Special Issue On: Games in a Brave New World: The Role of Immersive Playful Environments in Re-Inventing the Future of Work and Re-Imagining Organisations
Submission Due Date1/11/2021
Guest Editors1. Melinda Jacobs, Subatomic, Netherlands
2. Marigo Raftopoulos, Strategic Innovation Lab, Australia
IntroductionOver the last decade, the adoption of digital games, gamification and computer-mediated simulations as business tools has accelerated, motivated by the desire of organisations to drive creativity, innovation and complex problem solving. The benefits of these ‘ludic tools’ have been well documented in terms of their capacity to engage stakeholders in playful problem solving environments, however companies have increasingly reported several shortcomings. These range from technological limitations of new ludic applications, issues with the integration of these applications into organisational IT or IS legacy systems, or the limitations in being able to effectively scale these tools across an organisation. Other shortcomings include the arguably shallow gameplay design and user experiences that don’t quite reflect the depth or scale of the business problems at hand. This has led to these applications falling short of meeting expectations or achieving desired business goals, and have consequently limited organizations’ willingness to expand their investment in playful strategies and games into their engagement plans.
ObjectiveDespite these initial setbacks, accommodating the changes to the way we (expect to) work has become a key focal point for a (post) COVID-19 era workforce, where mandatory lock-down of physical office spaces, social distancing and limitations on travel and large group congregation, have propelled businesses out of their comfort zones, forcing them to restructure their organizations on the fly to adjust to a new reality where the majority of their employees will be contributing remotely and access to customers and stakeholders need to take on new forms of engagement and collaboration.
Researchers and practitioners are now facing several questions: How is this renewed prioritization affecting the openness and awareness of organizations to move beyond the simplistic “borrowing” of the technologies, mechanics and components of games and simulations, and instead delve deeper and embrace the more complex design philosophy that successful game and simulation design is grounded in such as human motivation, psychology and anthropology? Furthermore, how will organisations address the limitations of engagement, user experience, technology integration and scale of past experiences with these ludic business tools in a post-COVID-19 era? How has this limited accessibility to physical solutions and methods changed the way organizations approach the roles of digital experiences, applications, and platforms? Facing a workforce that is in the midst of a (globally) collective trauma, organizations have had to better account for the impact of employees’ mental health on value creation.
We are looking for research, theoretical and conceptual papers that explore how businesses are using or experimenting with interactive, playful, and game-inspired tools and approaches to tackle issues such as facilitating remote teamwork and collaboration, learning and development, creativity and problem solving, management and regulation of expectations of productivity and output, engagement of remote stakeholders in company culture, mission, and values, and how to engage with customers for value creation and exchange.
Recommended Topics● Explore the use of electronic games, gamification, computer-mediated simulations, virtual and augmented reality experiences, and analog play (collectively known as ludo-mix tools) for facilitating creativity, innovation, learning and development, and problem solving in business practices
● Explore the use of electronic games, gamification and computer-mediated simulations and analog play (collectively known as ludo-mix tools) for facilitating productivity in business practices
● Explore the use of ludo-mix tools for facilitating remote teamwork and collaboration, engaging stakeholders with company culture, mission, and values, and in the management and regulation of productivity and output
● Explore the use of ludo-mix tools within the current shifting socio-economic landscape which is driving increased virtualisation and fragmentation of workplaces
● Explore how game-mediated tools can facilitate greater levels of stakeholder participation, engagement and problem solving
● Explore how limited accessibility to physical solutions and methods during COVID-19 lockdown and isolation has changed organizations' approach to the creation and use of digital ludo-mix tools
● Explore the ethics of privacy, surveillance, and monitoring in the use of digital ludo-mix tools in terms of the role of consent and transparency of data collection in digital tools deployed by organizations for employee and stakeholder engagement
● Explore how organizations are approaching mental health and wellbeing through digital ludo mix tools
● Explore how governments are using ludo-mix tools in the engagement of stakeholders in public policy
● Explore how ‘citizen science’ games and simulations are providing are being used by universities and laboratories to augment problem solving, data capture and analytics
● Explore how COVID-19 has influenced companies prioritization or planning for the implementation of ludo mix tools to solve organizational challenges
● Explore how digital games and simulations augment and contribute to the development of AI and machine learning in business applications
● Explore how ludic-mix tools are utilized by the design professions to facilitate participation and creativity in the development of product and service prototypes, business models, organisational design, or the future of work
Submission ProcedureResearchers and practitioners are invited to submit extended abstracts with bibliography for this special theme issue on
The Role of Immersive Playful Environments in Re-Inventing the Future of Work and Re-Imagining Organisations for
International Journal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations (IJGCMS) on or before
August 01 2020 directly to the Guest Editors. Authors will be notified of acceptance by 1 October 2020.
Full papers will be due to be submitted into the submission portal using the submission link on or before January 01 2021.All submissions must be original and may not be under review by another publication. INTERESTED AUTHORS SHOULD CONSULT THE JOURNAL’S GUIDELINES FOR MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSIONS at
http://www.igi-global.com/publish/contributor-resources/before-you-write/.
All submitted papers will be reviewed on a double-blind, peer review basis. Papers must follow APA style for reference citations.
All inquiries should be directed to the attention of:Melinda JacobsMarigo RaftopoulosGuest EditorsInternational Journal of Game and Computer-Mediated Simulations (IJGCMS)E-mail:
melinda@subatomic.nlE-mail:
marigo@strategicinnovationlab.com