Subversive Gamification Mathias Fuchs Abstract Since the beginning of this decade, Gamification has become a buzzword for marketing, advertising and behavioural management, but also an accurate description of a fundamental shift in modern society: “Gamification is the perme- ation of society with methods, metaphors and attributes of games” (Fuchs 2012). Graphic game design elements, rule structures and ludic interfaces are exceedingly used by corporations to create and manage brand loyalty and to increase profits. This chapter aims at stirring up common sense notions of gamification as a mar- keting tool and will discuss alternative artistic concepts, activist tactics and sub- cultural strategies aiming at a subversive ludification of society. 1 Introduction Today we encounter a vast offer of gamified applications that promise to strengthen customer loyalty, to increase profit or to create other benefits for users and society. But there are currently only few attempts to apply gamification mechanics in a critical and subversive manner. It seems however essential for an understanding of the societal effects of gamification, to take a closer look at the rather controversial and less general aspects of playfulness. Core objects of the analysis are artistic interventions, playful hacking and ludic disobedience. Gamification has been ridiculed as a mere buzzword, but it is also a symptom of an underlying, funda- mental transformation of our society. The trendy term is not embraced warmly by everybody. Ian Bogost’s remark that “Gamification is bullshit” (Bogost 2011), Dragona’s concept of “counter-gamification” (Dragona 2013), Escribano’s Mene Tekel of a “ludictatorship” (Escribano 2013) oppose the emphatic use of the notion and will be laid out in this article. Concrete apps, games and interventions will be looked at with a critical eye. A comparative analysis of the “destroy all surveillance M. Fuchs ( ✉ ) Leuphana University, Gamification Lab, Lüneburg, Germany e-mail: mathias.fuchs@creativegames.org.uk © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018 D. Cermak-Sassenrath (ed.), Playful Disruption of Digital Media, Gaming Media and Social Effects, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1891-6_12 181