PositiveNew York Times Book ReviewHon slips easily between the perspectives of expert, enthusiast and critic. An education in neuroscience informs his explanation of the behaviorist underpinnings of gamification ... Some of the book’s most insightful moments come when Hon discusses how his team considers ethics and user experience when deciding how much to use gamification tricks in their own work ... Firsthand testimony...is often illuminating and persuasive. That Hon is neither Luddite nor scold lends his criticisms of gamification bite and authority. You’ve Been Played is at its sharpest when Hon dresses down lazy or coercive gamification ... Hon makes a strong and sophisticated argument that workplace gamification is in fact \'doubly coercive\' ... Less cogent are digressions into some au courant topics for digital hand-wringing, like conspiracy theories and crowdsourcing criminal investigations, whose relevance here is less obvious ... Still, the book is charming and accessible enough to overcome these moments of overreach, just as you might excuse some hyperbolic asides in a conversation with your nerdiest friend about why he is both worried and optimistic about tech’s future. It’s worth keeping up your reading streak to finish.
