Abstract

Gamification has been widely accepted in the HCI community in the last few years. However, the current debate is focused on its short-term consequences, such as effectiveness and usefulness, while its side-effects, long-term criticalities and systemic impacts are rarely raised. This workshop explores the gamification design space from a critical perspective, by using design fictions to help researchers reflect on the long-term consequences of their designs.

Introduction

In the last years, we seen the spread of different nonludic applications and services leveraging game elements in their designs. Gamification is defined as the use of “game design elements in non-game contexts” [ 6 ], and has gained popularity as a design technique capable of increasing the user engagement, as well as pushing performances and modifying behavior (e.g. [ 1, 4, 5 ]). However, HCI community is discussing its current role gamification in design. Gamification does have positive impacts in terms of effectiveness on certain target behaviors [ 7 ], but its ability of immersing the user in a pleasurable experience has been put into question [ 11 ], and it has been suggested to investigate new paths for designing for gamification [ 12 ]. It clearly appears that a discussion on the long-term and social impacts of gamification is in need, as it has the power to turn “normal” experiences in enjoyable ones, which could entail different and somehow unexpected side-effects or systemic consequences. Such consequences are rarely taken into account in the current gamification debate, which gives for granted a number of assumptions related to games, enjoyment, and behavior change, that actually should be discussed in deep.

It is possible, in fact, that turning a serious experience in a “fun” one could not always represent the optimal choice for users, who could also be pushed to pursue goals that they did not freely choose, or to accept of being involved in dynamics of which they are not fully aware. Design fictions, then, seem a technique that can address the exploration of such implications of gamification design.

Design fictions

HCI research seems to assume that technology makes users’ lives “more enjoyable, easier, better informed, healthier and more sustainable” [ 9 ]. This premise leads researchers to focus on specific, short-term impacts of their prototypes. However, technology has consequences on both individuals and society, and long-term effects are often ambivalent, difficult to predict, and systemic [ 10 ]. Linehan et al. [ 9 ] stress that HCI researchers are not usually engaged in critical evaluations of the future consequences of their work. Although some exceptions exist [ 13, 14 ], this attitude is also present in the gamification rhetoric, where gamification techniques are discussed with reference to their effectiveness and usefulness, but rarely in terms of their capability of systematically impacting on people’s life and producing long-term side-effects. To explore these aspects, it is necessary to adopt a critical perspective on design, instead of reinforcing its embedded values [ 2 ].

Design fictions present “fantasy prototypes” in plausible near futures [ 3 ] and support the creation of a discursive space where technology assumptions may be put into questions, exploring different alternative futures [ 8 ]. In this volume we explore how design fictions can be used to make us reflect on the unexpected outcomes of gamification.

Jonah Warren in “The Behavior Pioneers Application: An Intentional Community Prototype” describes a fictional questionnaire that has to be completed by applicants to an intentional community devoted to gamifying all aspects of its members’ lives.

Assia Alexandrova, Lucia Rapanotti, and Ivan Horrocks in “RE-PROVO: An Evaluation of Gamification in a Law Enforcement Organization” outline a prototype of an online discussion game designed to support the analysis and critique of functional requirements for legacy system replacement and promote creativity. While Bernd Hollerit, Kenji Tanaka, and Helmut Prendinger in “Contribution of affordances to gamification” propose theoretical reflections about the effects of affordances in gamification Gustavo Tondello and Lennart Nacke in “Gamification Research: a 50-years Retrospective from PBLs Towards Conscious Evolution” present a critical design fiction in which they describe how gamification research could evolve in the new years Lal Bozgeyikli, Andrew Raij, Srinivas Katkoori, and Redwan Alqasemi, instead, in “Effects of Environmental Clutter and Motion on User Performance in Virtual Reality Games” explore the effects of environmental clutter and motion on game design for virtual reality Alessia Calafiore and Amon Rapp in “Gamifying the city pervasive game elements in the urban environment References” envision how a pervasive gamified app may change the relationship between citizens and the urban environments in which they live.

Finally, Seamus Forde in “Including Non-Users and Public Perception in Future Gamification Research” highlights the importance of considering the differences between users and non-users when designing for gamification.

References

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