I just had a (friendly) discussion with a colleague from gamification. It struck me that it is becoming increasingly common for a behavior-oriented approach to be labeled as gamification simply because it addresses a human need (which every behavior-oriented approach does).
First, this is complete nonsense from a scientific point of view. Just because something plays on a person's loss aversion, for example, does not mean it is gamification.
And secondly, because gamification wants to be everything (if you go by what many providers in this field say), outsiders don't really see it as a discipline with a ‘profile’.
This in turn leads to ‘zero’ USP and makes it very difficult to argue and demonstrate its real benefits.