Games as (Not) Culture: A Critical Analysis of the Economic Agenda of Horizon 2020

This article presents a critical examination of European policy in relation to gami-fication. We begin by describing how gamification "traveled" as an idea, evolvingfrom controversial yet persuasive buzzword to legitimate policy priority. We thenfocus on how gamification was represented in Horizon 2020: the flagship EuropeanResearch & Development program from 2014 to 2020, worth nearlyEUR80 billion offunding. The article argues that the ethically problematic aspects of gamificationwere removed through a process of policy capture that involved its assimilation in anestablished European network of research and small and medium enterprise (SME)actors. This process of "ethical neutering" is also observable in the actual fundingcalls, where the problematic assumptions of gamification around agency andmanipulation are made invisible through a superficial commitment to vague and ill-defined criteria of responsible research and innovation.