The Score: How to Stop Playing Somebody Else's Game

_The Score: How to Stop Playing Somebody Else's Game_ examines the psychological and societal impact of metrics, rankings, and gamification. The main topic is **"value capture"**—the process by which institutions offer simplified, quantified versions of our complex values, leading us to optimize for the metric rather than our original goals. Nguyen explores the tension between the joy found in the temporary scoring systems of games and the soul-crushing nature of permanent, institutional metrics.