一句话：通过 GitHub 移除连续贡献计数器的自然实验，发现游戏化会显著改变开发者行为并可能产生负面引导。
论文研究 GitHub 移除游戏化元素——用户资料页每日活动连续贡献计数器——对开发者行为的影响。作者利用未公告移除所形成的自然实验，比较移除前后平台活动模式。结果发现，长连续活动被放弃且不再常见，周末活动减少，仅做一次贡献的日子减少；平台社交网络中连续行为的同步性也下降，说明游戏化是社会影响的重要渠道。在公开追求连续 100 天贡献目标的开发者中，部分人因公开计数器消失而放弃目标。研究警示：游戏化可能将开发者行为导向意外甚至不期望的方向。
We examine how the behavior of software developers changes in response to removing gamification elements from GitHub, an online platform for collaborative programming and software development. We find that the unannounced removal of daily activity streak counters from the user interface (from user profile pages) was followed by significant changes in behavior. Long-running streaks of activity were abandoned and became less common. Weekend activity decreased and days in which developers made a single contribution became less common. Synchronization of streaking behavior in the platform's social network also decreased, suggesting that gamification is a powerful channel for social influence. Focusing on a set of software developers that were publicly pursuing a goal to make contributions for 100 days in a row, we find that some of these developers abandon this quest following the removal of the public streak counter. Our findings provide evidence for the significant impact of gamification on the behavior of developers on large collaborative programming and software development platforms. They urge caution: gamification can steer the behavior of software developers in unexpected and unwanted directions.
DOI 原文 · arXiv · PDF（开放获取） · DBLP
@inproceedings{MoldonSW21,
title = {How Gamification Affects Software Developers: Cautionary Evidence from a Natural Experiment on GitHub},
author = {Lukas Moldon and Markus Strohmaier and Johannes Wachs},
booktitle = {ICSE},
year = {2021},
doi = {10.1109/icse43902.2021.00058}
}