Gamification From Below as by Form of Resistance: Algorithm Control, Precarity, and Resistance Dynamic of Indonesian Gig Workers

In the digital gig economy, algorithms serve as primary tools for controlling workers within the labor process. One form of this control is through gamification, which aims to align labor supply with consumer demand, encourage quality service, and enforce worker discipline. This study surveyed of 662 couriers or gig workers in Gojek's Gosend Sameday service. Findings of this study show that Gosend Sameday drivers receive low pay and lack social protection. In light of these precarious conditions, Gojek builds the gamification scheme to incentivize hard work. In responding to the gamification created unilaterally by Gojek (gamification from above), many drivers rejected it. Resistance manifests in two forms: infrapolitics and collective resistance. Infrapolitics is part of the weapon of the weak, which is carried out by rejecting unsatisfactory orders, voicing complaints on social media, and exploiting loopholes in the Gojek driver application. Conversely, collective resistance was carried out with mass actions, strikes, picketing, organizing, and forming unions to build gamification from below. This study contributes to the understanding of how infrapolitics can inadvertently consent to platform capitalism hegemonic regime, suggesting that while drivers may it rejects gamification, the platform continues to influence labor dynamics. Collective resistance, on the other hand, challenges gamification from above and attempts to build gamification from below to create a fairer labor environment for platform drivers.