Gamification Ethics: Exploitation and Manipulation

Author Problem: Exploitation

Tae Wan Kim Notably, Bogost [4] dubbed gamification
Assistant Professor of Business Ethics
Tepper School of Business “exploitaionware.” Bogost claims that players gain only
Carnegie Mellon University a small fraction of the entirely created value, while the
5000 Forbes Avenue company gains relatively too large a share of it, and the
Pittsburgh, PA 15213 USA
[email protected]
imbalance is exploitative. Yet, just because an outcome
is asymmetrically distributed between employees and
Copyright is held by the author/owner(s). CHI 2015 the employer, does not itself constitute a wrong.
April 18-23, 2015, Seoul, Korea. Suppose that a transplant surgeon gains $35,000 by
Gamifying Research Workshop Papers
saving a patient. The patient benefits significantly more
Abstract than the surgeon, but it would be odd to say that the
Two main accusations made against gamification are patient exploits the surgeon. This does not mean,
exploitation and manipulation [3, 4, 5]. I explain under however, that gamification can never be exploitative.
what circumstances gamification can be exploitative or Below, I test gamification with two influential accounts
manipulative. I maintain that gamification is of exploitation: the fairness account and the mere-
characteristically vulnerable to an expressive form of means account.
exploitation and a non-reason-tracking form of
manipulation. I suggest solutions.1 According to the fairness account [21], an exploitative
transaction is one in which A takes unfair advantage of
Author Keywords B and a fair price is determined in a hypothetical
Gamification ethics, exploitation, manipulation. environment in which some number of well-informed
and unpressured buyers and sellers transact. Consider
Author Keywords a famous exploitive case, The Port of Caledonia and the
H.5.m [Information Interfaces and Presentation (e.g., Anna, in which the master of a vessel in danger asked
HCI)]: Miscellaneous; K.4.1 [Computers and Society]: for assistance from a nearby tug and the master of the
Ethics; K.8.0 [Personal Computing]: Games. tug offered £1,000 or no help. The master of the vessel
voluntarily agreed to pay £1,000. If there were at least
one competitor, the offering price would be significantly
lower than £1,000. This means that the tug master
1
took an unfair advantage, so that the agreement was,
This article is an abridged version of two unpublished working
papers [13, 14]. I would like to thank the workshop organizers
although voluntary, exploitative.
and two anonymous referees for their comments.

1
 Imagine a labor market in which labor for gamification nature of humanity [1]. Typically, this requires, in the
is clearly specified within employment advertisements. context of organizational life, meeting minimum or
In this market, some number of competing companies reasonable safety standards and providing a minimum
advertises, for instance, cashier jobs. The job or living wage for employees [1]. Most companies that
descriptions of some companies include reference to use gamification operate in the U.S. and other
the gamified working condition; other companies’ developed countries in which companies typically
descriptions do not. Would the addition of the gamified provide more than the legally defined minimum wage
work change workers’ salaries in the hypothetical as well as other benefits including discounts on
market? Probably not, or, at least, it is unclear. In products, services, and merchandise.
theory, offering a gamified working environment could
allow a company to even slightly decrease wages for The Kantian account can also be interpreted as an
those who preferred gamified to non-gamified expressive theory, according to which an act that does
employment. From the fairness account, hence, it’s not substantively (through e.g., deception, coercion, or
difficult to say that gamification is exploitative. minimum wage violation) use people as a mere means
can expressively treat them as a mere means by
The other influential view is the Kantian account of showing disrespectful attitudes such as humiliation,
exploitation as the use of others as a mere means [1]. contempt, offense, insult, etc. toward the rational
For Kant, what makes a person an end is the rational nature of humanity [13]. For instance, treating adults
nature of humanity that enables her to deliberatively as if they were children can often express the insulting
set moral and practical ends. First of all, respecting the attitude that the adults actually lack the rational
rational nature demands that we refrain from coercing capacity to act as adults [7]. Some cashiers who play
or deceiving people. As a conceptual matter, however, Target’s Checkout game, for instance, might reasonably
gamification is voluntary [19, 20], so players are not believe that they are being treated as if they were in a
coerced.2 And it makes sense that the intent of using preschool or kindergarten, in which once a four-year-
gamification (or any other incentives, especially at the old child behaves well and solves given problems, she
workplace) is straightforward: gamification providers earns a sticker or sometimes a candy or a
want to solve some problem x by making a working marshmallow; the child is thrilled and wants to earn
environment game-like. more stamps.

The Kantian account requires more. Treating others as Solution: A Duty of Hermeneutics
ends in themselves also demands us not to be In order not to express disrespect to others, we should
“indifferent” to minimally maintaining their rational consider how others would publicly interpret our acts.
Hence, gamification designers have a duty to pay
2 attention to the hermeneutical aspect of game
It is controversial whether or not gamification by definition is
voluntary. I assume that it is. For a non-voluntary perspective, elements. How can designers pay enough attention to
see [15]. the hermeneutical dimension? They can invite the input

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of future interpreters, e.g., the Target cashiers, ask I develop a new perspective from Bogost’s insight
them how they interpret the game, and carefully about bullshit. Providers who are not themselves
consider their feedback. Perhaps a more structured way bullshitters can attempt to influence players to be
of fulfilling the duty of hermeneutics is possible. For bullshitters—those who do not track the justificatory
instance, designers can develop an interpretive process quality of their plays. Consider a well-known gamified
based on the philosophy of Habermas’s communicative activity, the ALS ice bucket challenge. Suppose that
approach [18], also suggested to courtroom judges Alan genuinely cares about ALS patients and hopes
who face interpretive issues [12]. No doubt, such a more people become aware of the disease. He knows
deliberative process cannot aim to lead involved parties that his friends Ken and Taylor like to be recognized by
to an ideally convergent interpretation. But it can at others on Facebook. So Alan takes the ice bucket
least promise a realistic and reasonably acceptable challenge himself on his Facebook and then nominates
framework by which all parties can understand each Ken and Taylor. During preparation for the challenge,
other’s perspectives and determine a realistic exit Ken and Taylor realize that some filmed challenges are
rather than stagnating in a dead-end interpretive “liked” and “shared” many times—that is, earned points
debate. In addition, recognizing others’ deliberative and badges, while others are simply ignored. So they
abilities is itself often valuable as an apt expression of decide to film their pouring ice bucket with a certain
respecting the rational nature of their humanity [17]. funny idea. They mention ALS in passing, but do not
mean it. Many “like” and “share” their video. Ken and
Problem: Manipulation Taylor are excited about the points and badges. Many
Relying on a philosophical analysis of bullshit [8], who would not otherwise know about ALS are now
Bogost [3] claims that providers of gamification are aware of ALS. Alan is happy about the outcome. So,
bullshitters because they are indifferent to the everyone becomes happier.
justificatory quality—i.e., the truth value—of
gamification. Here, Bogost, probably unknowingly, uses Participating in the ice bucket challenge is itself a
a reason-tracking account of manipulation [9], desirable act, and the worthiness of an action in part
according to which gamification providers are depends on the desirability of the act itself.
manipulative to the extent that they do not track the Nonetheless, two actions that are equal in moral
justificatory quality of their means of influence. In desirability may be of different moral worth, because
typical cases, however, gamification providers seem to the worthiness of an action also significantly depends
be committed to solving their problems using upon the extent to which one is motivated to perform it
gamification. In other words, if it turns out that the with reasons that make it desirable [2, 14, 15].
gamified incentive does not work well—i.e., not true—, Consider an often-invoked example: that a man wants
they find a new solution. That is, they track justificatory to save a drowning child because he believes it is the
quality. So, Bogost’s own charge is not typically true. right thing to do. The same man now wants to save the
drowning child because he wants to seduce her mom.
In both cases, the acts themselves are exactly the

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 same. But not many of us would deny that the moral of gamification is to lead players to get motivated with
worth of the act in the first case significantly differs points, badges, and leaderboards, and so to become
from that of the inadequately motivated act in the indifferent to the reason that makes their action
second case. desirable, which can put their action at ethical risk of
significantly losing the points of its moral worth.
I submit that Alan attempts to get Ken and Taylor’s
decision-making to fall short of a certain important Solution: Solemn Time
moral ideal through a mental process I call The problem with bullshitification is that players are
“bullshitification,”3 which I define as a decision-making induced to be motivated with a reason that does not
process in which, due to the influence of game design make their action desirable, which in turn leads them to
elements, a decision maker becomes detached from the be indifferent to the right motivation that could make
reason that makes her action desirable, which can put their job morally (more) worthy. Thus, any adequate
the action at risk of significantly losing its moral worth. solution must be something that can help players not to
For this reason, Alan manipulates Ken and Taylor. To be indifferent to the right motivating reason. My
put it more generically, Person A’s act x manipulates suggestion is that players—that is, workers or
person B when A, through x, attempts to get B’s customers—in gamified environments have what I want
decision-making to fall short of the moral ideal about to call “Solemn Time,” in which they learn about what
moral worth and a relevant norm, “Do the desirable act their works or jobs are really doing, such as helping
with the motivation that makes the act desirable.” others, contributing to society, or enhancing important
moral goods such as friendship or sustainability. For
I maintain that a similar moral phenomenon can be instance, the IT technicians who are excited about the
attempted in many other cases of gamification. That is, points and badges in OmniQuest could have a chance
providers of gamification often attempt to get workers’ during Solemn Time to get in touch with the reality of
or customers’ decision-making to fall short of the ideal what they are doing through playing the game: helping
about moral worth and to violate a relevant norm, “Do senior patients in nursing homes.
the right/good/desirable act with the motivation that
makes it right/good/desirable.” In other words, the aim One might worry that Solemn Time could distract
workers from being immersed in the game and
3
My notion of bullshitification differs from the so-called decrease the practical effectiveness of gamification.
“motivation crowding out” [9], which says that extrinsic This idea about the incompatibility of fun with solemnity
(especially monetary) incentives decrease intrinsic motivation.
“One is said to be intrinsically motivated to perform an activity
is not necessarily true, however. Endorsing Solemn
when one receives no apparent reward except the activity Time can even boost the effectiveness of gamification
itself”[6: 105]. Hence, a gamification player is intrinsically as well as making it morally enlightened. In a field
motivated when he or she receives no apparent reward except
experiment about stressed out fundraising callers’
the game experience itself. Nevertheless, the intrinsically
motivated player can be induced to be indifferent to the reason performances [11], fundraising callers who were read
that makes the act morally desirable. stories about how their job could make a positive

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difference in others’ lives (e.g., a story about a person significantly higher job performance than those who did
who would not have finished his college without the not have such an intervention or Solemn Time. Robust
scholarship that fundraising callers created) showed empirical research is required to support this idea.

References [11] Grant, A. M. The significance of task

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