Workification

Introduction

The term gamification has been used in modern working life for some time now. It briefly describes the introduction of playful elements into the world of work. The primary goal here is to increase productivity and improve the working atmosphere for employees. The concept of workification aims in the opposite direction. This, still very young, term describes how elements that generally belong in the sphere of work are used in games, especially in digital games.

Main Part

Arbeit und Spiel sind nicht dualistisch getrennt. Denn ebenso, wie sich spielerische Elemente im Bereich der Arbeit finden, können auch Spielplätze von Arbeitselementen beeinflusst und durchdrungen sein. Die Beziehung Arbeit–Spiel kann weder durch das Konzept der »Ludifizierung« noch von dessen Gegenteil, der »Laborisierung«, vollständig erfasst werden. Sie muss, wie Anne Dippel sagt, als ein Verhältnis der Interferenz gedacht werden, in dem sich Arbeit und Spiel überlagern. Deren Unterscheidung löst sich im Digitalen.

Work and play are not dualistically separated. Just as playful elements can be found in the area of work, playgrounds can also be influenced and permeated by work elements. The relationship between work and play can neither be fully grasped by the concept of "Ludification" nor by its opposite, "Laborization". As Anne Dippel says, it must be thought of as a relationship of interference in which work and play overlap. Their distinction is dissolved in the digital. ^[1]

The work-player

Playing has always been used as a technique to prepare the player for work.^[2] Especially in modern computer games, however, this boundary becomes increasingly blurred. Many games require the player to perform repetitive tasks, for example farming or grinding, which are more likely to be called work than play. The player thereby becomes a kind of "work-player". A good example of this would be the gold farmers in MMO's, especially in World of Warcraft. Therefore this world of Warcraft must logically be understood as a profit-oriented virtual world.^[1]

Different levels of work in games

But play and work can also be viewed on other levels.

- One first level would be the level of the game developers. This level would also be equivalent to some kind of digital capitalism.

- The second level corresponds to the already described level of the players themselves. This includes gold farming as well as streaming on platforms like Twitch or Lets Play's on YouTube.

- A third level is working with the games. Examples would be the application as a supervisor of games in nursing homes or for medical purposes. Or another example would be Citizen Science Games, where everyone can contribute to research.

Serious Games

Thus, the level considered in the last example points to an application of workification in games with regard to their practical use as serious games. Areas in which such games can take place are for example the military, in health care or in education.^[3]

An additional area of workification that would be interesting for the academic world would be what is currently being done in the Game Labs of the University of Konstanz. Be it in the field of art, literature or media studies, in the field of psychology, or even in the field of sociology, working on the object of computer games enables conclusions to be drawn about changes in society, for example.

Conclusion

Although the term workification is still a very young concept, it is of great importance when dealing with digital games. Changes in digital games go hand in hand with social changes. The blurring of the boundaries between play and work will probably continue to increase in the future.