The trend of gamification — applying elements of game play to other areas of life — is the apex of the neoliberal fantasy, rendering both work and our leisure time outside of it into a series of games that we supposedly enjoy playing for their own sake.
My ADHD brain also craves the dopamine hit.
However, I recently watched a video on how a Chinese shopping site gameifies itself to entice users to spend money with literal “spin the wheel for a chance at a huge discount” then “refer a friend to spin the wheel again!”
When gameification becomes a gamble, that is when it is exploitive.