and mocks you. Everyone cheers when they read out Darren's figures. Management always says those figures just show go to what's possible if you are dedicated enough. They say Darren serves as an inspiration to us all. When they read out the figures of the least productive workers everyone boos and catcalls. They even sometimes get things thrown at them. It seems unfair but really they are letting the whole team down and undermining the efforts of hard workers like Darren. They have to make a pledge to improve and have to think up a sacrifice they can make to show they are serious. When Sally was up there, she was mortified. So she thought of a big sacrifice, so people wouldn't hate her as much. She said she would work all week without pay and that Darren could have her money.