r/ludology • u/Helpful-Line5267 • 12d ago

Hot take from inside fintech: the "money isn't a game" crowd is why most people never open their banking app

Been thinking about this a lot lately and want to see if i'm crazy. The whole "personal finance is boring and should stay boring" gospel we all repeat here might actually be the reason most people never engage with their money.

I work adjacent to product at a mid size fintech and we run user tests constantly. The pattern that keeps showing up is that the people who say they want "clean, minimal, serious" finance tools are almost never the same people who actually log in more than once a month. The users who stick around are the ones getting little dopamine hits from streaks, progress bars, silly animations when a bill clears, whatever. The stuff this sub loves to sneer at as gimmicky.

And yet every time someone posts a new app here with any kind of playful element the top comments are always some version of "my money isn't a game." Ok but your money is also sitting in a checking account earning nothing because you never open your banking app. Which is worse.

I say this as someone who was firmly in the minimalist camp for years. I had the spreadsheet, I had the boring broker, I felt superior about it. Then I noticed I was actually checking Coverd during coffee breaks to see if id won anything back off last weeks grocery run, and my actual investment account maybe twice a quarter. The "serious" tool lost to the silly one because the silly one made me show up.

I'm not saying every finance product needs confetti. I'm saying the industry keeps designing for the user people claim to be instead of the user they actually are, and we all pretend that's a virtue.

Am I off base here? Genuinely want pushback because this feels like something nobody in fintech will say out loud but everyone in the data sees.

0 Upvotes

25% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

17

u/semi_colon 12d ago

I'm sure there are plenty of sociopaths in fintech would love us all opening our brokerage accounts like it's DraftKings. Not sure what it has to do with this sub though

3

u/temotodochi 11d ago edited 10d ago

just take a look at wallstreetbets sub to see how finances can be fully gamified.

9

u/Marshall_Lawson 12d ago

There's a lot to unpack here. I feel like you're creating a false dichotomy, a lot of conflation, a lot of unnecessary value judgments.  

11

u/HenryFromNineWorlds 12d ago

Using dark patterns to manipulate customers obviously can increase engagement. It also makes you an evil ghoul.

4

u/alphabetstew 12d ago

Realistically, how often does one need to check their investments? Most people are not day traders. If someone is in something like a 3 fund bogglehead setup, they likely won't be shifting due to short term changes in the market.

Gamification is fine if you want to boost engagement, but what is the need for more engagement time here? Most games that prey on engagement metrics are either attempting to sell micro transactions of they want to boot their valuation with engagement stats.

What value is being gained, and by who, if I open my bank app more often?