Could Gamification Lead to an Inevitable Acceptance of a Social Credit Score System?!?

I have recently learned of the concept of “gamification” in education, though most of us have experienced “gamification” in some way in our lives so first. First, let's quickly describe what “gamification“ is. Gamification means, according to this website article by HMH, “...hat educators apply game design elements to an educational setting. The goal is usually to make learning more engaging.” This may sound interesting and intriguing, but there is the potential for something dark to rise from this.

I have learned about gamification in several of my masters classes during this program and there have been some healthy debates on the subject. I don't even want to discuss the value of whether gamification is even better or is an effective tool in education. When I first heard this topic in class, I was immediately revolted by it due to the implications it may provide and lead to. Essentially, my instinctual worry is that gamification of education for students at their young age may condition young learners for a draconian, dystopian, oppressive social credit system. Personally, I have enjoyed video games throughout my life. Though in my old-ER age, I just have not had the time/luxury to entertain myself with video games. While many video games can serve just as simple entertainment, however, there are some video games, such as the Metal Gear Solid series, are often considered high art video games, and have been considered to have more intelligent and compelling stories than many/most movies. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty has had a profound effect on me for my entire life. I could write a whole article myself on the impact of Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, but that is not the purpose of this blog.

Simply put, aside from all of the other problems I feel may come from gamification, such as the potential for students to become obsessed about winning or the points of the game, or in the extreme situation that a student may take their own life due to a perceived error playing the game, or their character being deleted (which has actually happened in the past, when someone deleted their World of Warcraft character). I am focusing on the idea that students may be so primed and conditioned to strive for points, that not only may the actual education be ignored, but may lead people to ultimately passively accept or even jump with delight of a social credit score system.

For the sake of brevity, a social credit score system has been “pioneered“ by China, specifically the Communist Party of China, though other countries are considering having their own systems as well For additional brevity I will paste an explanation of the social credit score system: “The social credit initiative calls for the establishment of a unified record system so that businesses, individuals and government institutions can be tracked and evaluated for trustworthiness.[13][14][15][16] There are multiple, different forms of the social credit system being experimented with,[17][18] while the national regulatory method is based on blacklisting and whitelisting.[5][19] The credit system is closely related to China's mass surveillance systems such as Skynet,[20][21][22] which incorporates facial recognition, big data analysis, and artificial intelligence.[23][24][25][26][27]“ Furthermore, “According to the Chinese government's 2015 Plan for Implementation, the Social Credit System was due to be fully implemented by 2020. Once implemented, the system will manage the rewards and punishments for businesses, institutions and individuals on the basis of their economic and personal behavior. Punishments for poor social credit include increased audits and government inspections for businesses, reduced employment prospects, travel bans, exclusion from private schools, slow internet connection, exclusion from high-prestige work, exclusion from hotels, and public shaming. Rewards for positive social credit include less frequent inspections and audits for businesses, fast-tracked approvals for government services, discounts on energy bills, being able to rent bikes and hotels without payment of a deposit, better interest rates at banks, and tax breaks.[75]

As of June 2019, according to the National Development and Reform Commission of China, 27 million air tickets as well as 6 million high-speed rail tickets had been denied to people who were deemed "untrustworthy (失信)" (on a blacklist), and 4.4 million "untrustworthy" people had chosen to fulfill their duties required by the law.[76][77] Certain personal information of the blacklisted people is deliberately made accessible to the society and is displayed online as well as at various public venues such as movie theaters and buses,[74][78][79][80] while some cities have also banned children of "untrustworthy" residents from attending private schools and even universities.[81][82][83][84][85] On the other hand, people with high credit ratings may receive rewards such as less waiting time at hospitals and governmental agencies, discounts at hotels, greater likelihood of receiving employment offers and so on.“

Pretty alarming stuff. In the end, this conversation needs a long and serious conversation. To me, at this point, unless someone can prove otherwise, I see a direct connection from students becoming enamored with gamification to a population conditioned to actively desire a social credit score system. Does this mean that I think every student will immediately go from gamification to a social credit score? Of course not. Does that mean that many students will succumb to it? Potentially. Should we all be concerned that it might affect an untold amount of people? Absolutely.

My overall thoughts about using technology in the classroom as a whole, and the

gamification process specifically, is how I always see technology. Technology is a tool,

and a tool is not inherently good or bad, it is how it is used and implemented, and the

way I see it is, humanity often accepts, even as our history has shown, demand the bad

in their lives, because it is, or is perceived to be the quickest solution and the path of

least resistance. In conclusion, is see gamification as similar to the actual democratic

process, in order for either it to be successful, and to avoid the quick traps to darkness,

you need students/a citizenry that is highly educated and capable of critical thinking to

avoid the potential slippery slope into a world of darkness. I hope I am wrong about

gamification. If students can adequately be informed about both the benefits, and

potential benefits of gamification, then I suppose it will be useful in the classroom.

Gamification, like any other technology, has the potential to be a benefit or a hazard for

our lives and I see gamification turning bad very quickly. Let's hope that I am wrong, for

all of our sake.