Olympic games, mega-events, and civil societies:globalisation, environment, resistance

This volume explores sports mega-events, their social, political, and cultural characters, the value systems that they inscribe and draw on, the claims they make on us and the claims the organisers make for them, the spatial and ethical relationships they create, and the responses of civil societies to them. Our premise is that sports mega-events are not simply sporting or cultural phenomena. They are also political and economic events, characterised by the generation and projection of symbolic meanings – most obviously over the nature of statehood, economic power, and of collective cultural identity – and by social conflict, especially over land use, and over the extent and contours of public spending commitments. Because of their peculiar spatial and temporal organization, they raise questions about the relationships between global cultural and economic flows and particular local and national spaces. Because of their evolutionary characteristics, they ask us to consider not simply the time of the event but of the effects of the event on the long-term direction, implementation, and consequences of public policy.

Smoke rings:towards a comprehensive tobacco free policy for the Olympic Games

Background The tobacco industry has long sought affiliation with major sporting events, including the Olympic Games, for marketing, advertising and promotion purposes. Since 1988, each Olympic Games has adopted a tobacco-free policy. Limited study of the effectiveness of the smoke-free policy has been undertaken to date, with none examining the tobacco industry's involvement with the Olympics or use of the Olympic brand. Methods and Findings A comparison of the contents of Olympic tobacco-free policies from 1988 to 2014 was carried out by searching the websites of the IOC and host NOCs. The specific tobacco control measures adopted for each Games were compiled and compared with measures recommended by the WHO Tobacco Free Sports Initiative and Article 13 of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). This was supported by semi-structured interviews of key informants involved with the adoption of tobacco-free policies for selected games. To understand the industry's interests in the Olympics, the Legacy Tobacco Documents Library (http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu) was systematically searched between June 2013 and August 2014. Company websites, secondary sources and media reports were also searched to triangulate the above data sources. This paper finds that, while most direct associations between tobacco and the Olympics have been prohibited since 1988, a variety of indirect associations undermine the Olympic tobacco-free policy. This is due to variation in the scope of tobacco-free policies, limited jurisdiction and continued efforts by the industry to be associated with Olympic ideals. Conclusions The paper concludes that, compatible with the IOC's commitment to promoting healthy lifestyles, a comprehensive tobacco-free policy with standardized and binding measures should be adopted by the International Olympic Committee and all national Olympic committees.

Effectiveness of Olympic sponsorship by foreign and domestic companies: the influential role of consumer ethnocentrism

This study investigates Chinese consumers' responses to foreign and domestic sponsors engaged in the Beijing Olympic Games. It identifies direct causal relationships between consumer ethnocentrism, attitudes towards the sponsor and product judgement. Findings reveal that event involvement mediates the positive relationship between consumer ethnocentrism and attitudes towards the domestic sponsor. Attitudes towards foreign sponsors are found to be a significant mediator in the relationship between consumer ethnocentrism and judgements of the sponsors' products. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

Mexico 1968 and South Africa 2010: development, leadership and legacies

In this essay we compare the rationales for hosting the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City with the FIFA World Cup 2010 to be held in South Africa. We draw on in-depth interviews, archival materials and a range of press coverage. We argue that three broad overlapping themes are apparent in both case studies. These are the developmental rhetoric both hosts employ in the justification of holding the events in their respective countries. Mexico and South Africa convey a leadership role that stretches across the South American and African continent respectively. Finally, both countries argue that the legacy the respective tournament leaves is important.

Sustainable development, shock and awe? London 2012 and Civil Society

There is a disconnection between the top-down, elite, nature of sports mega-events and the ostensible redistributive and participatory sustainable development agendas staked out by BINGOs (Business-based International Non-Governmental Organizations) such as the contemporary International Olympic Committee (IOC). Focusing specifically on the London 2012 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games, we argue that, for all the environmental technology advances offered by sports mega-events, their dominant model remains one of a hollowed-out form of sustainable development. Despite significant technical and methodological innovations in environmental stewardship, the development model of the London Olympics remains predicated on the satisfaction of transnational investment flows. We discuss what this means for claims about the staging of a ‘green’ Olympic Games.

London's Olympic ambassadors:a legacy for public policy implementation

As a contribution to current discussions about securing a legacy from the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, this article considers whether there are lessons for public policy implementation around volunteer involvement. Drawing on the case of the Team London Ambassadors Programme which encompassed 8,000 volunteers during the Games period, the article considers the scope for an expanded role for UK public sector organisations in the recruitment, training and management of volunteers in the future.

Creating gusto through games and goals

Goal-based learning (GBL) has long been used for teaching (Schank and Kass, 1996) and training (Collins, 1994), and game playing is also very widely used (Fudenberg and Levine, 1998). When both are used together it can become a winning combination that focuses students? attention, dismisses precepts about a subject, lowers barriers to preferred learning-styles and open minds to new tools, ideas and concepts. The combination can be achieved using basic traditional physical props (e.g. pens and paper) or advanced internet technology. This report briefly describes an offline and online approach and then summarises some of the main benefits to be gained from combining games and goals to get students going in the right pedagogical direction.

Linked data flows in multi-player games for servitisation

The increased data complexity and task interdependency associated with servitization represent significant barriers to its adoption. The outline of a business game is presented which demonstrates the increasing complexity of the management problem when moving through Base, Intermediate and Advanced levels of servitization. Linked data is proposed as an agile set of technologies, based on well established standards, for data exchange both in the game and more generally in supply chains.

Serious games for energy social science research

This paper proposes a set of criteria for evaluation of serious games (SGs) which are intended as effective methods of engaging energy users and lowering consumption. We discuss opportunities for using SGs in energy research which go beyond existing feedback mechanisms, including use of immersive virtual worlds for learning and testing behaviours, and sparking conversations within households. From a review of existing SG evaluation criteria, we define a tailored set of criteria for energy SG development and evaluation. The criteria emphasise the need for the game to increase energy literacy through applicability to real-life energy use/management; clear, actionable goals and feedback; ways of comparing usage socially and personal relevance. Three existing energy games are evaluated according to this framework. The paper concludes by outlining directions for future development of SGs as an effective tool in social science research, including games which inspire reflection on trade-offs and usage at different scales.

Comparing interaction techniques for serious games through brain-computer interfaces:a user perception evaluation study

This paper examines the application of commercial and non-invasive electroencephalography (EEG)-based brain-computer (BCIs) interfaces with serious games. Two different EEG-based BCI devices were used to fully control the same serious game. The first device (NeuroSky MindSet) uses only a single dry electrode and requires no calibration. The second device (Emotiv EPOC) uses 14 wet sensors requiring additional training of a classifier. User testing was performed on both devices with sixty-two participants measuring the player experience as well as key aspects of serious games, primarily learnability, satisfaction, performance and effort. Recorded feedback indicates that the current state of BCIs can be used in the future as alternative game interfaces after familiarisation and in some cases calibration. Comparative analysis showed significant differences between the two devices. The first device provides more satisfaction to the players whereas the second device is more effective in terms of adaptation and interaction with the serious game.

State of the art in business games

The use of digital games and gamification has demonstrated potential to improve many aspects of how businesses provide training to staff, and communicate with consumers. However, there is still a need for better understanding of how the adoption of games and gasification would influence the process of decision-making in organisations across different industry. This article provides a structured review of existing literature on the use of games in the business environment, and seeks to consolidate findings to address research questions regarding their perception, proven efficacy, and identifies key areas for future work. The findings highlight that serious games can have positive and effective impacts in multiple areas of a business, including training, decision-support, and consumer outreach. They also emphasise the challenges and pitfalls of applying serious games and gamification principles within a business context, and discuss the implications of development and evaluation methodologies on the success of a game-based solution.