Gamification of sports media coverage: an infotainment approach to Olympics and Football World Cups

Abstract

Sports media coverage of mega-events is partly oriented to gamification, the use of game elements and game design techniques in non-gaming contexts. This infotainment approach to events has been developed by media outlets as an original and effective way to capture wider audience attention and to place events in context before a competition starts. This article examines 28 gamified sports pieces developed by media outlets from seven countries during the last two Olympics (2016 Summer Olympics in Rio and 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang) and Football World Cups (2014 in Brazil and 2018 in Russia). This sample comprises two categories following Ferrer-Conill (2015): "gamified pieces" (game like elements that are part of a bigger interactive feature) and "newsgames" (more sophisticated pieces often included in complex graphics or multimedia content). The results show that, despite its entertaining formula, gamification serves mainly informational purposes and adds value to sports coverage. Especially in the Summer and Winter Olympics, gamified sports pieces tend to be explanatory and data-driven in order to inform the audience about nonmainstream sports.

Journalistic innovation: How new formats of digital journalism are perceived in the academic literature

“…However, much work remains to be done in relation not only to this format, but also to other less studied formats such as structured journalism (Freixa et al, 2017), augmented reality news (Azkunaga et al, 2019;Parra et al, 2017. ), visual and photojournalism (Thomson and Greenwood, 2017;Láb and Štefaniková, 2017), data journalism (Young et al, 2018;Weber et al, 2018), and newsgames (Rojas-Torrijos, 2020;Plewe and Fürsich, 2018).…”

“…Indeed, many of these studies highlight the potential of immersive journalism for engagement with the victims of human rights abuses. However, much work remains to be done in relation not only to this format, but also to other less studied formats such as structured journalism (Freixa et al, 2017), augmented reality news (Azkunaga et al, 2019; Parra et al, 2017), visual and photojournalism (Láb and Štefaniková, 2017; Thomson and Greenwood, 2017), data journalism (Weber et al, 2018; Young et al, 2018), and newsgames (Plewe and Fürsich, 2018; Rojas-Torrijos, 2020).…”

“…A number of different academic studies have also focused their attention on these genres, which combine interactive information with video game mechanics. Some of these studies have analysed the specific elements and gaming dynamics used by different media, mainly in examining reports focused on sport (González-Díez et al, 2019; Rojas-Torrijos, 2020), political corruption (Gómez and Cabeza, 2016), human rights (Plewe and Fürsich, 2018) and interactive documentaries (Vázquez-Herrero and López-García, 2017). Studies have also been carried out examining the viability of using newsgames in university education and for journalistic training (Siitonen et al, 2019), analysing newsgames in terms of their usability and understanding their ergonomics and parameters, such as pace and strategy, for playing the game (Teixeira et al, 2015) and determining their limitations and potential for gamification (Meier, 2018).…”

Conceptual scope and structuring axes of the applicability of gamification in professional and technological education / Escopo conceitual e eixos estruturantes da aplicabilidade da gamificação na educação profissional e tecnológica

“…It is inferred that gamification can be understood as using logic, mechanics, and aesthetics of games to increase the degree of people's involvement to solve proposed adverse situations and, therefore, stimulate learning (Kaap, 2013;Torrijos, 2020).…”

“…The third structural axis necessary for gamification to have its relevance recognized in professional and technological education is the issue of infrastructure (Abmes, 2018;Silva, 2019). Teachers must have a minimum of technological structure to apply active methodologies in their routines, such as, for example, gamification (Kaap, 2013;Torrijos, 2020). A viable way of doing this is through resource management (Silva et al, 2020b).…”