The Gamification of Education and the Erosion of Intrinsic Motivation

Gamification in education has gained traction in recent years as a means to engage pupils, making learning more interactive, rewarding, and, ostensibly, enjoyable. Points, badges, leaderboards, and rewards systems have infiltrated classrooms under the premise that they encourage participation and persistence. Yet, beneath this shiny veneer of engagement lies a troubling question: is gamification stripping away the intrinsic motivation to learn for the sake of learning?

Low-stakes testing is widely recognised as an effective method to reinforce knowledge, reduce exam anxiety, and improve recall. However, as we incorporate more elements of game design into learning environments, we risk reframing education as a pursuit of extrinsic rewards rather than a process of genuine intellectual curiosity. I often warn against the overuse of novelty tools in education, the tendency to introduce flashy, short-term engagement strategies that ultimately fail to foster deep learning. Gamification amplifies this concern, shifting the focus from the intrinsic rewards of knowledge acquisition to external motivators. Instead of novelty being about fresh perspectives, deep engagement, and intellectual challenge, it becomes about unlocking the next badge, levelling up, or chasing external validation. This subtle but profound shift risks reducing students’ ability to engage with learning for its own sake, turning it into yet another consumable product rather than a transformative process.

Yet, the situation is not entirely one-sided. Gamification, when applied thoughtfully, can provide students with a sense of autonomy and self-direction in their learning. Properly designed game mechanics can enhance intrinsic motivation by fostering mastery, providing meaningful challenges, and creating feedback loops that make progress visible in ways that traditional education often fails to do. Thus, the challenge lies not in the presence of gamification itself but in its implementation, whether it encourages deeper learning or simply conditions students to chase rewards.

Pupils' Perception of Education

A significant shift has taken place in how pupils view education. Many no longer see learning as an enriching process but rather as a series of hoops to jump through in pursuit of grades. Ask a pupil why they study, and many will respond with variations of “to pass my exams,” “to get into university,” or “to get a good job.” While these are valid reasons, they suggest that learning has been reduced to a transactional process, a means to an end rather than an end in itself. This attitude is exacerbated by the gamified elements of modern education, which reinforce the idea that progress is measured in points, scores, and rankings rather than knowledge, understanding, and personal growth.

This shift has real consequences. When the pursuit of knowledge is continuously tied to extrinsic rewards, students become disengaged when those rewards disappear. The joy of reading a complex novel, solving a challenging problem, or exploring a new concept is lost when the focus is always on external validation. Learning, which should be an intrinsic human drive, risks becoming a chore, an activity performed only when incentivised. Moreover, the unintended consequence of excessive gamification is that it can create dependency, where students lose their ability to engage deeply without an external prompt or stimulus. Instead of fostering resilience and intellectual curiosity, it nurtures a need for constant gratification, which is antithetical to genuine learning.

However, it is also crucial to acknowledge that many students thrive in structured, goal-oriented environments. Some learners benefit from tangible progress markers, and for them, gamification may provide the scaffolding needed to develop intrinsic motivation over time. The question, then, is whether we are using gamification as a stepping stone towards intellectual curiosity or as a substitute for it.

Will AI Rekindle the Love of Learning – or Gamify it Further?

The rise of AI in education presents an interesting paradox. On one hand, AI-driven personalisation has the potential to reinvigorate the love of learning by tailoring content to individual interests, making education more relevant, engaging, and meaningful. Adaptive learning platforms can provide pupils with challenges that match their abilities and encourage curiosity-driven exploration. Imagine a world where students can deep dive into topics they are genuinely passionate about, guided by AI that fosters their inquisitiveness rather than simply rewarding their progress.

On the other hand, AI also has the potential to reinforce the gamification trend. Many educational AI systems rely on progress-tracking metrics, gamified elements, and engagement-driven algorithms that focus on keeping students ‘hooked’ rather than intellectually stimulated. If AI is designed primarily to sustain user engagement, will it promote a true love of learning, or simply refine and optimise the game-like structures we already see infiltrating education?

Moreover, there is the risk that AI-driven learning further reduces the agency of students. When algorithms dictate learning pathways, students may become passive consumers of knowledge rather than active participants in their own intellectual growth. If education is to move forward meaningfully, AI must be used to empower learners, not merely to optimise their engagement levels. There is also the ethical dilemma of whether AI, in its pursuit of personalised learning, might further deskill students by removing the necessity of effort and struggle, two critical components of deep learning. If everything is streamlined and ‘made engaging’ through extrinsic motivation structures, are we still cultivating thinkers, or are we merely training users to navigate an educational system designed to keep them consuming rather than creating?

Perhaps the real challenge is to shift the narrative around education itself. If we want pupils to value learning for its own sake, we must model that ourselves. We need to foster environments where curiosity is encouraged, where exploration is prioritised over achievement, and where learning is not just about the reward at the end, but about the process itself. Because, at its core, education should not be a game. It should be a journey.