CitizenLab's Blog
  • Platform
  • Services
  • Resources
    • Blog
    • Guides
  • About
  • Contact
  • Schedule a demo
  • English
    • Nederlands
  • Home
  • >
  • 🏛️ Blog
  • >
  • Gamification in Citizen Participation

Gamification in Citizen Participation

By Wietse Van Ransbeeck Civic Engagement 05/04/2016
CitizenLab's Blog
  • Platform
  • Services
  • Resources
    • Blog
    • Guides
  • About
  • Contact
  • Schedule a demo
  • English
    • Nederlands
Citizen participation gamified

Before getting your hands dirty with building a citizen participation programme, rethink why citizens would participate nota bene. Understanding the motivations and motives of citizens correctly leads to a more effective participation policy. One of the instruments to increase civic engagement is called gamification. By bringing a more competitive and fun character to your next crowdsourcing project, the engagement rate can be significantly higher.

Understanding citizens’ motivations

As Jeff Howe states it in his book ‘Crowdsourcing‘:

People are drawn to participate because some psychological, social or emotional need is being met. And when the need isn’t met, they don’t participate.

Crowdsourcing has revealed that, contrary to conventional wisdom, humans do not always behave in predictably self-interested patterns. People are driven to contribute for a complex web of motivations, including a desire to create something from which the larger community would benefit as well as the sheer joy of practicing a craft at which they excel.

Basically, motivation consists of two kinds of components: intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.

Intrinsic motivation

Examples of intrinsic motivations are creative fulfilment, a belief in the project or even the sense of community obligation. As a consequence, intrinsic rewards are in the order of autonomy or the degree of freedom and creativity allowed by a task, being part of a community, learning during the process and any form of altruism.

To give an example, 1 out of 2 Wikipedia contributors gets its most motivation out of the fact that one contributes to the education of humanity by its deeds. In the context of a city or municipality, citizens get motivated by the fact that they can take co-ownership by proposing their ideas and, by doing so, that they can contribute to the development of their local place. Important here is that the participants’ efforts lead to a clear common goal, which is often provided by the strong ties one has with its neighbourhood or municipality.

Extrinsic motivation

Monetary rewards, gains in reputation and social recognition are good examples of extrinsic motivations. In other words, gamification — i.e. the application of game-design elements and game principles in non-game contexts such as citizen participation platforms — is a mechanism that triggers extrinsic considerations with the citizen. Offering extrinsic rewards and a sense of fun to crowdsourcing ideas from citizens can be an excellent approach to increase engagement.

Gamification in Citizen Participation

Example of how CitizenLab uses gamification to enhance civic engagement
Citizens can collect engagement points whenever their ideas get upvoted by fellow citizens.

Next to the citizens’ desire to collaborate and contribute to their community, gamification can offer them additional incentives through personal benefits. Depending on who you target with your crowdsourcing campaign, different gamification mechanisms can get used.

Social reputation

Nobody will deny that humans have a competitive nature. Keeping track of the number of upvotes participants have got on their ideas and comments, can be powerful way to offer social recognition. Citizens will do their very best to come up with great ideas, in order to collect more points and increase their score.

Another interesting element to be taken over from gamification, is displaying the citizens’ engagement points in a public leaderboard. The possibility to get gains in reputation in the community serves as a strong motive to participate.

Expertise recognition

Citizens are a heterogeneous group of individuals with each their own skills, expertise and interests. In order to recognise these different sorts of expertise (e.g. according to the topics or challenges in which they provide valuable input), rewarding them with badges can be a key driver in participation motivations. The badges that the citizen obtains can be possibly publicly recognised outside of the engagement platform by issuing an open badge.

Gamification by CitizenLab
Citizen expertise gets recognised through different badges.

This mechanism of badges also allows the local government to track and identify the citizen experts in different topics. That’s when you can get the most out of crowdsourcing: by targeting citizens based on their expertise and/or interests and present them with the right urban challenges accordingly.

Real-life rewards

Local governments can make engagement even more fun and rewarding by linking the virtual gamification scheme to real-life benefits for the engaged citizen. Many municipalities and cities have their own alternative currency to support the local economy.

Citizen participation becomes very tangible when the online engagement score becomes exchangeable for local experiences. Here as well, the rewards can get more or less personalised by linking it to the urban topic to which the citizen contributed. Wouldn’t it be fun if I can go the local theater thanks to my great ideas on the cultural policy? Or that I can go to the public swimming pool after having had much support on my ideas for sports in the city?

Increased Engagement

It’s clear that gamification can mobilise citizens effectively to participate in public decision-making. But note well that gamification can also have detrimental effects if the citizen doesn’t see the value of it. In other words, start with the sense of belonging to the local community and amplify with a smart gamification scheme. Citizen participation becomes easy and fun, whereas the municipality can crowdsource in a more targeted way. Win-win.

You May Also Like

inspiring community engagement examples ideas
Civic Engagement 15/05/2023
Community engagement examples: April’s inspiring platforms
community engagement strategy template framework
Civic Engagement 08/05/2023
Community engagement strategy template: CitizenLab’s Online Engagement Canvas
leadership support community engagement
Civic Engagement 24/04/2023
Driving leadership buy-in for community engagement: expert tips from our cofounder Aline Muylaert
leadership support community engagement
Civic Engagement 24/04/2023
Driving leadership buy-in for community engagement: expert tips from our cofounder Aline Muylaert
Civic Engagement 13/04/2023
Community engagement examples: March’s inspiring platforms
Written By
Wietse Van Ransbeeck

Founder of CitizenLab. On a mission to shape local democracies for the digital age. Proud Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe & YTILI Fellow. Talk to me about #Brussels, #Europe, civic tech, philosophy, public policy on Twitter @WietseVR.

Solutions
  • All solutions
  • Strategy & Budgeting
  • Planning & Public Spaces
  • Environment & Sustainability
  • Mobility & Infrastructure
  • Neighborhoods & Community Development
Platform
  • Platform features
  • Services
  • Plans
  • Schedule a demo
Academy
  • Resources
  • Blog
Company
  • About
  • Jobs
  • Partners
Get in touch
  • +44 79 2676 4670
  • +1 530 270 3403
  • Contact form
© 2022 CitizenLab: Community Engagement Platform. All rights reserved.
By clicking “Accept”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts.
Cookie SettingsAccept
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
_ga2 yearsThe _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognize unique visitors.
_gid1 dayInstalled by Google Analytics, _gid cookie stores information on how visitors use a website, while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. Some of the data that are collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement1 yearSet by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the "Advertisement" category .
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
CookieLawInfoConsent1 yearRecords the default button state of the corresponding category & the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie.
geot_rocket_citysessionNo description available.
geot_rocket_countrysessionNo description available.
geot_rocket_statesessionNo description available.
PHPSESSIDsessionThis cookie is native to PHP applications. The cookie is used to store and identify a users' unique session ID for the purpose of managing user session on the website. The cookie is a session cookies and is deleted when all the browser windows are closed.
STYXKEY_geot_countrysessionNo description
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
CookieDurationDescription
bcookie2 yearsLinkedIn sets this cookie from LinkedIn share buttons and ad tags to recognize browser ID.
langsessionLinkedIn sets this cookie to remember a user's language setting.
lidc1 dayLinkedIn sets the lidc cookie to facilitate data center selection.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
CookieDurationDescription
_gat_gtag_UA_65562281_11 minuteSet by Google to distinguish users.
_gcl_au3 monthsProvided by Google Tag Manager to experiment advertisement efficiency of websites using their services.
CONSENT2 yearsYouTube sets this cookie via embedded youtube-videos and registers anonymous statistical data.
undefinedneverWistia sets this cookie to collect data on visitor interaction with the website's video-content, to make the website's video-content more relevant for the visitor.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
CookieDurationDescription
_fbp3 monthsThis cookie is set by Facebook to display advertisements when either on Facebook or on a digital platform powered by Facebook advertising, after visiting the website.
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE5 months 27 daysA cookie set by YouTube to measure bandwidth that determines whether the user gets the new or old player interface.
YSCsessionYSC cookie is set by Youtube and is used to track the views of embedded videos on Youtube pages.
yt-remote-connected-devicesneverYouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video.
yt-remote-device-idneverYouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video.
yt.innertube::nextIdneverThis cookie, set by YouTube, registers a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen.
yt.innertube::requestsneverThis cookie, set by YouTube, registers a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
CookieDurationDescription
intercom-id-p4lr69wg8 months 26 days 1 hourNo description
intercom-session-p4lr69wg7 daysNo description
loglevelneverNo description available.
trx_addons_is_retina1 yearThis cookie is used for checking if the user has a retina display.
wp-wpml_current_languagesessionNo description available.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
CookieDurationDescription
AMP_TOKEN1 hourThis cookie is set by Google Analytics and contains a token that can be used to retrieve a Client ID from AMP Client ID service. Other possible values indicate opt-out, inflight request or an error retrieving a Client ID from AMP Client ID service.
SAVE & ACCEPT
Powered by CookieYes Logo