Gamification of e-Government services: A discussion of potential transformation

Abstract

Gamification has shown to be a valuable approach that enhances participants' engagement. In education, enhanced student engagement has proven to increase their learning effectiveness. In business, gamification permits employee innovations and helps organizations achieve various business objectives. However, the application of gamification in public services is rather limited. While public service technologies have matured from being informational in nature towards being interactional and transactional, the last maturity stage of e-Government services has not been clearly defined. Accordingly, in this paper we call for "gamifying" public sector technologies such as e-Government systems. We argue that gamification might well be the last transformational stage in the maturity of those technologies. Gamification can play a key role in increasing citizens' use of public service technologies and, at the same time, make them feel empowered as active participants in their societies.