Related reading
Johan Huizinga · 1938
Why read it
They are the foundation of the theory of play. You need to read them to understand why play is part of being human, and why I am convinced that, well designed, it can make this work.
Where the book parts ways
Huizinga shows that play is older than culture and lives in a space set apart, with rules of its own. The Manifesto wants to carry the rules of play into daily life, and that is its riskiest bet, because what works inside a game may work precisely because the game has an edge.
Related reading
Roger Caillois · 1958
Why read it
They are the foundation of the theory of play. You need to read them to understand why play is part of being human, and why I am convinced that, well designed, it can make this work.
Where the book parts ways
Caillois separates free play from play with rules, which he calls ludus. The Ludist Manifesto takes its name from that word and is ludus in Caillois's sense, rules, effort and progress that can be measured. Reading him helps you see what that gains and what it leaves out, the free side of play.
Cited in the book
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi · 1990
Why read it
I know flow first hand. Writing these books, once I enter that zone I can spend hours without tiring and without getting up, and I need a signal from outside to notice it is time to stop or switch to something else. Csikszentmihalyi gave a name and data to something anyone who has lived it recognizes.
Where the book parts ways
Csikszentmihalyi found that people have their best experiences when the challenge matches their skill, and that this happens more at work than at leisure. The book turns that idea against Taylor and adds what the study itself revealed, that even in flow people would rather be somewhere else. That is why making work more interesting is not enough; what matters is who controls the task and whom the work is for.
Cited in the book
Edward L. Deci and Richard M. Ryan · 1985
Why read it
Chapter 19 rests on them, and the book returns to their work when it examines its own cracks. Read them to understand why a person commits without anyone watching, and why a badly placed reward can switch off exactly that.
Where the book parts ways
Deci and Ryan show that people truly commit when they have autonomy, know they are capable and feel part of something, and that tangible, promised rewards can switch that drive off. The book builds on those three needs and does not hide the tension; a system that rewards effort with concrete access walks right along that edge, and the book argues it out instead of treating it as settled.
Related reading
· Read with a warning
Jane McGonigal · 2011
Why read it
Read it with Goodhart close at hand. The intuition is good and I share it, but her own project was measured with surveys, without a comparison group and by people who stood to gain if it went well. You do not need to be a scientist to see that, and learning to see it is exactly what makes this book worth reading.
Where the book parts ways
McGonigal proposes carrying into real life the energy people pour into games. The Manifesto shares the intuition that a good game system moves people better than an order does, but not the promise. EVOKE measured enthusiasm with surveys and no comparison group, and the book requires that group before day one, because gathering hundreds of people to try something new produces enthusiasm all by itself.
