Maybe I've drunk too much of the Alfie Kohn Kool-Aid, but he provides compelling, research-based reasons for upholding such principles as:
"9. If students are rewarded or praised for doing something (e.g., reading, solving problems, being kind), they’ll likely lose interest in whatever they had to do to get the reward.
"10. The more that students are led to focus on how well they’re doing in school, the less engaged they’ll tend to be with what they’re doing in school.
"11. All learning can be assessed, but the most important kinds of learning are very difficult to measure -- and the quality of that learning may diminish if we try to reduce it to numbers."
These principles stand in direct contrast to the reward/punishment, competition-based design of video games, marketing, business management, and our general socio-economic infrastructure, largely because we tend to accept and promote short-term thinking, planning, and gains. Do badges, levels, rewards, grades, bonuses, subsidies, awards, and 'winning' or 'beating' motivate us? Certainly! But for how long, for what, and unto what?