Flutterby™! : Gamification and loyalty

@SeriousPony and @jjg on gamification:

@seriouspony: If we *really* cared about our users we'd take all the persuasive/manipulation tricks (intermittent var rewards, etc.) and do the OPPOSITE

@jjg: @seriouspony If you have to trick someone into loving you, that's not really love at all.

@seriouspony: @jjg amazing that this has to be said, but then... there's an entire industry devoted to "Loyalty". Not to mention a LOT of gamification...

I have been deliberately avoiding vendors which have "loyalty" programs, and I am now more aware than ever that "coupons" are another mechanism for bargaining, for finding out how much my time is worth and trying to make me jump through hoops in order to purchase product at its actual value.

Hopefully we can turn this into a movement.