‘Dark Patterns’ in game design
[Dark Patterns are] design practices that trick or manipulate users into making choices they would not otherwise have made and that may cause harm. – 2022 FTC definition
Eric Weiss, a trial lawyer who defends companies from class action lawsuits and other disputes, is warning software and game dev clients during his GDC talk to be aware of the dangers of “dark patterns” as lawsuit cases are rising.
This isn’t just academic – and not just related to gambling sites. The FTC just landed a $245 million settlement with Epic Games after claiming that Fortnite’s unintuitive UI constituted using “digital dark patterns to bill Fortnite players for unintentional in-game purchases.”
What are other dark patterns? The Dark Pattern Games website gives some examples. The free-to-play market of apps probably has some of the most egregious. Some you may have encountered from online retailers include:
- A warning that a product is almost sold out—”only two remaining!”—when there’s actually plenty of stock
- A timer that counts down the seconds remaining on a limited-time 20% discount, but just resets after hitting zero
- A request to send you email updates that can only be rejected by agreeing to a ridiculous accusation like “No thanks, I don’t care about children”
Weiss says that one of the dark patterns is grinding: “One of the identified dark patterns is grinding. And that’s ‘making a free version of a game so cumbersome and labor intensive that the player is induced to unlock new features with in-app purchases.’ So it’s set up in a way that you don’t need to make a purchase, but is it so difficult that the practical reality for the reasonable gamer is that they’re going to have to make that purchase? Have they been deceived, or is it unfair in some way?”
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