this post was submitted on 09 Jan 2024
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"There are thousands of volunteers who donated their labour to Duo... Bit by bit all of our work was hidden from us as Duolingo became a publicly-traded company." (aus.social)
submitted 1 year ago by Star@sopuli.xyz to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] brrt@sh.itjust.works 46 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I still had the app installed on my iPhone because I wanted to learn a new language a few years back. Just recently checked their App Store page and saw extensive data collection, monthly subscriptions and some kind of “gem” currency. Immediately deleted.

[–] Waluigis_Talking_Buttplug@lemmy.world 26 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They tried to gamify the process, you use gems to buy an off day for a streak

[–] unrelatedkeg@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 1 year ago

Nothing against gamification, but when they added lives about two years after they said they never will I lost any and all trust I had in them.

[–] FrostyCaveman@lemm.ee 14 points 1 year ago (2 children)

lol learning a new language needs gems. Jesus fucking christ

[–] vsh@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That sounds hilarious.

But then you remember that people had been trying to learn a single language through their entire lives in ancient Rome, Egypt etc. We are indeed lucky to have gems gamifying the process.

[–] blind3rdeye@lemm.ee 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I just don't know how I could ever accomplish anything in my life without the totally benign and helpful motivation provided by Gems™. They're gamerrific! ^Buy some today.^

[–] vsh@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

Duolingo gems are only there to freeze your daily streak and join streak challenges. You don't need them.

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The gems aren't as predatory as they seem.

[–] Kushia@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

They still seem like unnecessary garbage though.

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 3 points 1 year ago

The only truly useful thing you get from them is streak freezes (basically to keep your streak if you miss a day). I think they're fine.