

Ask HN: "Badges" anyone else a little unenthused?  - andrewstuart

Seems every new site is offering me the chance to gain a badge of one form or another.<p>This trend doesn't grab me so much - I don't want 'badges' for anything.  Is that because I'm an old grump?  Are all the young hipsters super enthused about sporting all sorts of digital badges?<p>I like the concept of gamification but shouldn't it be more smooth and less jarring than offering 'badges'?<p>Are there any good websites out there parodying badges?  Maybe the Hipster Hacker http://twitter.com/hipsterhacker is working on a badge heavy new social site with node.js and mongodb?<p>Perhaps there is a commercial opportunity for a website that converts all your digital web 2.0 badges into real world embroidered badges so your mum can sew them onto your flannel shirt sleeves.
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citizenkeys
Here's a good article on the psychology of badges:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2328684> . And here's one about
achievement design: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2356944> .

Badges motivate users to set goals. Badges are also symbols of status and
reputation.

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andrewstuart
They look like good articles - will read them over the weekend. Maybe the
badge concept is a bit less appealing if its overexposed/overused.

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mryan
Badges do absolutely nothing for me in the web/app context. Twice in the last
week or so I have clicked a link from HN and been taken to a site which awards
me with a "Just Arrived" badge simply for visiting the site. I can see what
they are trying to achieve as the site tells me I need to sign in with FB in
order to keep the badge, but that implementation was nothing but an annoyance.

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andrewstuart
This example really illustrates the point.

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unohoo
Here's a startup idea: a marketplace for badges. if that ever happens, i will
give up my tech profession and take up some other career

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citizenkeys
Only because you mentioned it... badges are "virtual goods", which is to say
that badges are digital artifacts with a visual representation. A marketplace
for badges is basically Zynga's entire business model.

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lowprofile
I moved passed gold stars on my papers a long time ago, but gamefication will
be a huge driver of behavior. Skinner would be proud.

~~~
citizenkeys
<http://star.me> for all your gold star needs.

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trafficlight
Some badges/achievements work for me and some don't. For instance, I'm
addicted to Team Fortress 2 achievements, but I couldn't care less for them on
Foursquare or Stack Overflow.

I think context is important. It makes sense to me in a real game, but not so
much for a website like Stack Overflow.

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pinko
For a second I parsed this as indicating that HN had instituted a system of
badges, about which you were unenthused... phew!

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andrewstuart
Given the industry trend for badges I wouldn't be surprised. Do I get an HN
badge for having karma over 400?

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pinko
Over 500 (or somesuch -- it's a moving target) gets you the ability to
downvote.

Which raises an interesting point -- badges do nothing for me, but feature
unlocking is compelling, as much as I wish it weren't. I don't _actually_
care, but if I stop paying attention I often find myself behaving as if I did.

