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

86 points hussein-khalil | 5 comments | 15 Dec 25 15:48 UTC | HN request time: 0.201s | source

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. kacperlukawski ◴[15 Dec 25 16:26 UTC] No.46276604[source]▶
Although it's in a different area, I wanted to mention https://calmcode.io/ as an excellent example of a calm learning platform.

There is a whole movement around enshittification, and I see potential in this kind of app, even though it still seems to be a niche.

replies(2): >>46277004 #>>46277054 #
2. exasperaited ◴[15 Dec 25 16:56 UTC] No.46277004[source]▶
Oh, thanks for this link. Looks great and it may suit me well. I need to settle in and learn Python but I am experiencing tremendously severe dysregulation at the moment, and my normal quick deep learning is simply not happening.
3. cantdutchthis ◴[15 Dec 25 16:59 UTC] No.46277054[source]▶
Creator of calmcode here, AskMeAnything[tm].
replies(1): >>46277248 #
4. Kerrick ◴[15 Dec 25 17:11 UTC] No.46277248[source]▶
Do you accept contributions?
replies(1): >>46279260 #
5. cantdutchthis ◴[15 Dec 25 19:31 UTC] No.46279260{3}[source]▶
Multiple people have offered but decided against it for a few reasons.

- Proper reviews actually feel like they would take me as much time as doing it myself.

- One benefit of doing it all myself is that all the content has a familiar style.

- The downside of contributions is that a lot of the stuff that I see on YT just simply doesn't fit the style that I intend to have on calmcode. So before accepting contributions it also feels like I would have to vet the person who makes the contrib.

A lot of the aforementioned is more complex now as well due to the fact that folks can pay for the platform. It was a 100% free platform before, and right now it's a 99% free platform and some people pay a stipend to keep the site running. If contributions come in, I would also need to figure out a way to keep the incentives aligned, which also complicates things.

I've had a collaborator in the past and a bunch of things worked out there. But he's gone off to do other things, all of which is fair enough.