I remember an engineer chiding Fold for their spin streaks, when a designer from Fold presented them: "those of us well versed in psychology know this is designed to create behavior and those of us are repulsed by the effort." The designer's response was that they've tested it and it's a mixed bag in favor of the streaks - more people report liking the streak more than they report hating it, at least when asked.

I think part of what makes streaks fun is that they create negative feelings (feelings of virtual loss to be specific) that we have the power to trivially resolve. I think of it in contrast to a video game that you can't lose - what joy is there in winning or can a game without the possibility of losing even be won?

I know you're only bringing this up because it's interesting. For anyone that doesn't like the extraness of the game, we made it so it can be turned off in settings. In general, I think people enjoy being able to win something trivial more than they hate losing something trivial. I also think it's worth viewing these things cynically, but it's better to be able to separate a zero sum game from a positive sum one.

Sort of related, but I recall someone I respect saying around the time SN launched that "you are the product on social media so why would you be someone else's product." I don't know if they were thinking of SN when they said that, but it rings the same to me as the engineer's rejection of Fold's streaks. Not all behavior games are nefarious nor are all social media companies, even if all behavior games and social media companies will trigger a poorly adjusted fight or flight response (which I'm certainly guilty of myself tbh).