The Revolution Will Be Gamified
Ben Thompson on his vibe coding adventure:
The seventh takeaway is another visceral feeling: I’ve made the case that AI is less compelling for consumers than enterprises because only the latter want to pay for productivity; the former want to be entertained. Well, let me tell you, I was pretty entertained making this app, and I already have a bunch of new ideas of stuff I want to do, just because I can. I’m hardly the typical consumer, to be sure, but I understand why all of the vibe coding apps and services are taking off. And, on the flip side, it’s easy to see why AI can make you feel productive without actually being productive. The measurement challenge for enterprises is real.
Power User Generated Content in the age of AI gamifies the making.
It makes me think of the karaoke machine!
Pure Invention: How Japan Made The Modern World by Matt Alt:
The Karaoke Machine wasn’t just about singing. Its democratization of talent would have profound effects on the fantasy lives of Japanese and Westerners both. It was the first device in any sphere of life that let rank amateur performers feel like total pros; those simple assists of retuning and echo effects were the forerunners of all of the high-tech helping hands we take for granted in our modern lives: image-stabilization technologies and Instagram filters that bring snapshots closer to the work of pro photographers; the computer-assisted rhythm guides of concert simulators like Rock Band; the enhanced video game physics that help fumble-fingered Fortnite players feel like Navy SEALs in combat. In giving everyone the chance to be a star, if only for the duration of a song, karaoke paved the way for even more immersive and transformative technologies to come. Karaoke is the original user-generated content, the first network of populist remixers unfettered by gatekeepers—save for the companies happily supplying the machines and recordings to all of us waiting, with our brains switched off, for our turn to sing.
And like Ben Thompson, Karaoke inventor Daisuke Inoue was solving his own problem:
Inoue isn’t an engineer or a tinkerer. He’d very nearly flunked out of his vocational high school. He had an electrician friend build the gadgets to his specifications. But he knows his hiki-katari adversaries well, because he is one of them. In fact, he is one of the best. Local customers call him “Dr. Sing-along” for his almost magical ability to keep up with their drunken warbling. He’d created the machine for a purely pragmatic reason: He was in such demand that he was having to turn down requests for private gigs. This didn’t just eat into his income; it upset his most loyal and deep-pocketed customers.
Inoue understood karaoke's job-to-be-done: let amateur singers feel like the star of the show.
The karaoke machine was a trigger for experience.
The best UGC tools do not merely simplify the work of the expert. They transfer the feeling of expertise and the joy of expression.
Actionable Gamification: Beyond Points, Badges, and Leaderboards by Yu-kai Chou:
Empowerment of Creativity & Feedback is expressed when users are engaged in a creative process where they repeatedly figure new things out and try different combinations.[...]
People not only need ways to express their creativity, but they need to see the results of their creativity, receive feedback, and adjust in turn. This is why playing with Legos and making art is intrinsically fun. If these techniques are properly designed and integrated to empower users to be creative, they often become Evergreen Mechanics: where a game designer no longer needs to continuously add additional content to keep the activity fresh and engaging. The brain simply entertains itself.
Fun is a leading indicator.
The next big thing will start out looking like a toy
What the smartest people do on the weekend is what everyone else will do during the week in ten years
Vibe coding is an amusement in the age of attention.
Karaoke looked like a toy too.