Gamify Games

Gamification of conumser or even business software is overplayed.

This sounds only slightly better than "making our product sticky". Egh. That one's the worst. But gamification of things that aren't games isn't much better and means about the same thing.

Get people to come back over and over again. Bug them. Assuage the nagging voice that worries about their subscription cost. Add a talking owl (telling you to invest in your retirement). Delivery daily chests (for flipping the app on momentarily in the checkout line). Become the mayor (of that pitstop restroom on your way through NV).

The content or the functionality should be its own reward. It should be compelling enough. If it's not, the rest is vanity. This is what a company does when they're desparate to make a buck or to look relevant by boosting daily active (chest opening / board game advancing / in-app avatar bejeweling) users.

When do people want to play games? After work, laptop closed, off their phone, with their kids, while playing a game.