The ETHIC Framework: Designing Ethical Gamification That Actually Works
“It’s normal,” a student told me during class this semester, “for me to spend 10-to-20 hours a week playing [popular Gacha game] Genshin Impact. I do it during online classes.”
Genshin has been criticized for using the same mechanisms as a slot machine, but I think it’s much more sophisticated than that because of how it deflates a player’s sense of what their money is worth through a clever sleight of hand: tying it to hours of in-game grinding instead of actual valuable purchases.
When I asked if she paid for pulls and currency in the game, she told me she did, but brushed it off as “protecting her time investment.”
This wasn’t the first time I’d heard this story. As a game design professor, I regularly encounter students who recognize they’re caught in manipulative game loops but feel powerless to break free. She knew she was being manipulated, yet the gamification systems were working anyway.
I’ve seen this shift firsthand through my work as an Ethical Gamification consultant for mobile game companies seeking to design systems that don’t exploit their users. After presenting on this topic at the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard and working with companies struggling to balance engagement with ethics, I’ve developed a framework that addresses both business needs and user wellbeing.
I call it the ETHIC framework. It’s a set of guiding principles to create gamification that benefits users while still achieving business goals.
What Makes Gamification Predatory?
Before diving into what makes gamification ethical, let’s identify the warning signs that your gamification might be heading into dark territory:
1. Compulsion, Not Motivation
Users should feel motivated, not compelled. If your users are taking action to relieve anxiety rather than pursue something they genuinely want, you’ve created a dark pattern. LinkedIn’s “Top Voice Badge” (now retired) is an example of this — it created anxiety around social status rather than celebrating genuine contribution.
2. Opaque Economies
When the values and meanings of currencies in your app are deliberately obscured, users can’t make informed decisions. Multiple interlocking currencies with no clear exchange rate serve to confuse users rather than empower them. Clash of Clans exemplifies this problem with its seven different currencies (Gold, Elixir, Dark Elixir, Gems, Builder Gold, Builder Elixir, Capital Gold, and Raid Medals) — a deliberately confusing system that makes it nearly impossible for players to optimize their spending or understand the true cost of items.
3. Discomfort as a Lever
Some apps use discomfort as leverage to force action. For example, Wooga’s “SkipIts” feature charges users to skip ads… at a price 8x higher than what the app would generate in ad revenue. This isn’t providing value; it’s manufacturing pain points to sell the solution.
4. Collection Treadmills
When users can never complete collections because new items are constantly introduced at timed intervals, you’ve created a frustrating hamster wheel. Brawl Stars’ “seasonally themed” collectibles that expire after just one month create artificial urgency and perpetual incompleteness.
5. Lack of Control
Ethical systems give users control. When features like Snapchat streaks can’t be paused (even during vacations or illness), users feel trapped rather than engaged.
Introducing the ETHIC Framework
To create gamification that’s both effective and ethical, I propose the ETHIC framework — five principles that should guide your design process:
E — Empowering
Empowerment goes beyond simply offering users choices. It’s about creating systems that genuinely help users achieve what they set out to do. Good gamification makes users feel capable and effective, like they can overcome challenges and reach their goals.
When designing for empowerment:
- Build scaffolded difficulty curves that match user capability
- Provide tools and resources that help users overcome obstacles
- Celebrate genuine accomplishments rather than trivial actions
- Ensure that users feel their time is well-spent
- Design mechanics that make users feel skillful and competent
Stardew Valley exemplifies empowering design by providing clear goals without forcing a specific path. Players feel capable and effective regardless of whether they focus on farming, mining, fishing, or socializing.
T — Transparent
Transparency extends throughout the entire user experience. Users should understand not just how systems work, but also the underlying value proposition and business model.
Effective transparency means:
- Making clear what actions lead to what outcomes
- Being upfront about pricing and monetization
- Aligning product goals with user needs (and being honest when they diverge)
- Avoiding hidden costs or surprise charges
- Making sure users understand what they’re paying for and why
- Providing context for how the product creates value
For example, when Monument Valley charges a simple upfront price, users know exactly what they’re getting: a complete artistic experience with no ads or in-app purchases.
H — Holistic
Holistic design means giving users complete experiences rather than artificially gating content. Instead of fragmenting the experience to extract maximum revenue, holistic design provides everything users need to succeed. They should receive everything at once, especially after they’ve already paid.
Holistic design principles include:
- Not hiding core functionality behind paywalls
- Avoiding artificial progress slowdowns unless users pay
- Not charging repeatedly for essentially the same experience
- Not making gameplay dependent on power-ups or pay-to-win features
- Creating complete experiences rather than endlessly withholding satisfaction
- Ensuring that the basic experience is satisfying without premium features
Compare this to games that constantly introduce new seasonal collectibles that expire, forcing players into an endless treadmill of purchases to maintain the same level of enjoyment.
I — Intrinsically Motivating
The best gamification taps into what users genuinely find meaningful and enjoyable. It’s about aligning your system with users’ natural interests rather than manufacturing extrinsic pressure.
Designing for intrinsic motivation means:
- Understanding what users genuinely find satisfying and enjoyable
- Not using anxiety as a lever to drive engagement
- Not creating artificial urgency
- Avoiding mechanics that make users fear losing progress
- Not making users pay to protect previous investments
- Creating experiences that are inherently rewarding to engage with
Apps like Finch succeed because caring for a virtual pet aligns with users’ genuine desire for self-care in a way that feels natural and rewarding.
C — Customizable
Customization goes beyond superficial aesthetic choices. It’s about giving users real control over their experience, including how much they want to engage with gamification elements.
True customization includes:
- Letting users opt out of potentially distressing features
- Providing granular control over notifications
- Allowing users to control what is shared with the community
- Creating systems that accommodate different play styles
- Letting users take breaks without punishment
- Designing for different skill levels and accessibility needs
Good customization recognizes that not all users engage with products in the same way, and respects those differences instead of forcing everyone into the same mold.
Implementing ETHIC: A Three-Part Approach
Putting ETHIC into practice requires a thoughtful implementation process:
1. Research
- Understand your subject matter deeply
- Work with subject matter experts
- Study what has worked and failed before
2. Engagement
- Talk directly to your users
- Understand their genuine desires and motivations
- Learn how they naturally play and engage
3. Design
- Use proven frameworks
- Test and iterate with real users
- Ask ETHIC-targeted questions throughout the design process
Why It Matters
Ethical gamification isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s also good business. Recent years have seen increasing regulatory scrutiny of manipulative design:
- Epic Games paid over $500 million to settle FTC allegations of privacy violations and unwanted charges
- Robinhood paid $7.5 million to resolve “gamification” securities violations
- Dating apps like Tinder face lawsuits claiming they fuel addiction through gamification techniques
Beyond regulatory concerns, user expectations are evolving. People are becoming more aware of manipulative design tactics and increasingly choose products that respect their agency and intelligence.
Final Thought
As I’ve written before: “The most powerful engagement doesn’t come from psychological manipulation but from genuine value creation.”
Gamification can be incredibly powerful when it aligns with what users genuinely want to do and helps them do it better. The ETHIC framework provides a path to creating systems that drive engagement through empowerment rather than exploitation.
The choice is yours: design for short-term metrics at the cost of user trust, or build sustainable engagement through ethical gamification that benefits everyone.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on ethical gamification. What examples have you seen of gamification done right — or wrong? Share your experiences in the comments below.
Sam Liberty is consultant and expert in ethical gamification. He conducts audits, workshops, and game design for ethical monetization, user engagement, and retention. His clients include The World Bank, Click Therapeutics, and DARPA. He teaches game design at Northeastern University. He is the former Lead Game Designer at Sidekick Health.
