ROCKSMITH and the victory over gamification

Gamification is a sexy buzz word. It was born from the assumption that people value the things they struggle to obtain more than the things they freely receive. And so, the behaviorist wizard assigned points and levels to everything. His spell dictated that we would become more motivated if we became aware that every level passed or song beaten was a stepping stone, an achievement.

It was under the lure of this magic man that I purchased Rocksmith, a rhythm game you play with a real guitar and whose goal is to teach you how to play it. Perhaps now, with the ethereal motivation provided by gamification, I would be finally able to switch from the G chord to the C chord without having to stop and mentally command my fingers to do so. It was an impulse buy to be sure, but one that ended up being my most played game of 2011.

And here is the twist: gamification didn’t do a damn thing.

The Sumday Post: Something about the fambly cat

You know who’s a good band? Grandaddy. Maybe I listened to them and forgot, completely, to post your usual Friday collection of links. Maybe this is complete bullshit. Maybe I’ve just been playing Rock Band. But you have no way

Rock Band Update 4.27

Sometimes* after a long, hard day of work**, I like to relax*** with a nice Rock Band session****. *About 5 days a week **Which includes playing/analyzing games, plus developing a couple games for my research project and one of my