Playground as Factory

Work should be like play. Playgrounds are set in a way so that the consequences for trying something and making a mistake are low. -- David Merrill

All work is simply badly designed game play. - PatrickMeier.

Definition

Playground as factory is the idea that one gives up information through play, and that game mechanics get people to give away information or provide information to a system. This playground becomes a hidden factory. Underneath is real work, but on top rides the feeling of play.

For example, Foursquare awards points to users who check into a place, and more points for users who create a place. Creating a place is technically a data entry task, but the addition of points makes the task into an experience that is rewarding for the user. When the points one user has accumulated is constantly compared to others, it becomes a digital playground with competitive elements and playful behavior. In this way, a seemingly dull and repetitive task becomes incentivized and even sought out, as the place database becomes increasingly populated, the amount of new territory, as well as the chance to earn a higher level of points, decreases.

Playground as Factory is also the title of a recent conference on digital labor. The conference's objective is to explore the nature of interactive ‘labor’ and the new forms of digital sociality that it brings into being". Fundamentally, the conference asks what we as humans are doing to ourselves.