> That affiliate programs inspire gamification... It’s obviously a win for all involved or they wouldn’t be so popular.
It's not a win for consumers having to spend their time learning the "game" in order to not be left behind and essentially lose money.
I use basically a single credit card with a simple, universal cash-back scheme. I do some extremely simple and low-touch investing on the side. I choose not to waste my time attempting to do a billion other things that everyone else is doing to extract more value from the system, but I'm well aware that I'm probably coming out behind a lot of people as a result. That's not a "win," it's a race to the bottom that I've partially conceded.
It's not a win for consumers having to spend their time learning the "game" in order to not be left behind and essentially lose money.
I use basically a single credit card with a simple, universal cash-back scheme. I do some extremely simple and low-touch investing on the side. I choose not to waste my time attempting to do a billion other things that everyone else is doing to extract more value from the system, but I'm well aware that I'm probably coming out behind a lot of people as a result. That's not a "win," it's a race to the bottom that I've partially conceded.