FGE 2016: FICTIONAL GAME ELEMENTS: Critical Perspectives on Gamification
Design
International Workshop @ The ACM SIGCHI Annual Symposium on Computer-Human
Interaction in Play (CHI PLAY), 16th-19th October, Austin, Texas
Workshop Website: https://fge2016.wordpress.com/
Important dates
- Workshop participation submissions: 26th July, 2016
- Workshop participation notification: 12th August, 2016
- Workshop day: October 16, 2016
Motivation
Scholarship in HCI on gamification is largely focused on evaluating the short-term effectiveness and usefulness of this design technique, while other, and perhaps more important aspects, are not receiving similar attention. Side-effects, long-term and systemic consequences, ethical and societal impacts and concerns are rarely raised in the present gamification rhetoric, and a variety of assumptions related to games, fun, and enjoyment
are far from being taken into question.
In this workshop we want to fill this gap by eliciting a critical discourse about gamification design by using design fictions. We want to engage researchers in asking not only could it be done? but also should it be done? and how would society look like if this will be done?.
Are there fields in which gamification should not be employed? What are the unexpected impacts/side effects that a pervasive gamification design could produce on the individual and society (e.g. addiction, individualism, escapism, hedonism)? What if entire aspects of our life will be turned into a game? What if novel, more effective, immersive, and pleasurable game elements will be successfully employed in gamification design? Is gamification implicitly reinforcing some aspects of our society (e.g. consumerism, individualism)?
Primary aim of the workshop is to encourage reflection on the consequences of gamification design, by framing it in unusual, ambiguous, provocative perspectives, through the design of fictional prototypes in plausible distant futures, as well as in utopian or dystopian societies.
Topics
Relevant workshop topics include but are not limited to:
i) Envisioning of future and unexpected uses of gamification techniques;
ii) Theoretical reflections about how games and gamification could change
our lives in the future;
iii) Critical insights on side-effects of gamification design;
iv) Ethical issues related to the employment of gamified technologies;
v) thought-provoking designs of novel gamified applications and their
evaluation;
vi) novel game design elements and gamification techniques;
vii) fictional prototypes, evaluations, scenarios of “critical” gamified
systems
Submissions
Submissions are accepted in three forms.
Option 1: is a standard position paper, where authors discuss one of the
workshop topics (4-6 page long).
Option 2: is a contribution in the form of a “critical” design fiction (for
example in the form of a short narrative/future scenario), in which authors
may explore the future consequences of their work and of gamification
design. is a contribution in the form of a “critical” design fiction, in
which authors may explore the future consequences of their work and of
gamification design (2-6 page long). Authors are also encouraged to
construct a critical piece in the form of a film, storyboard, instruction
manual, advertising, ppt presentation or similar and then annotating that
artifact using the extended abstract text format. (2-6 page long).
Option 3: is a manifestation of interest where authors explain how their
area of expertise may be relevant for the workshop discussion, and/or why
they would like to participate (2-4 page long).
Format: All the options should be in the ACM Extended Abstract Format and
should not be anonymized.
Papers will be reviewed mainly on the basis of their potential to trigger
insights for the design phase of the workshop.
Accepted papers will be published in the workshop proceedings and posted on
the workshop website. Selected submission will be considered for a special
issue in an international journal.
Please submit by email to: amon.rapp@gmail.com
Organizers
Amon Rapp, University of Torino
Federica Cena, University of Torino
Frank Hopfgartner, University of Glasgow
Juho Hamari, University of Tampere
Conor Linehan, University College Cork
