How Corporations and Governments Use Games to Control Us
CYBER
VICE
4 • 645 Ratings
🗓️ 4 October 2022
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Do you ever feel like you’re being played? Like the people who run the world have got you on a treadmill that’s feeding you just enough rewards to keep going. Gold stars on your attendance sheet at elementary school. Apps that encourage you to run by pretending you’re fleeing zombies. Bosses that keep track of everyone’s progress in a public spreadsheet, pitting employees against each other.
As video games have gotten more popular, the world of flesh and blood has adopted some of its aspects. Not all of them are good. Gamification is here, all around us, and the powers that be are using it to keep us in line.
On this episode of Cyber ex-neuroscientist, current game developer, and best-selling author Adrian Hon talks about gamification with us. His newest book is You’ve Been Played: How Corporations, Governments, and Schools Use Games to Control Us All.
Stories discussed in this episode:
What Alternate Reality Games Teach Us About the Dangerous Appeal of QAnon
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's got the code it's going to launch. |
| 0:10.3 | It's a unit system. |
| 0:12.7 | I know this. |
| 0:14.7 | It's how all the files of the whole park. |
| 0:16.9 | It tells her everything. |
| 0:18.6 | Sir, he's uploading the virus. |
| 0:21.4 | Eagle One. The package is being delivered. |
| 0:24.7 | Hello out there on the internet. |
| 0:27.0 | I am Matthew Galt, and this is Cyber. |
| 0:29.5 | You ever feel like you're being played? |
| 0:31.3 | Like, the people who run the world have got you on a treadmill. |
| 0:34.1 | It's feeding you just enough reward to keep going. Gold stars on your |
| 0:38.6 | attendance sheet at elementary school, apps that encourage you to run by pretending that you're |
| 0:42.4 | fleeing from zombies, bosses that keep track of everyone's progress in a public spreadsheet, |
| 0:46.9 | even governments keeping track of your credit score. Well, as video games have gotten more popular, |
| 0:52.7 | the world of flesh and blood has adopted some of its aspects, not all of them. Good. |
| 0:57.6 | Gameification is here, and it is all around us, and the powers that be are using it to keep us in line. |
| 1:02.8 | With me here to talk about all of this is ex-neuracientist, current game dev, and best-selling author Adrian Hahn. |
| 1:08.8 | His newest book is You've Been Played, |
| 1:11.2 | How Corporations, Governments, and Schools use games to Control All of Us. |
| 1:16.3 | Adrian, thank you so much for coming on to cyber and walking us through this. |
| 1:20.2 | Great to be here. All right, so I'd like to start off with basics. We're going to be talking |
... |
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