C. Thi Nguyen

C. Thi Nguyen, philosopher and author of The Score, explores how metrics reshape what we love and why. He recounts rock climbing, academic rankings, and social media to show how scoring systems capture value. Short, sharp takes on why useful numbers can corrupt purposes and how to reclaim activities that matter to you.

C. Thi Nguyen, philosopher and author of The Score, explores games, play, and how scoring systems reshape what we want. He explains why immersive struggle feels like play. He warns that metrics like grades, likes, and step counts can replace richer values. He discusses when scoring helps and when it captures our desires.

C. Thi Nguyen, philosopher and author who studies games and how systems shape our choices. He explores games as means of agency, why scoring systems and metrics change what we value, and the idea of value capture. Short, vivid stories range from skateboarding to Duolingo. Practical questions about resisting metric-driven life round out the conversation.

C. Thi Nguyen, a philosophy professor and author who studies games and play, discusses the tension between genuine play and metric-driven gamification. He explores Huizinga’s magic circle, Suits’ idea of voluntary obstacles, and the costs of clear scoring. Short, sharp takes on scoring’s portability, value capture, and when metrics strip nuance.

C. Thi Nguyen, a philosophy professor and author of The Score who studies games and play, explores how scoring and metrics have seeped into work and life. He explains why we keep score, how metrics can replace richer values, and the difference between playing to win and playing for the joy of struggle. The conversation looks at historical roots of quantification and practical ways to resist value capture.

C. Thi Nguyen, a philosophy professor and author of The Score, examines how metrics reshape what we value. He contrasts soul-crushing real-world scoring with freeing, voluntary game scores. Conversations cover social media likes, KPIs, gaming’s creative constraints, and ways to escape being reduced to a number.

C. Thi Nguyen, a philosopher specializing in the ethics of games, dives deep into the hidden dangers of modern scoring systems. He explores how social media and metrics can distort our values, transforming rich experiences into mere numbers. Nguyen challenges us to question the 'games' we participate in and highlights the pitfalls of 'value capture.' He advocates for playfulness and reflective control to reclaim our agency, suggesting that we should design our own rules that align with our true values. It's a thought-provoking discussion on finding meaning amid the metrics.

Games are supposed to be fun — so what happens when the logic of games, points and competition escapes the playground and starts reshaping everyday life? The novelist and games-writer Naomi Alderman and her guests explore how the joy of play collides with the pressures of a gamified society.Philosopher C Thi Nguyen introduces The Score, his examination of how ranking systems and numerical targets can both sharpen and warp our values, revealing how life becomes less playful when everything is reduced to points.Journalist and critic Keza MacDonald discusses Super Nintendo, her cultural history of the iconic console, tracing how its games, aesthetics and innovations transformed the medium and helped define what play means for generations of players.The Financial Times' commentator Stephen Bush examines the growing role of games and game like incentives in public life, exploring how the techniques of play — from reward structures to competitive framing — are reshaping political behaviour and communication.Producer: Katy Hickman

In this engaging conversation, philosopher C. Thi Nguyen uncovers the nuances of gamification and how it impacts our lives. He argues that scoring systems often hijack deeper values, transforming meaningful experiences into mere metrics. They explore examples like gamified baptisms and corporate leaderboards, revealing how these systems can misdirect our goals. Nguyen also discusses the addictive nature of play versus its potential for meaningful engagement, offering insights on how to reframe scoring systems to align with personal values and community needs.

C. Thi Nguyen, philosopher and author who studies games and scoring systems, explains why games are an art of process. He explores how scoring reshapes desires and how metrics from institutions steal nuance. Short takes cover why gameplay beauty lives in action, how quantification travels at the cost of context, and ways to resist gameifying our lives.