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This conceptual paper seeks to consider the impact of performance measurement and reporting based around performance indicators and targets within the public sector and to identify that the response to indicators and targets is often gaming which happens at organisational level. It then goes on to present a definition and typology of organisational gaming.

The paper draws from a range of documents both government and academic to identify both the process of, and the types of, organisational gaming.

The paper finds that organisational gaming occurs at both different levels (low and high) and extent (internal and external). It builds on this by presenting a framework (2 × 2 matrix) which presents types of organisational gaming which range in their degree of impact and consequence.

The concepts within this paper focus around public services on which the framework is built. This may – but it is doubtful – have limitations when considering the ideas within private sector organisations. Another limitation could be levelled at the 2 × 2 typology in that it may be difficult to place a gaming phenomenon into one “box” alone.

The value in the paper and the framework is that a distinction between measurement and reporting is drawn together with identification of a different gaming phenomenon. This, the paper argues, is important to understand, if organisations are to avoid some of the more “dangerous” or high impact consequences of gaming.

The purpose of this paper is to review the contribution made by this theme issue to the question: can casino gaming be used to maximize the benefits for tourism destinations?

This paper reviews some of the key contributions arising from this theme issue.

If properly structured gaming can provide benefits for tourism destinations.

There are many stakeholders involved in the provision of alcoholic beverages and suppliers, vendors, licensees, regulators, and other agencies will need to work closely together in order to limit what is viewed by many as an escalating problem.

The paper provides insight into the gaming industry with a focus on minimizing the social costs and maximizing the economic benefits of gaming.

There is growing evidence that serious games can be an effective tool in social marketing programmes. Although multiple (serious) game attribute frameworks exist, there is limited knowledge about which game attributes are applicable for sensitive social marketing issues. This research aims to fill this gap by compiling a taxonomy of game attributes for serious games based on the existing literature and investigating which of the game attributes users prefer in the context of an alcohol programme targeted at adolescents.

Three serious games were administered to a sample of adolescents as part of a larger trial. Game feedback data from 640 participants are coded and compared using the synthesised classification taxonomy of reward-based and meaningful game attributes.

Meaningful game attributes are more frequently preferred than reward game attributes across all three serious games.

This study examined serious games targeting only one specific context (alcohol) in one market segment (Australian adolescents) on one gaming platform (online).

This study proposes that meaningful game attributes are more important than reward game attributes when designing serious games for (alcohol) social marketing programmes. Nevertheless, social marketers must also recognise that reward-based game attributes are important attributes, as they are essential for making and motivating gameplay.

This research is the first social marketing study that provides insight into game attributes which are preferred by users of serious games or gamified technology in social marketing programmes.

Through comparative analysis with other social science disciplines, gaps are identified in the performance gaming literature of public administration as it compares to other social science disciplines in order to understand directions for future research in this space.

This study involves a systematic review of the performance gaming literature, focusing on important drivers of performance gaming. Using Google Scholar, Web of Science, and ProQuest Central, the systematic review covers years ranging from 1990 through 2019 and revealed empirical studies that were deemed relevant based on whether an article was (1) an empirical study and (2) performance gaming or cheating behavior was the outcome variable. Out of the 81 articles surmised from the search, 51 were regarded as relevant by meeting these criteria.

The main finding is that public administration has primarily focused on drivers that are embedded in the performance system. The other social sciences (psychology and economics, in particular) focus mainly on individual factors, mostly cognitive in nature. Public administration has also looked at organizational drivers, though this is a burgeoning area. Scholars in public administration may benefit from the other social sciences by determining how individual drivers work within the context of public organizations and how these shape organizational behavior.

Per my knowledge, the paper is the first to systematically compare the performance gaming literature of public administration to other social science disciplines. The paper provides a direction for this burgeoning area of research.

This chapter examines performance management, which has arguably been the kernel of New Public Management inspired version of public sector reform. The first part is a literature review that looks at experiences of performance management in both developed and developing countries. It looks at the difficulty in transferring public sector reforms from developed to developing countries. This is followed by the evaluation of performance management in the post-1994 public service in South Africa. Both the individual and organisational performance systems are highlighted, followed by an analysis of performance management reforms. There is a well-developed performance management system but the empirical data and qualitative reports found that it has not worked particularly well. There are concerns around a number of issues, including the measurement of targets; the signing of performance targets; a focus on outputs rather than outcomes; a lack of harmonisation between individual and organisational performance; a lack of capacity of managers, which in some cases is due to unskilled patronage appointments; a focus on compliance rather than performance; and a lack of accountability.

The traditional target of computer game security is mainly copy protection. The emergence of online games fundamentally changes the security requirements for computer games. Although computer game development often utilizes cutting edge technology in computer graphics, artificial intelligence, human computer interaction and programming, game providers (developers or operators) do not pay much attention to security techniques. In this paper, we look into security failures that have happened or might happen in online games, and discuss some key security issues that have to concern online game providers. Specifically, we look into various kinds of online cheating, and introduce security techniques to deal with cheating prevention, though meanwhile other security issues are also discussed.

This paper aims to present the different issues that must be tackled when creating a viable multi‐user, multi‐device game. The issues tackled range from user interaction issues to graphics quality to bandwidth constraints. The paper also aims to present different configurations depending on the type of game to be created and a strategy for network gaming using heterogeneous devices focusing on the development of a game that allows users of mobile devices and desktop computers to interact and compete on a single domain.

A tank battle game was developed that plays the same game across both a mobile device such as a phone/PDA and a desktop counterpart.

Although there is a sacrifice in the richness of the game environment on mobile devices, it is possible to develop games that play across platforms and devices, and safeguards can be put in place in order not to overly handicap players using mobile devices.

The research focused on a single type of game. It would be ideal to attempt such work on other game genres or platforms. The implications of such work would be that the ubiquity of game play could be extended and the overall gaming experience improved.

This paper allows game developers to rethink the possibilities as they develop new games.

This paper seeks to argue that global change calls for training in intercultural, interdisciplinary and interparadigmatic professional behaviour. Thus a concrete web‐based five‐level training procedure “Surfing global change” (SGC) is to be proposed that includes reflection of game players' own knowledge, views and values. Rules of SGC are to be defined in detail.

Based on a didactic analysis, the design of the negotiation game SGC is a rhythmised sequence of learning content, reviewing colleagues' work, debating competitively and constructing a consensus on a multi‐stakeholder theme. Hereby learners acquire a 360° view of the issue and learn to understand their adversaries.

For two dozens of themes, Surfing global change has successfully been implemented for students of “Global studies” and of “Environmental systems analysis” and other interdisciplinary curricula at several universities.

Practically, one or two dozen students can follow two or more weekly hours during a semester in order to play “Surfing global change”. A wealth of multi‐stakeholder themes can be explored using this gaming procedure moderated by the author. Learners bridge “geographies of perspectives”.

Resilience and employability of students increases with their improved intercultural, interdisciplinary and interparadigmatic skills.

This paper defines the normative set of rules of this original game created by the author. Surfing global change has already attracted international rewards.

The purpose of this study is to explore the appeal of social networking services (SNS) games from the perspectives of game usability and the functionality that is facilitated by the internet. Why players prefer SNS games to other types of games and what specific characteristics causes them to be addicted to continuous game play are the two critical issues to be probed.

The authors interviewed 11 experts and surveyed 321 gamers using a questionnaire to gather the data about their preferences. The authors believe that a preference‐based study can reveal the underlying reasons for the appeal of SNS games. The collected data were analysed using Quantification Theory Type I.

The semantic structure of appeal, determined from the interviews of experts, shows the hierarchy of the relationship between the types of appeal or appeal factors, the reasons for gamers’ preferences, and the specific characteristics of SNS games. According to the statistical analysis, the three most important appeal factors of SNS games are “easy and convenient”, “friendly and lively” and “social interaction”, and these are affected in varying degrees by particular reasons and characteristics.

Based on the findings, the paper hypothesises that the popularity of Facebook SNS games can be ascribed to the design of game, which targets the psychological preferences of players.

SNS games have become very popular due to some of their appealing characteristics. The findings provide important information for designers and researchers of Facebook SNS games. The study also contributes to the field of human‐computer interaction in cyberspace.

An original concept for a Web‐based role play “SurfingGlobalChange” is proposed on the basis of multi‐year interdisciplinary teaching experience and constructivist pedagogy. Underlying didactic orientation is towards self‐guided learning, acquiring socially compatible “competence to act” in a globalised world, self‐optimising social procedures inside teams, process‐orientation and peer‐review instead of teacher’s review. Participating students find themselves in an argumentative battle where they put their marks at stake. A comparison with similar games highlights the increased level of responsibility attributed to and expected from learners using this kind of “digital game‐based learning”.