5 - [Behavioral Economics] The Gamification Of Work

Exploring Connections to Historical Protests and Workplace Evolution

Gig work arose in the 2000s due to the proliferation of the internet and mobile communication technologies. An important distinction between gig work and conventional work is that conventional work mandates fixed working hours, whereas gig work revolves around a flexible schedule through "independent and contractual labor". Another distinction is that gig workers are compensated based on one key performance indicator, such as a particular task being completed. Gamification is the process of designing an activity to be more gamelike to galvanize participants. It is billed as having the potential to make tasks less mundane and solve problems such as organizational productivity or exercise performance, among others. "Ludefaction: Fracking of the Radical Imaginary" is written by Graeme Kirkpatrick, a professor of Social and Cultural Theory. The text explores the history and negative aspects of gamification concerning work. Kirkpatrick defines gamification as recreating existing activities as games. Through reading Kirkpatrick's text and exploring gig work, it could be concluded that gig work is heavily gamified. It could also be concluded that gig work's creation and adoption hold similarities to the changes in work spurred by the protests against the social and economic positions offered in the 1960s.

First, it is important to establish that gig work is gamified. Ashwin Seshagiri, the deputy editor of New York Times Business, describes that "Employing hundreds of social scientists and data scientists, Uber has experimented with video game techniques, graphics and noncash rewards of little value that can prod drivers into working longer and harder — and sometimes at hours and locations that are less lucrative for them". Uber is a rideshare service. Rideshare services, like other gig work employers, structure pay based on the number of times (or distance) a particular task is completed. Not only is Uber the dominant rideshare service in the United States, but Uber's practices, as described by Seshagiri, are similar to those of other gig work jobs. To conclude, Uber and other gig work jobs utilize tactics including employing video game techniques, among others. This is in line with Kirkpatrick's definition of gamification.

Next, it is important to consider previous causes of changes in how people work. Kirkpatrick delves into this by mentioning, "It was just this seriousness that the 1960s counterculture took exception to. In a movement sometimes characterized as a 'great refusal' of work and of the social and economic positions on offer in late industrial capitalism, the youth of that time denounced the dull acquiescence of their elders". Kirkpatrick then goes on to mention that "Their content analysis of management science texts in the 1980s and 1990s reveals that the capitalist workplace was deliberately redesigned to take account of what they call the 'artistic critique' of the class of 68. The 'artistic critique' became the basis for a 'recuperation' of the system". In the 1960s, protests emerged against the work expectations of that time. These demands for a workplace that was less like work and more fun led to a revision of work. Kirkpatrick goes on to describe how "The 'new spirit' of capitalism incorporates the notion that work should be attractive, even fun, and relies upon the autonomy of individual workers, rather than having managers telling them what to do all the time". In conclusion, changes to the workplace were fueled by businesses accommodating the demands of the 1960s counterculture.

Finally, a connection could be made between the 1960s counterculture that sparked changes to the workplace in the subsequent decades and the protests against the status quo in the 2000s, and the creation of gig work in the 2010s that followed. In 2007, a recession drove protests against social and economic inequality. In an article profiling Occupy Wall Street protesters, it is described that: "the appeal of OWS is 'beyond political': it is 'spiritual and philosophical.' Her day-to-day work life is defined by the principles of horizontalism, autonomy, and collectivism. Like a lot of Occupiers, Katie says that the point of working without hierarchies is to 'show through direct action that something else is possible.... This empowers people who have no power in the real world, but in this world they do, and this changes human potential and the human value system'". The decade after the Occupy Wall Street protests marked the rise of gig work apps such as Uber and Lyft, which aimed to provide flexibility and micro-entrepreneurship to workers. A thumbnail for an Uber driver advertisement titled ”Fallon chooses flexibility” | Uber overlays a portrait of the Uber driver in the video's title with the text "I choose flexibility”. Taking into consideration what was established in the previous paragraphs regarding gamification of gig work, this pattern of protests leading to changes in the workplace that include a more flexible, less hierarchical, and gamified workplace is similar to that of the 1960s counterculture and the changes to work in the subsequent decades. To conclude, by considering a profile of an Occupy Wall Street protester, a connection could be made between the 1960s counterculture that propelled changes to the workplace in the following decades.

In conclusion, gig work is gamified. The text "Ludefaction: Fracking of the Radical Imaginary" explores the history and negative aspects of gamification concerning work. Kirkpatrick defines gamification as recreating existing activities as games. Through reading Kirkpatrick's text and exploring gig work, it could be concluded that gig work is heavily gamified. It could also be concluded that gig work's creation and adoption hold similarities to the changes in work spurred by the protests against the social and economic positions offered in the 1960s. This conclusion was achieved through considering multiple sources, including business experts' observations of gig work employers such as Uber, Uber's advertisements targeting gig workers, and an article profiling the Occupy Wall Street protesters.