Oh hey look Harvard Business Review writes about this in 2012:
Gosh… did Disneyland possibly just take things a bit too far?
Why yes! Yes Disneyland did. 
And people, their workers, were hurt. 
In the OP’s linked article:
‘What if we decided to use everything we know about game design to fix what’s wrong with reality?’
Uh huh.
That’s one way to to put it.
Another way is “What if we found a nearly irresistible way to manipulate other people’s internal states for profit and control etc.?” Please don’t write me back with some glib hot take like “if the workers don’t like it they can just quit.” If you have ever had to support your dependents, your family or yourself doing honest labor that you hate, then maybe we can talk. Sometimes people who need to work don’t have a lot of options. They still deserve to be treated fairly.
At the risk of overstating, and to repeat:
The physical activity that developed into sports had early links with ritual, warfare and entertainment.
[emphasis mine]
Games can be used in so many contexts. Orson Scott Card tapped into one of those. Wondering when his version’s going to show up as a reality.
Maybe it already has.
https://www.fastcompany.com/90260703/the-dark-side-of-gamifying-work
FTA:
Even war has been gamified: drone pilots operate in a highly gamified environment. Foeke Postma, a researcher and programme officer at the Dutch peace organization PAX, says that drone warfare often takes the shape of a game, right down to the joysticks or PlayStation-like controllers that the pilots use. ‘The US Airforce and the Royal Air Force have specifically targeted gamers to recruit as drone operators,’ he explains. The US drone program also employs game-like terminology when discussing targets. High-value assassination targets are called ‘jackpots’. Anyone caught near a jackpot during an airstrike is called ‘bugsplatter’. When drone pilots retire or transfer, they’re given a scorecard of kills. Postma says that this framework risks the total dehumanisation of the targets of drone warfare. In an interview with The Guardian , a drone pilot said: ‘Ever step on ants and never give it another thought?’
ETA: grammar [again] (argh)
