You’ve come up with some ideas, and they might be really good - but can we be expected to “like” them before you’ve shown some evidence or data to back them up?
Multiple exclamation marks and bold text do not make a point more believable.
Discourse uses gamification in a very measured way. To me it strikes the correct balance between rewarding good behaviour and turning conversation into a daft point-scoring exercise that rewards egos rather than civilised discourse.
You said Discourse isn’t addicting. I find it very addicting, as do plenty of my forum users.