  The effect of removing gamification elements from interactive systems has
been a long-standing question in gamification research. Early work and
foundational theories raised concerns about the endurance of positive effects
and the emergence of negative ones. Yet, nearly a decade later, no work to date
has sought consensus on these matters. Here, I offer a rapid review on the
state of the art and what is known about the impact of removing gamification. A
small corpus of 8 papers published between 2012 and 2020 were found. Findings
suggest a mix of positive and negative effects related to removing
gamification. Significantly, insufficient reporting, methodological weaknesses,
limited measures, and superficial interpretations of "negative" results prevent
firm conclusions. I offer a research agenda towards better understanding the
nature of gamification removal. I end with a call for empirical and theoretical
work on illuminating the effects that may linger after systems are un-gamified.
