Gamification Is SH*T: Or Is It?

Gamification, the integration of game mechanics into non-game contexts, has garnered both passionate advocates and vocal judgment [1]. This research delved into the polarized discourse surrounding gamification, exploring the spectrum of sentiments expressed online through a netnographic and critical review approach. Leveraging data from blogs, social media posts, non-scientific short articles and scientific articles, this study examined the negative keywords used to describe gamification, such as ‘gamification is wrong’ and ‘gamification sucks’. Utilizing web crawler Octoparse, we scrutinized the digital landscape to uncover the factors of gamification subject to critical scrutiny [2]. As gamification finds increasing applications in tourism, enhancing customer experiences by making routine tasks like booking trips more interactive and engaging, understanding its challenges is crucial. The research questions focus on discerning the factors critically reviewed online and evaluating their validation in existing scientific research. Subsequently, the aim is to identify gaps in validation, highlighting areas in need of further research. Grounded in gamification theory, our findings unveil the main negative concerns associated with gamification and assess their validity based on existing scholarly literature. This analysis identified these concerns as either already researched topics or potential research gaps.