Is modern life just a game? How we are all being played by government and big business ... and don’t even know it

Your thoughts and decisions, how you work, how your children learn, what you read, what you watch, how you invest your money, how you get fit and even how you have sex are all being manipulated by the same techniques which make computer games addictive. Games insider and neuroscientist Adrian Hon reveals all to our Writer at Large

ARE you a meat robot? Are you literally being played by your employer, government, and big business like a computer game character? Are you one of Pavlov’s dogs – unconsciously doing the bidding of the rich and powerful thanks to a sophisticated digital nudge here, and subtle cyber push there?

The horrible truth is: most of us are being played.

Our lives have been turned into games and we don’t even know it’s happening. Scottish neuroscientist Adrian Hon, who is now one of the world’s most influential games designers, lifts the lid on what is known as “gamification” in his new book You’ve Been Played, investigating how governments, big business, employers, and schools all use the digital techniques which make computer games addictive to control us.

As we’re all online, we are all easy to exploit. Gamification is simply “using ideas from game design for non-game purposes”, says Hon. So, just as computer games reward players with points or levelling up, corporations, governments and schools are using these Pavlovian tricks to “play” us. Remember: every time a bell rang, Pavlov’s dogs obeyed without command. And when humans interact with computers we produce data – and data makes money for business.

The game of work

HERE’S a quick example of “gamification” so you get it right away, even if you have never played a computer game – and you do need to “get it” as this affects everyone. Amazon, Uber, Dominos, T-Mobile, Microsoft,