I can't deny that gamification is powerful. But it makes me nervous. It can be used to amplify the intrinsic value of an activity or achievement, but I think more often it does the opposite, replace the intrinsic with the extrinsic.

For me this is the problem with capitalism where greed for money replaces whatever your original vision of a life well lived was. It's the problem with grades in school where greed for an "A" replaces the idea of learning valuable things.

For me this is the problem with Automattic. There is no doubt in my mind that Automattic is an amazing company that has made so many wonderful contributions and offers real voice to millions of people.

But Automattic wants people to feel satisfied with their blogs so much that they're willing to distort reality. Automattic blocks "real" Google Analytics (which ironically you can get on Tumblr) and instead gives users only their own dubious stats. Worse, they send a year end summary of how you did which may technically not lie about numbers but tries hard to distort what the numbers mean. They equate your hits / visits for the year with seats in some famous theater or stadium and say your blog would have filled this venue up 100 or however many times.

This is silly and insulting! A concert at Radio City Music Hall represents expensive tickets bought weeks or months in advance, days of anticipation, a day planned around the event, leaving work early, perhaps new clothes, likely an incredible dinner before or after, and days of telling friends about one of the peak experiences of your life.

To equate a single visit to your blog, with a single seat at Radio City is absurd! That blog visit was probably a bounce, it it wasn't it was probably under 2 minutes, and the chances of it having been a peak experience in anyone's life are remote at best.

So Automattic doesn't "lie" exactly, but they intentionally distort wildly. I think the problem is that they're too eager to have happy, satisfied bloggers, to tell bloggers the truth. Lots and lots of blogs have very minimal impact and are read by very few people. That's not necessarily bad or good, and individual bloggers can go forth with whatever goals they choose, but I think if you work hard on a blog you deserve the truth you need, not the overblown validation you desire.

Of badges and other gamification elements I worry that it's more feel-good validation in place of letting the blog itself be forefront. Maybe you get lots of comments and have a great cultural conversation on your blog. Great! Maybe you don't. Maybe you're ok with that. Maybe you want to explore ways to become part of a more interactive community. But if Wordpress is about content and the freedom to express, then let it be about that, not about dubious badges in a virtual trophy case.