Ethical Issues of Gamification in Healthcare: The Need to be Involved

Abstract

Gamification techniques have proven to be very effective in improving motivation and commitment, providing increased performance in both qualitative and quantitative terms. For this reason, it has been applied in more and more areas, with health and healthcare being no exception. The potential of this type of approach is enormous, and, on the one hand, it can motivate positive feelings; it can also foster deviant behaviors that fail to contribute to the individual and common good. This chapter aims to explore the relationship between the development of gamification systems and the ethical and moral aspects that are crucial elements when the target of the process becomes the human mind. The main questions and ethical dimensions that will allow us to constitute a reference framework for the development of gamification systems will be presented. Timely reflection and the inclusion of security mechanisms will allow us to develop better experiences for users, always combining improved motivation with the search for the good.