Gamification Within Restrictive & Tropophobic Workplaces Is Neither Ethical Nor Sustainable

Gamification is everywhere. Gamification is the application of game elements into non-game spaces. However, gamification tries to mask the fact that employees have little, if any, control over the games they are forced to play and hides the fact that these “games” are not games at all.

“Gamified systems are tools, not toys. They can teach complex topics, engage us with otherwise difficult problems. Or they can function as subtle systems of social control. The modern gamified workplace enables control beyond Taylor’s wildest dreams. Games are sets of rules prescribing both actions and outcomes. A gamified workplace sets not just goals for workers but precisely how those goals can be achieved.”

In other words, gamification of the workplace is Taylorism 2.0 but it’s not limited to the workplace.

“Gamification promises easy, centralised overviews and control. It’s a comforting illusion because de facto reality is not as predictable as a simulation. No matter how well-designed, a simulation cannot account for the unforeseen.”

At the end of the day, employees will send a strong message to their bosses because neither their work nor their health is a game.

One of the many problems of a gamified workplace is that it goes beyond micromanagement. “Gamified systems complicate and subvert ethical reasoning.”