Exploring Designers' Perspectives on Gamification in Service Design Thinking

Service Design Thinking (SDT) workshops often get stuck when service intangibility, social distance, and vague goals jeopardize engagement. This study explores how game approaches address those barriers. Semi-structured interviews with experienced SDT practitioners were analysed abductively, interlacing capability theory with gameful design principles. Findings suggest that gamification enhances empathy, framework-building, and concept modelling, making abstract service concepts more tangible and improving team dynamics. However, its implications on problem-solving and vision-building remain inconclusive, and structured game elements may sometimes restrict creative thinking. Insights are consolidated in a Gamification-SDT Capability Matrix that links elements to five design capabilities and offers quick-reference support for workshop facilitation. By framing gamification as an object that externalises designer intent and accelerates double-loop learning, the study extends the transformation-design discourse and provides actionable guidance for capability-based service innovation.