One problem with this: people expect to do that in video games. They are spending lots of time to be entertained. For web apps they just want the full functionality right there. They don't want to have to 'work' to get it. I'm not so sure such a model would work well for the web, but it is an interesting idea nonetheless.
I agree. For games people pay to solve made-up problems that are only just challenging enough to be fun.
Games like Zelda and MMOs start simple in order to ease you into the game. Yes, part of the fun is the carrot-on-a-stick, but the importance of the whole dynamic is that you're only given as much as you can handle at one time. Gradually, as you get accustomed to how the game works, complexity is increased.
For productivity software, it might be useful to create a tutorial in the form of a game.
I think the point would be to use this to make the web app more interesting, and it would have to be an integral part of the experience.
I am not sure how exactly it would work either. Seems that similar things already happen in forums where you need certain participation to get badges and access to certains threads...
