Paradoxes of Gamification

Paradoxes of Gamification

Paradoxes of Gamification

Gilles Brougère

Abstract

“Writing about gamification is a paradox which is not only related to the term but also to considering that such a term can be used as if it was a concept; the uses of the term are in no way stabilized. The paradox is that gamification is a degamification: it is a question of using a game, of taking elements and characteristics to implant them in an activity whose aims do not refer to leisure or entertainment games. The problem of gamification is to believe that play is in all the game elements and to limit the question to that of devices without taking into account the experiences produced. Serious games and gamified activity would then be neither a primary nor a secondary playful frame, but a new, tertiary frame, by modalizing the playful frame. There is no gamification but a hybridization based on the implementation of elements from games, especially video games”.

Reference

Brougère, G. (2021). Paradoxes of Gamification. The Gamification of Society, 2, 1-18. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/9781119821557.ch1

Keywords 

Gamification, paradox, play