Gamification, Datafication, and Performativity: How Interface Design Builds “Stardew Valley” in Rural Governance
2026-04-29
In recent years, we have witnessed the Chinese government’s ambition for datafied governance and rural revitalization under the mind-set of technological optimism. Focusing on an emerging digital platform for rural governance—“ChuanShanZhi” (川善治; CSZ)—as a case study, this study interprets new design-centered techniques in Chinese primary-level governance from three lenses: gamification, datafication, and performativity. Specifically, CSZ’s design integrates motivational elements from games (e.g., upgrade, competition, and collaboration), datafied tracking means (e.g., surveillance), and user-generated content to operationalize political and social goals through the playful engagement of scores, points, and star ratings; streamline and centralize bureaucratic workflows; and perform a state-aligned vision of rurality, one that is harmonious, productive, and morally virtuous. In this process, CSZ reveals a distinct design logic behind China’s digital rural governance, which synthesizes socialist mass line traditions, Confucian moral discipline, digital platforms’ engagement metrics, and contemporary bureaucratic rationalization.