Adrian HonMar 14

Jonathan Haidt just claimed that the pull-to-refresh behaviour in Mail on the iPhone was "literally" copied from slot machines. As someone who has written a book critiquing gamification, this seems totally off.

Pull-to-refresh debuted in 2009 with Tweetie, a 3rd party Twitter client, and subsequently patented. I can't find anything suggesting it was based on or inspired by slot machines.

https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-new-yorker-interview/can-we-save-kids-from-social-media

Show threadTom StaffordMar 14
@adrianhon does it work if he talking about the bounce element (which slots also do, I believe)?
Show threadAdrian Hon
@tomstafford There is a bounce/rubber band element to pull-to-refresh, yes. I really don't see any serious parallel with slots though, unless incorporating physics makes something like slots.
Mar 14 at 1:30pmIvory for Mac
Show threadSebastian DeterdingMar 15
@adrianhon @tomstafford Or the spinning wheel animation? But again, that’s just formal similarity, else every spinning wheel indicating “process is running” is gamblification now.