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Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher |
| Original language | |
| English | |
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| https://mssv.net/about/ | |
YOU'VE BEEN PLAYED
How Corporations, Governments, and Schools Use Games to Control Us All
In You've Been Played, Hon explains how games are being used as instruments of exploitation - used to coerce and control people with points, rewards, and leaderboards, everywhere from the gym to the workplace. These are games the subjects often have no choice but to play, and no restart button if they mess up. He makes a case for what to do about it.
A call-center worker patiently troubleshoots a customer's broken printer, while a cartoon character in a corner of his screen chides him for sounding too unengaged. An exhausted Uber driver needs extra cash, so she accepts a pop-up Quest on her app: drive another three trips to get a $6 bonus. At home, her partner spends hundreds of hours combing through obscure forums about the QAnon conspiracy theory: uncovering clues and drawing connections feels just like a game.
This isn't a dystopian fantasy: points, badges, achievements, and leaderboards are slowly creeping into every aspect of modern life. In You've Been Played, neuroscientist and game designer Adrian Hon provides a blistering takedown of how corporations, schools, and governments are using games to coerce and control workers, students, and all citizens. Although this trend - called gamification - can sometimes work for our benefit, Hon shows us that, in fact, it is more often a high-tech means for behavioral, physical, and emotional exploitation. These are games that we often have no choice but to play, where failure isn't met with a cheery "try again" but with very real financial and social penalties. Hon shows how gamification exploits our new fixation on mindfulness; why massive companies like Amazon and Uber are so keen to adopt gamification as fast as they can; why the dangerous QAnon conspiracy theory is deliberately designed like an "alternate reality game"; and why augmented reality could turn our entire lives into a hellish game we can never escape.
Hon writes chillingly about the gamification's dire consequences, but more importantly, he shows us how we can marshal it as a force for good. You've Been Played is a scathing indictment of a tech-driven world that wants us to think misery is fun, and a call to arms for anyone who hopes to preserve their dignity and autonomy, at our jobs and in our lives.
Adrian Hon is the CEO and Founder of independent games developer Six to Start. He is the co-creator of Zombies, Run, an immersive running game which has had 5 million downloads in the United States alone. Adrian previously studied neuroscience at the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford, and the University of California at San Diego. He is the author of A History of the Future in 100 Objects and has written about technology for The Telegraph. Adrian Hon has been profiled in The New York Times and Wired. He's given frequent interviews for the BBC, and wrote a regular tech column for The Telegraph. Hon has spoken and given keynotes for TED, Google, SXSW, The Long Now, the Game Developers' Conference, and more. He has also served as a games consultant for The British Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum. He lives in Edinburgh, UK.
This isn't a dystopian fantasy: points, badges, achievements, and leaderboards are slowly creeping into every aspect of modern life. In You've Been Played, neuroscientist and game designer Adrian Hon provides a blistering takedown of how corporations, schools, and governments are using games to coerce and control workers, students, and all citizens. Although this trend - called gamification - can sometimes work for our benefit, Hon shows us that, in fact, it is more often a high-tech means for behavioral, physical, and emotional exploitation. These are games that we often have no choice but to play, where failure isn't met with a cheery "try again" but with very real financial and social penalties. Hon shows how gamification exploits our new fixation on mindfulness; why massive companies like Amazon and Uber are so keen to adopt gamification as fast as they can; why the dangerous QAnon conspiracy theory is deliberately designed like an "alternate reality game"; and why augmented reality could turn our entire lives into a hellish game we can never escape.
Hon writes chillingly about the gamification's dire consequences, but more importantly, he shows us how we can marshal it as a force for good. You've Been Played is a scathing indictment of a tech-driven world that wants us to think misery is fun, and a call to arms for anyone who hopes to preserve their dignity and autonomy, at our jobs and in our lives.
Adrian Hon is the CEO and Founder of independent games developer Six to Start. He is the co-creator of Zombies, Run, an immersive running game which has had 5 million downloads in the United States alone. Adrian previously studied neuroscience at the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford, and the University of California at San Diego. He is the author of A History of the Future in 100 Objects and has written about technology for The Telegraph. Adrian Hon has been profiled in The New York Times and Wired. He's given frequent interviews for the BBC, and wrote a regular tech column for The Telegraph. Hon has spoken and given keynotes for TED, Google, SXSW, The Long Now, the Game Developers' Conference, and more. He has also served as a games consultant for The British Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum. He lives in Edinburgh, UK.
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Book
Published 2022-09-20 by Basic Books |