AdvertisementIt was perhaps inevitable that Elon Musk — a tech titan and a prolific gamer — would try to turn government spending into a game. It's a natural move for Musk, who came up in the tech world in the early 2000s, as "gamification" took hold. "That's that kind of logic that you end up having if you're not really cautious about how it's designed." AdvertisementFor the government, that might hinge on what counts as waste and whether Musk's leaderboard can get people to agree. Otherwise, Hon said gamification might have short-term benefits but backfire in the long term as important, less-tangible factors are crowded out by overemphasizing one metric.

---

Persons: Elon Musk, —, Elon, Musk, Jane McGonigal, McGonigal, Adrian Hon, You've, Richard Landers, it's, you've, Landers, Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, " Landers, Jill, It's, Petrzela, Musk's, gamification, he's Organizations: Service, Government Efficiency, University of Minnesota, SXSW, Netflix, Nike, New School Locations: gamification