Entertainment or Utility? (more on gamification)

Giff Constablesocial games, UI/UX

Several years back, over beers one evening at GDC (Game Developers Conference), I debated design principles with Bernie Yee, my colleague at Electric Sheep who had previously worked at Sony (Everquest) and at Harmonix (Rock Band). He argued that any product had to choose between being an entertainment property or a utility.  There are a lot of people challenging that …