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Okay, so now we have a free, personalized education system that adapts to your personal learning<br />
preferences. What could be better? Well, gamification, of course! "Gamification" is the process by<br />
which school begins to look progressively more like World of Warcraft. It is predicted to be the<br />
next big trend in education, right after MOOCs.<br />
Let me give you an example of how gamification works. INTJs are one of the types that most likes<br />
learning languages. As any one who has taken a language knows, there's a lot of vocabulary<br />
memorization, drills, grammar rules, etc. The teacher gives lectures to explain new material, and<br />
you are expected to translate sentences for homework. Occasionally there will be an in-class<br />
learning game (like a crossword puzzle or bingo).<br />
There are many ways in which this content could be digitized. Lectures could be recorded;<br />
homework autograded by computer; drills run by a flashcard program, etc. This was all done years<br />
ago by programs like Rosetta Stone. The problem with such programs is that they are<br />
phenomenally overpriced. And also no fun.<br />
Duolingo, an online language learning program, solves both these problems by being a.) free, and<br />
b.) gamified. The program incorporates the videogame concepts of lives, points, and levels. A<br />
learner can brag to their friends that they are a Level 14 in Portuguese, have 14,000 skillpoints, and<br />
have solved the lessons with all three hearts remaining. A friendly NPC (non player character) owl<br />
expresses joy when you play and misery when you skip your daily lesson. What's more, Duolingo<br />
users outperform Rosetta Stone users on language tests.<br />
This is only the most basic sort of gamification, of course, but the program's developers have<br />
already expressed interest in adding more game features. One can easily imagine uses for 14,000<br />
skillpoints—purchasing items, opening cut scenes, unlocking easter eggs, adding new abilities, etc.<br />
The possibilities are almost endless. Can you imagine a future where a child voluntarily spends<br />
nine hours a day practicing Spanish vocabulary words to level up their character? That's where<br />
things are headed.<br />
So remember how INTJs are one of the types that most likes computer games? I predict that when<br />
gamification becomes the norm—because it inevitably will—INTJs will be one of the types that<br />
enjoys it the most. I can only imagine what will happen when these two great INTJ pastimes merge<br />
into one united venture. INTJ children will whine, "But mom, it's a learning game!"
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