Duolingo is replacing hearts with energy

is a news editor covering technology, gaming, and more. He joined The Verge in 2019 after nearly two years at Techmeme. Duolingo is making a big change: it’s moving on from hearts in favor of a new “energy” mechanic. The idea is to switch from a system that punishes mistakes to one that’s intended to feel more motivating — and a bit more gamified. Under the old system, you’d lose a heart if you made a mistake while doing a lesson. To earn hearts back, you could do things like watch an ad, pay for a full refill using Duolingo’s Gems currency, or just wait for the hearts to refresh. Under the new system, you’ll spend one unit of energy to complete an exercise, and a mistake will cost one energy. But you’ll also get extra energy back at a randomized rate for completing multiple lessons right in a row. As a result, users should be able to do more lessons, and that’s what’s showing up in the data, Moses Wayne, a senior staff engineer at Duolingo, tells The Verge. GIF: Duolingo “We feel ... Read full article.