'Level up your money game': an analysis of gamification discourse in financial services
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'Level up your money game' : an analysis of gamification discourse in financial services. / Zelinsky, Dominik; van der Heide, Arjen.
I: Journal of Cultural Economy, Bind 14, Nr. 6, 2021, s. 711-731.Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift › Tidsskriftartikel › Forskning › fagfællebedømt
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TY - JOUR
T1 - 'Level up your money game'
T2 - an analysis of gamification discourse in financial services
AU - Zelinsky, Dominik
AU - van der Heide, Arjen
N1 - Arjen van der Heide & Dominik Želinský (2021) Level up your money game’: an analysis of gamification discourse in financial services, Journal of Cultural Economy, DOI: 10.1080/17530350.2021.1882537
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - The idea of gamification, or implementation of game-like elements and mechanisms in non-game contexts, has, throughout the past decade, swept the fields of healthcare and fitness as well as education. More recently, various tech writers, bloggers, and consultants have begun proposing gamification as a solution also in financial services, where gamification has already made headway, for instance, with day trading apps that simplify trading and turn it into a real-time game. In this paper, we examine the emerging discourse of finance gamification and situate it in the expectational dynamics and performative struggles that shape technological developments in finance and the FinTech industry. We argue that the discourse creates positional uncertainty among finance incumbents by linking the notion of a generational wealth transfer to narratives about generational change. Tech writers, consultants and journalists neutralize this uncertainty by propagating a model of human nature, which may be ‘tapped into’ and harnessed with games to rationalize subjects’ financial behavior. However, despite finance gamification’s promises to democratize finance and empower small-time investors by extending access to financial markets, we argue that, in the end, the discourse on finance gamification reinforces the ‘observational boundaries’ between finance and society.
AB - The idea of gamification, or implementation of game-like elements and mechanisms in non-game contexts, has, throughout the past decade, swept the fields of healthcare and fitness as well as education. More recently, various tech writers, bloggers, and consultants have begun proposing gamification as a solution also in financial services, where gamification has already made headway, for instance, with day trading apps that simplify trading and turn it into a real-time game. In this paper, we examine the emerging discourse of finance gamification and situate it in the expectational dynamics and performative struggles that shape technological developments in finance and the FinTech industry. We argue that the discourse creates positional uncertainty among finance incumbents by linking the notion of a generational wealth transfer to narratives about generational change. Tech writers, consultants and journalists neutralize this uncertainty by propagating a model of human nature, which may be ‘tapped into’ and harnessed with games to rationalize subjects’ financial behavior. However, despite finance gamification’s promises to democratize finance and empower small-time investors by extending access to financial markets, we argue that, in the end, the discourse on finance gamification reinforces the ‘observational boundaries’ between finance and society.
KW - Faculty of Social Sciences
KW - cultural sociology
KW - Gamification
U2 - 10.1080/17530350.2021.1882537
DO - 10.1080/17530350.2021.1882537
M3 - Journal article
VL - 14
SP - 711
EP - 731
JO - Journal of Cultural Economy
JF - Journal of Cultural Economy
SN - 1753-0350
IS - 6
ER -
ID: 257291522