Making democracy fun : how game design can empower citizens and transform politics / Josh Lerner.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lerner, Josh, 1978- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Video games--Political aspects.

Video games.

Video games--Design.

Democracy--Computer games.

Democracy.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (288 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

How game design can empower citizens and transform politics

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts : MIT Press, [2014]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Anyone who has ever been to a public hearing or community meeting would agree that participatory democracy can be boring. Hours of repetitive presentations, alternatingly alarmist or complacent, for or against, accompanied by constant heckling, often with no clear outcome or decision. Is this the best democracy can offer? In Making Democracy Fun, Josh Lerner offers a novel solution for the sad state of our deliberative democracy: the power of good game design. What if public meetings featured competition and collaboration (such as team challenges), clear rules (presented and modeled in multiple ways), measurable progress (such as scores and levels), and engaging sounds and visuals? These game mechanics would make meetings more effective and more enjoyable -- even fun. Lerner reports that institutions as diverse as the United Nations, the U.S. Army and grassroots community groups are already using games and game-like processes to encourage participation. Drawing on more than a decade of practical experience and extensive research, he explains how games have been integrated into a variety of public programs in North and South America. He offers rich stories of game techniques in action, in children's councils, social service programs and participatory budgeting and planning. With these real-world examples in mind, Lerner describes five kinds of games and 26 game mechanics that are especially relevant for democracy. He finds that when governments and organizations use games and design their programs to be more like games, public participation becomes more attractive, effective and transparent. Game design can make democracy fun -- and make it work.

Contents:

Contents; Acknowledgments; 1 Should Democracy Be Fun?; 2 Games, Play, and Democracy; 3 What Game Design Can Teach Us about Democracy; 4 Not Just Child's Play: Games in Democratic Processes; 5 Rosario Hábitat: Designing Participation Like a Game; 6 Toronto Community Housing: Game Design in Less Fertile Soils; 7 My Game Design Experiment; Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

OCLC-licensed vendor bibliographic record.

ISBN:

0-262-32152-1

0-262-32151-3

OCLC:

870994389