Gamification: A Necessary Element for Designing Privacy Training Programs

Abstract

The benefits, deriving from utilizing new Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), such as Internet of Things or cloud computing, raise at the same time several privacy risks and concerns for users. Despite the fact that users’ inability to protect their privacy has been recognized, hence users do not get involved in processes for enhancing their awareness on such issues. However, in order to protect their fundamental right of privacy and to manage it in a practical way when using ICT, privacy literacy is crucial. Users should be trained on privacy issues through appropriate educational programs. Specifically, the development of instructional simulation programs could be of great importance. Relevant methodologies for the development of such services have been recorded in previous literature. Since the concept of training is advanced by creating attractive interaction environments, the educational privacy process could be also more efficient. Towards this, the implementation of game elements serves that purpose, contributing to the design of gameful educational programs. However, despite its benefits, gamification has been noticed to be used more as a tool rather than a concept which could be included in instructional methods. Thus, in this work, gamification features are explained to highlight their importance along with the recorded in the literature educational methods and privacy awareness issues.

Experiential Transformation in Privacy Behavior: A New Framework for Privacy Behavior Enhancement

“…These risks include the possible exploitation of users' privacy, unauthorized collection of personal data, and the tracking of their online activities without their explicit authorization [82]. In an additional study [83], researchers discovered that individuals utilizing gamified services have a higher propensity to disclose personal information compared to those utilizing non-gamified services. The authors believe that the reason behind this phenomenon is the potential for gamification to induce cognitive absorption, thereby hindering users' capacity to make logical judgments regarding privacy.…”