Platform work is a form of employment organised and managed by an online platform where the service is provided, at least in part, through electronic means, such as a website or mobile application. The work may be performed online or in a specific location.
Introduction
Gamification is defined as the incorporation of game elements, such as points, badges, and leaderboards, into non-game domains, like fitness, education, corporate loyalty, and the workplace (Deterding et al, 2011; Werbach, 2014).
Gamification in the workplace is nothing new; consider the ‘employee of the month’ awards, ‘best manager’ badges and sales leaderboards. Its use has, however, significantly expanded in the past decade due to widespread digitalisation and the unprecedented availability of employee data, allowing companies to create personalised challenges, feedback and rewards in real time.
To grasp the importance and impact of gamification, one could acknowledge the scale of the gaming industry, whose revenues are considerably larger than the film or the music industry, often by a factor of several times.
Due to the strong competition among the producers of video and other digital games, tapping into gamers’ motivation is highly sought after. The rise of mobile gaming saw a proliferation of free-to-play games, in which the monetisation is based on in-app purchases of in-game advertising. The impact of both of these depends on player’s time, engagement and retention. Therefore, analysing and experimenting with the data from millions of players is a large area of research and business. Access to data and the competition has propelled gamification to its current scale – first, within the gaming industry itself, and second, into other digital sectors, such as labour platforms, which can adopt these fast-developing technologies.
Control by design: How platforms manage workers through gamification
Gamification is pervasive in digital labour platforms for several reasons. First, platform work is often carried out through electronic devices, with instructions and feedback displayed on a screen that functions much like a game interface or dashboard. Second, while traditional jobs consist of ‘bundles of tasks’ grouped together, in platform work, jobs are typically broken down into small, discrete tasks, so that each time a task is completed, platform workers can be awarded points, badges or other financial and non-financial rewards. In addition, digital labour platforms track, collect and process data in real time and can display updated metrics and performance feedback directly on workers’ devices, alongside instructions on how tasks should be carried out.
Aside from technical reasons, gamification is a crucial management tool for digital labour platforms largely because they often act as an intermediary between the services of independent contractors or self-employed workers and therefore cannot impose fixed working hours or formal productivity targets like employees would have to adhere to. This means that they often rely on incentives, as well as subtle psychological mechanisms and soft nudges to boost productivity and motivation.
Pros and cons of gamifying platform work
The risk is that while gamification is presented as a fun, game-like experience, it is ultimately a tool for controlling workers, leading to burnout and disengagement (Woodcock and Johnson, 2017; Cardador et al, 2017). In addition, the constant tracking of task acceptance rates, completion speed, client ratings and real-time performance updates can increase stress, thus reducing work quality.
Gamification is a powerful motivator because it is rooted in behavioural and cognitive psychology. The behavioural aspect explains how rewards and feedback influence behaviour by stimulating dopamine release, hence creating a pleasurable sensation that encourages repetition (feedback loop). By contrast, cognitive psychology suggests how gamification can appeal to intrinsic motivations, like the desire for autonomy, mastery and purpose, and the satisfaction of doing meaningful work (Werbach, 2014; Ryan and Deci, 2000).
The excessive focus on competition, rewards and feedback loops is often criticised because it can lead to overwork, with workers exerting significant effort to earn virtual rewards, rather than real wages (Wood et al, 2018). For instance, platforms mediating online tasks tap into workers’ desire for social recognition by awarding badges and level progressions based on performance and ratings; this often pushes workers to significantly extend their working hours in pursuit of higher status or visibility, which may or may not give access to better projects (Graham et al, 2017; Wood et al, 2018).
Similarly, on-location (transportation) platforms often extend working hours by taking advantage of well-known psychological effects, like the near-miss/goal gradient effect, when people tend to increase their effort if they are close to reaching a goal (Gutt et al, 2020). For example, when a driver is about to log off, the platform may send them a notification showing that they are only a few euros short of a given earning target, or a few rides away from completing a streak. This usually provides an incentive to stay logged on and drive for longer. Another way to boost productivity is to take advantage of decision inertia, for instance by prompting drivers to accept a new ride before completing their current one, with the option to ‘keep driving’ generally highlighted and easy to select (Rosenblat and Stark, 2016). This technique, known as ‘forward dispatch’, has proved to be so effective that it was leading to overwork and burnout among workers. As a result, this option was eventually removed from the new version of the app in question.
At the same time, digital labour platforms can use gamification in a positive way, by tapping into workers’ intrinsic motivation and desire for autonomy, mastery and social connections (Nicholson, 2015). For example, if digital labour platforms reward the development of a new skill or ongoing learning instead of high rankings on a leaderboard or the fast completion of a task, then the workers would feel a higher sense of purpose and achievement. In 2022, a well-known digital labour platform mediating professional online tasks launched its own learning academy offering freelancers courses, coaching and certifications to improve their skills. A select few can earn official certification of skills, displayed as badges on their profile, which helps them to stand out and give them credibility.
Resistance and avoidance
Studies have found that while some platform workers embrace gamification and spend considerable time and effort to earn bonuses, maintain status or unlock benefits, others resist it and try to assert more control over their labour conditions. The first mode of work is referred to as ‘grinding’ in video game culture (Kim and Werbach, 2016), while the second is what Vasudevan et al called ‘oppositional play’ or ‘resistance’ (Vasudevan and Chan, 2022; Kellogg et al, 2020). Examples of ‘oppositional play’ are frequent among platform workers, often using online forums to share tips and strategies to navigate or circumvent the platform’s algorithms. For example, drivers may coordinate their actions to increase their pay by staying away from a given area at specific times to create high demand and trigger surge prices; online workers may enhance their profiles using methods not explicitly endorsed by the platform or engage off-platform with the clients after initial contact (platform leakage).
Conclusion
In conclusion, gamification on digital labour platforms can be problematic or empowering according to how it is implemented. When focused on external rewards and behavioural biases, it pushes workers to extend working hours for virtual incentives, leading to burnout and eventual disengagement. However, when those virtual incentives are designed to encourage skill development and autonomy, gamification can enhance workers’ sense of purpose. Digital labour platforms must find a balance that promotes motivation while protecting worker well-being.
References
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- Graham, M., Hjorth, I. and Lehdonvirta, V. (2017), 'Digital labour and development: impacts of global digital labour platforms and the gig economy on worker livelihoods', Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, Vol. 23, No. 2, pp. 135–162.
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- Kellogg, K.C., Valentine, M.A. and Christin, A. (2020), 'Algorithms at work: the new contested terrain of control', Academy of Management Annals, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 366–410.
- Kim, T. W. and Werbach, K. (2016), 'More than just a game: ethical issues in gamification', Ethics and Information Technology, Vol. 18, pp. 157–173.
- Nicholson, S. (2015), 'A RECIPE for Meaningful Gamification', in Reiners, T. and Wood, L., Gamification in Education and Business, Springer, pp. 1–20.
- Rosenblat, A. and Stark, L. (2016), 'Algorithmic labor and information asymmetries: A case study of Uber’s drivers', International Journal of Communication, Vol. 10, pp. 3758–3784.
- Ryan, R.M. and Deci, E.L. (2000), 'Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being', American Psychologist, Vol. 55, No. 1, pp. 68–78.
- Vasudevan, K. and Chan, N.K. (2022), 'Gamification and work games: Examining consent and resistance among Uber drivers', New Media & Society, Vol. 24, No. 4, pp. 866–886.
- Werbach, K. (2014), '(Re)Defining Gamification: A Process Approach, in Spagnolli, A., Chittaro, L. and Gamberini, L. (eds), Persuasive Technology: 9th International Conference, PERSUASIVE 2014, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 8462, Springer, pp. 266–272.
- Wood, A.J., Graham, M., Lehdonvirta, V. and Hjorth, I. (2018), 'Good gig, bad gig: Autonomy and algorithmic control in the global gig economy', Work, Employment and Society, Vol. 33, No. 1, pp. 56–75.
- Woodcock, J. and Johnson, M.R. (2017), 'Gamification: What it is, and how to fight it', The Sociological Review, Vol. 66, No. 3, pp. 542–558.
Published on 4 April 2025