Games, Gamification and Politics. Crafting Engaging Democracy

Is democracy in peril? Are dark forces of autocratization slowly creeping in? Maybe it is because despite democracy's wide appeal, it has a bitter ability to be boring, painful and utterly pointless. In many systems, attitudes of anti-politics culture are widespread. The democratic experience can transform people from passionate activists to unspirited and frustrated passivists. Not only that, but people distrust governments and politics. Some proponents of democracy suggest redesigning the institutions of democracy, to open new spaces for engagement. Yet too often it is no more enticing than the old ones. How we can make democracy and politics more enjoyable and empowering experience. We propose that introducing some games into participation processes could make it not only more appealing and engaging, but more accessible also. Simulation games and gamification are also an excellent tool for understanding the mechanisms of democracy: interdependence of interests and resources, compromise, negotiation, peaceful competition. Politics can be more enticing if it relies on forms of communication and interaction that are familiar to ordinary people. We would like to invite and encompass in our panel the proposals about: application of game theory to explain democratic processes, decision simulations, gamification and playing for democratic participation and decision-making: learning how to cooperate, learning how to come together and interact more emphatically and synergistically; how game design concepts can apply beyond games in different fields of politics; challenges and merits of using mechanics and architecture of games.