ABSTRACT
An ethical map of gamification can offer normative guidance to both scholars and practitioners if it identifies deep structures that tie together seemingly disparate phenomena and anchors the topic in established scholarly literature. The macro fairness account is not itself relevant to our purposes, because most gamification providers are US or developed country-based companies. If a gamification system deliberately or negligently applies techniques to promote compulsive behavior, or fails to take corrective action when some players display such behavior, it falls short of ethical duties regarding manipulation. If motivational techniques derived from games should not always be employed in “serious” environments, that would apply to services such as Free Rice, an online quiz game created by the United Nations World Food Programme that educates players about world hunger, or Half the Sky, a social game on Facebook that raises awareness about the mistreatment of women around the world.
