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Ask HN: Is building a calm, non-gamified learning app a mistake?

86 points hussein-khalil | 6 comments | 15 Dec 25 15:48 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source | bottom

I’ve been working on a small language learning app as a solo developer.

I intentionally avoided gamification, streaks, subscriptions, and engagement tricks. The goal was calm learning — fewer distractions, more focus.

I’m starting to wonder if this approach is fundamentally at odds with today’s market.

For those who’ve built or used learning tools: – Does “calm” resonate, or is it too niche? – What trade-offs have you seen when avoiding gamification?

Not here to promote — genuinely looking for perspective.

1. karpovv-boris ◴[15 Dec 25 16:15 UTC] No.46276432[source]▶
Could we say that Anki is a non-gamified app for learning?
replies(2): >>46276541 #>>46279462 #
2. MangoToupe ◴[15 Dec 25 16:22 UTC] No.46276541[source]▶
Anki is complicated to the point of being intimidating. Even just the card/note split is quite confusing—I built another app to drill me on decks backwards and forwards because I found this so confusing.
replies(2): >>46276656 #>>46279247 #
3. koakuma-chan ◴[15 Dec 25 16:29 UTC] No.46276656[source]▶
+1 Anki has a terrible UX
replies(1): >>46277148 #
4. Kerrick ◴[15 Dec 25 17:04 UTC] No.46277148{3}[source]▶
Consider Hashcards: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46264492
5. theshrike79 ◴[15 Dec 25 19:30 UTC] No.46279247[source]▶
Yep. My kids needed a flashcard system and I tried, I truely tried to create Anki cards for them.

It ended up being easier to Vibe code a bespoke one that took the input in a format that was easier to provide.

6. siva7 ◴[15 Dec 25 19:46 UTC] No.46279462[source]▶
Anki had always the problem of being difficult to figure out how to use it effectively for learning. It's like C++. A million ways to shoot yourself in the foot if you use it wrong.