Douglas Stewart picked my brain and put his findings on paper in this revealing interview he did with me. I talked about the concerns I have with the movement, where my passion comes from, how I want to promote a better vision about Gamification and what it means. About two weeks ago Douglas asked me if I wanted to do an interview with him and if I needed to prepare it. I said that I want it to be a spontaneous conversation preparing it would spoil that. So here is the result, I hope you enjoy it.

Horst Streck is a well known and respected name in the games industry: Having gone from founding Sioux Media Productions in 2001 to entering the casual games market as CEO of award winning brand YoudaGames in 2007, he stepped down to an advisory board role in 2012 to start his new venture: Gamifier.

Horst talked to me about Gamification, discussing his concerns with the movement, why he is so passionate about the subject and how with this new venture he wants to promote a better vision of Gamification and what it means.

Q: Horst, when it comes to Gamification I see a lot of it being hijacked by people who in my personal opinion don’t really have any business talking about it.

What I see at the moment are companies using the same game mechanics over and over. You know: achievements, rewards, and badges etc, all the standard mechanics that make casual games work. They all use that, one following another but it won’t work for the long term. Returning to your question, of course people now see this as a new big business and when I look at their background I’m left wondering where they get their knowledge from. Not all of them, but many have no background in game development at all.

They just use the common mechanisms in games that get people from one level to another, and then insert them everywhere into a website and believe that should do the trick. In my opinion, if Gamification continues to follow that road, it won’t last another year.

Q: So how do we change that?

For the answer and more: please read the complete interview.