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It’s All in the Game: Emancipation in Digitalized Working Environments

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Abstract

In this chapter, Schobin and Staab argue that digitalization is in many ways a process of gamification (i.e., the introduction of game routines and game elements into non-gaming contexts). In particular, the authors maintain that gamification has to be understood as a key strategy by which digital infrastructures ensure cooperation from users. Therefore, it can be linked to both: to the intensification of direct modes as well as to the broadening of indirect modes of labor process control. On the flip side, this insight suggests that the level of user autonomy achievable in gamified work situations can be described by three skill steps: first, by the adaptation to the gamified system; second, by the mastery of the game’s formal opportunities; and, third, by subverting the rules that define the gamified process.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Kassel, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany

    Janosch Schobin & Philipp Staab

Authors
  1. Janosch Schobin
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  2. Philipp Staab
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Correspondence to Janosch Schobin .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Technical University of Munich, Munich, Bayern, Germany

    Uli Meyer

  2. Technical University of Munich, Munich, Bayern, Germany

    Simon Schaupp

  3. Technical University of Munich, Munich, Bayern, Germany

    David Seibt

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Schobin, J., Staab, P. (2019). It’s All in the Game: Emancipation in Digitalized Working Environments. In: Meyer, U., Schaupp, S., Seibt, D. (eds) Digitalization in Industry. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28258-5_5

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