Hours away from the election results, professional political campaigners in the U.S. must already be busy poring over data, analyzing both camps’ strategies and tactics, and revising their arsenal. One instrument that is certain to feature more prominently in the election campaign toolbox after 2016 is gamification.
Besides the official apps released by both campaigns, the Apple App Store and Google Play offer a plethora of news, poll tracking, and voter motivation apps, as well as a variety of satirical and more or less openly partisan, Trump-punching, Hillary-bashing, wall-building, and e-mail sorting mobile games, all of which can be useful for future reference and development of full-fledged gamified platforms.
The official apps:
Hillary 2016
Hillary Clinton has gamified the election with her new app, QUARTZ
Clinton Campaign App Taps into Mobile Game Craze, The Hill
Clinton camp resurrects dead Facebook tool, Politico
America First
Amazingly, Donald Trump’s New App Is Not a Joke, Gizmodo
Is Trump’s New ‘America First’ App Designed to Connect White Nationalists?, Blue Nation Review
Trump’s “America First” mobile app offers badges and “many more features” coming soon, Fast Company
Jane McGonigal’s Pokemon Go inspired Swing Voter Go!
Inside The Election Video Game That Was Built To Defeat Donald Trump, CSEC World Congress
Anti-Trump election game comes from MoveOn.org and game scholar Jane McGonigal, VentureBeat
The Underbelly: Swing Voter Go!, Ludonarrative Assonance
Parodies and controversies
Turn your Clinton and Trump burns into points with new app, CNET
Prepare for the Clinton-trump Debate with a Political Drinking Game, Kill Screen
‘Hide It Hillary’ mobile app game banned by Apple; titles like ‘Punch Trump’ approved, The Washington Times
So you’re foolish enough to make satire for the App Store, Medium
Voter motivation
Tech really wants to fix this election, TechCrunch
Need to Register to Vote? There’s an App for That, MediaFile
.