And what makes them similar to drugs is scheduled rewards. If you see a timer anywhere, it's drug-based design.
Duolingo is absolutely habit forming. It's got positive and negative reinforcements timed at many frequencies: days, weeks, months and years. It's got all sorts of rewards: XP, badges, gems, daily tasks, weekly leaderboards, yearly progress reports. It's got all sorts of punishments: loss of streak, permanent loss of monthly badge, loss of position in leaderboars.
The only thing that excuses all this is the fact it's trying to instill a healthy learning habit which leads to positive results for the user. Unlike the many Skinner's box simulators out there with the reward buttons wired to the player's credit card.
Duolingo is absolutely habit forming. It's got positive and negative reinforcements timed at many frequencies: days, weeks, months and years. It's got all sorts of rewards: XP, badges, gems, daily tasks, weekly leaderboards, yearly progress reports. It's got all sorts of punishments: loss of streak, permanent loss of monthly badge, loss of position in leaderboars.
The only thing that excuses all this is the fact it's trying to instill a healthy learning habit which leads to positive results for the user. Unlike the many Skinner's box simulators out there with the reward buttons wired to the player's credit card.