[Paper Review] A Longitudinal Analysis of Gamification in Untappd: Ethical Reflections on a Social Drinking Application

Jefferson Seide Molléri, Hyrynsalmi, Sami+3 more|arXiv (Cornell University)|Jan 8, 2026

Educational Games and Gamification0 citations

TL;DR

The paper conducts a two-phase longitudinal ethical analysis of Untappd (2020 and 2025), examining how its badge-driven gamification shapes user autonomy, well-being, and social/marketing dynamics, and arguing for embedded ethical governance across the software lifecycle.

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a longitudinal ethical analysis of Untappd, a social drinking application that gamifies beer consumption through badges, streaks, and social sharing. Building on an exploratory study conducted in 2020, we revisit the platform in 2025 to examine how its gamification features and ethical framings have evolved. Drawing on traditional ethical theory and practical frameworks for Software Engineering, we analyze five categories of badges and their implications for user autonomy and well-being. Our findings show that, despite small adjustments and superficial disclaimers, many of the original ethical issues remain. We argue for continuous ethical reflection built embedded into software lifecycles to prevent the normalization of risky behaviors through design.

Motivation & Objective

• Assess how Untappd's gamification features evolved between 2020 and 2025.
• Identify ethical challenges from individual, community, regulatory, and design-ethics perspectives.
• Evaluate whether design changes address well-being and autonomy concerns.
• Advocate for embedding ethical safeguards in the software lifecycle of social apps.

Proposed method

• Two-phase longitudinal interpretive case study following netnographic principles.
• Phase 1 (2020): exploratory analysis of ethically grey badge categories using philosophical lenses.
• Phase 2 (2025): updated walkthroughs, developer/official documentation, app-store histories, and public discourse to assess evolution.
• Frameworks applied: EASE (ethically-aware software engineering) and Caragay et al.’s concept-based framework for ethical software design.
• Four-dimensional analysis: individual well-being, community norms, commercial/regulatory context, and design ethics.

Experimental results

Research questions

• RQ1 RQ1 How have the design and implementation of gamification in Untappd evolved between 2020 and 2025?
• RQ2 RQ2 What ethical challenges emerge from Untappd’s gamification when examined through a multi-perspective lens (well-being, norms, regulatory, and design ethics).

Key findings

• Untappd remains popular with 8–9 million users and nearly a billion check-ins as of 2025, with a modernized UI and expanded business tools.
• New badges appeared regularly, including The Century Club and high-volume levels, while some event-based badges were removed.
• Across five badge categories, core mechanics (badges, streaks, location-based challenges) persisted with limited ethical redesigns.
• Ethical analysis shows persistent issues: autonomy, privacy, and well-being are not adequately safeguarded, enabling promotion of risky drinking behaviors.
• Disclaimers exist but function symbolically; synergy with local business promotions and badge-chasing culture sustains engagement over safety.
• The study advocates continuous ethics-oriented governance embedded in software lifecycles.