I think gamification is a misunderstanding of why communities are built around games and people encouraged to improve their skills to rank up.

Instead why not organize a catch-all chat for people to talk, like a Discord. Let people talk off-topic and organize to play games and such as a class if they want.

I think a real time ranking system for students at a university that is visible by all is just going to be targeted for greedy or ambitious people looking to convert it into jobs or money. If I am in the top 10 percent of the rankings in Rocket League sure I can make a few grand streaming, but if I am in the top 10 percent of rankings at a school I can get a better job than the rest. What are the bottom 90 percent's motivation for helping people improve at that point?

> What are the bottom 90 percent's motivation for helping people improve at that point?

I think that's a great point but one that the Rocket League community somehow solves.

With very few exceptions, everyone who plays Rocket League is playing it because they find it intrinsically rewarding. When I taught intro stats I'd guess less than 2% of my students were studying stats because they found it intrinsically rewarding. Even when you get into upper level classes, even among graduate students, the percentage who are taking a class for the intrinsic reward rarely approaches 100%.

Trying to make education more like Rocket League, ignoring the wildly divergent motivations of the people involved, is a fool's errand.

But where does intrinsic motivation come from?

What are the objective differences between getting better at Rocket League and getting better at stats?

Agreed if we don't understand or create a basic framework, trying to put lipstick on a pig and making stats look like Rocket League is dumb.