Making Democracy Fun: How Game Design Can Empower Citizens and Transform Politics

by Josh Lerner

Drawing on the tools of game design to fix democracy. 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 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 twenty-six 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.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction

285 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 21, 2014

Reviews

[Lawrence Grandpre · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very disappointed. The frame of this book is essentially neoliberalism is inevitable so let's use the jedi mind trick of games to make people ok with it. The book glosses over all the examples of these participatory processes falling apart and provides a call for more, better game design as a panacea. This recenters folks, like the author, who can call themselves experts on designing these processes as the new experts, recreating the exact same top down hierarchical dynamics the game claims to solve. As someone who has seen the authors work up close, I wanted to read the book in case I missed something. I feel more secure in my critique after reading the book than I did before I read it. Good intentions do not make good policy..the lives of the oppressed are not a game.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable and informative book about how game mechanics can be used to make democratic participation more rewarding, engaging, productive, and fun. The author focuses on how the lessons from games play out in participatory budgeting, using examples from Argentina and Canada. Participatory budgeting has grown more popular in recent years, and this is a valuable book for those seeking to promote it (or those seeking to engage the public in any form of participatory behavior) to read.

[Cristhian Parra · Rating 5 out of 5]

A highly recommended review of the challenges facing our modern democracies, and how to address them through games and play. I particularly liked how the author matched different game mechanics with actual, real case, of participatory democracy processes.

[Samantha Hines · Rating 4 out of 5]

good theoretical and practical information on gamifying political processes to engage citizens. Lots of great ideas and outcomes.