Gaming the system in healthcare and public administration
– Bevan and Hood (2006) discuss the influence of targets on gaming in the English public health care system.
– Morreim (1991) examines how individuals dodge the rules and rule the Dodgers in gaming the healthcare system.
– Regis (2005) questions whether physicians who game the system can be seen as modern-day Robin Hoods.
– McKenzie (2009) presents a school district’s solution to low test scores that may be seen as pragmatism or gaming the system.
– Ziewitz (2019) discusses the ethical work of optimization in web search engines and its relation to gaming in public administration.
Gaming the system in education
– Kralovec and Buell (2005) discuss the impact of high-stakes testing and homework on gaming the education system.
– Rieley (2000) explores the possibility of employees gaming the system in educational institutions.
– Figlio and Getzler (2002) explore the relationship between accountability, ability, and disability in gaming the system.
– Morreim (1991) examines how individuals dodge the rules and rule the Dodgers in gaming the education system.
Gaming the system in gaming
– ‘The irrational guide to gaming the system’ provides insights into gaming strategies.
– Mind Hacks (2007) offers tips and tricks for gaming the system in the gaming industry.
– Rieley (2000) explores the possibility of employees gaming the system in the gaming industry.
Gaming the system in various fields
– Mankin (2009) explores how Afghan opium underpins local power in gaming the system.
– Ziewitz (2019) discusses the ethical work of optimization in web search engines and its relation to gaming in various fields.
– Regis (2005) questions whether physicians who game the system can be seen as modern-day Robin Hoods.
– McKenzie (2009) presents a school district’s solution to low test scores that may be seen as pragmatism or gaming the system.
– Morreim (1991) examines how individuals dodge the rules and rule the Dodgers in gaming various systems.
Other examples of gaming the system
– Henry Paulson identified the financial crisis of 2007-08 as a result of gaming the regulatory system through regulatory arbitrage.
– Corporate rating systems can be gamed when formalization and transparency are combined.
– Online community designers are warned to anticipate and prevent gaming of the system by considering unintended behaviors.
– Parental divisions in child-rearing create opportunities for children to play one parent against the other.
– NHS dentistry in the UK frequently sees gaming the system through adapting treatment to the payment system.
– Eric Berne identified gaming the system in a clinical context as the game of Psychiatry.
– Patients may choose weak psychoanalysts to learn and play a sharper game.
– Confusion arises between gaming the system and working the system, with the former having a negative connotation.
– Gaming the system implies pursuing specific goals that do not align with the rest of a set of goals.
– Gaming the system occurs when there is a perceived conflict between goals.
Gaming the system (also rigging, abusing, cheating, milking, playing, working, breaking the system, gaming, or bending the rules) can be defined as using the rules and procedures meant to protect a system to, instead, manipulate the system for a desired outcome.
The first known documented use of the term "gaming the system" is in 1975. According to James Rieley, a British advisor to CEOs and an author, structures in companies and organizations (both explicit and implicit policies and procedures, stated goals, and mental models) drive behaviors that are detrimental to long-term organizational success and stifle competition. For some, error is the essence of gaming the system, in which a gap in protocol allows for errant practices that lead to unintended results.
Although the term generally carries negative connotations, gaming the system can be used for benign purposes in the undermining and dismantling of corrupt or oppressive organisations.
