The Ludopticon - Gamified Surveillance and the Infinite Play of Digital Identity

The Panopticon has changed.

"Surveillance is permanent in its effects, even if it is discontinuous in its action." Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish

By Jeremy Bentham - The works of Jeremy Bentham vol. IV, 172-3, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3130497

Michel Foucault described the Panopticon as a system in which individuals self-regulate their behaviour under the constant fear of being watched. However, we have entered a new stage: one that I call the Ludopticon.

This fear, I argue, has now transformed into desire. We do not just accept surveillance; we crave it. We yearn to be seen, perceived and monetized. Surveillance is no longer solely coercive: it is gamified, incentivised and oftentimes self-inflicted.

This new system manifests in both implicit and explicit ways: from Pokémon GO’s location tracking and behavioural nudging to BeReal’s time-stamped, dual-camera photos that enforce social transparency under the guise of authenticity. While we fought in the past to be forgotten, we now struggle against the algorithm to be remembered and showcased (on our own terms, but not always that).

Like the opening quotation, this idea of surveillance can creep into our everyday lives. Public spaces increasingly become the training grounds of the digital; combining the ubiquity of recording devices and the drive to create "authentic" content. In this way, public spaces now exist as a conduit and not a "place-in-itself". Self-policing or exhibitionism (depending on how you wish to play the game) rewrites our old patterns of being. To exist is to play, whether it is curated by yourself or someone else. Proximity enables everyone to be playing in some capacity— in most cases, it is impossible to stop playing.

To live a life free from your digital self is a sign of privilege.

Even when we no longer exist in the physical world, there will be traces of us still in the digital - revived momentarily by other users or even possessed by the mechanisms of AI. In the digital world, true quantum immortality exists. Our digital ghosts linger, ready to be revived by algorithms, AI, or the memories of others. Even after death, the Ludopticon plays on.

However, the Ludopticon gives as well as takes.

It has granted some the reach, influence and power to create their livelihood or a lifeline in times of crisis and turmoil. It has given people a voice in an environment that can stifle them. Unfortunately, some people in the same conditions (and worse) have been left behind by the algorithm.

So, what is the endgame (pardon the pun) of the Ludopticon itself? If every post can break through and catapult us into a win condition (which varies depending on the user) and the goal is to maintain it — surely there can be no end?

What is this all feeding, and what will the results be?

Will humans continue to become more machine-like, and vice versa?

Join us in mapping the contours of the Ludopticon: its power, pitfalls and the ways we might reclaim or realise our agency within it.