Despite many and diverse efforts to re-encourage citizens to participate in public life and decision-making, the level of participation has yet remained low. Practitioners and scholars are now drawing on out-of-the-box solutions, with gamification being one approach. Assuming that incorporating game elements into digital public participation platforms does indeed have an effect on the level of participation, we explore whether only the quantity or also the quality are affected and in what ways. This paper lays a foundation for this by investigating the influence of different attitudes on these two aspects of participation. Our results suggest that attitudes can indeed influence both aspects. Affinity towards games can for instance encourage people to engage with gamified participation platforms, but this motivational boost usually does not last for long and might not always be beneficial in terms of input quality. Intrinsic interest in urban planning on the other hand positively influences both the quantity and quality of engagement. Thus gamified participation could be useful for onboarding, however other methods need to be found to maintain involvement over time.
['Sarah-Kristin Thiel']
Gamers in public participation: a boon or bane? influence of attitudes in gamified participation platforms