This is my first entry into my Dark Patterns series. We're going to be going into unique dark patterns, specific implementations of them, some unique cases, and breaking down the offenders from a game designer's perspective. If you want to hop on this ride with us, feel free to subscribe so you're notified when a new entry comes out!

Dark Patterns are everywhere in today's digital world, but we're going to stick to how they appear in mobile apps and video games in today's simple introductory. Expect to see more parts about how these nefarious implementations appear in online shopping, in insurance companies, and even in political campaigns!

As always, the comments are open for civil discussion. Let's learn and share our experiences together.

"Blue canary in the outlet by the lightswitch, who watches over you! Make a little birdhouse in your soul."

My name is Dandy. I've been developing software for over ten years now with a focus on accessibility and disability accommodation. This is Birdhouse in Your Code, a blog where I talk about tech topics in ways that anyone can understand, tech literate or not! Remember to be nice to each other. Don't be condescending or mean if somebody has a question or misconception. Encourage education without snark. (Not everyone knows as much as you do!)

Defining Dark Patterns

"What's a dark pattern? What're you scaring me into reading, Dandy Abandonware?"

A dark pattern is a deliberate, conscious design choice made by a developer or publisher with the intent of taking something from its players in order to produce a favorable outcome for itself. This is a parasitic relationship. Remember the saying "the house always wins" and how many are warned of avoiding casinos, as they will only act in the best interest of their profit? The same applies here; there are no winners in the game of dark patterns except for the cardholder.

These design choices range anywhere from graphic design and art styles, user interface design, or features and mechanics of the game that manipulate you in ways that you wouldn't expect.

Dark patterns take advantage of how we're programmed as human beings in order to coerce us into doing actions that we might not take otherwise. The implementation of these into video games is often done with extensive knowledge and research into our neurology, our psychology, and our sociological behaviours. (Seriously, there's whole teams of these working behind the scenes in order to make these tactics more and more effective as we learn more and more about our brains and how they work!)

Dark patterns are no hypothetical boogeyman, either. Dark patterns significantly contribute to the epidemic of video game addiction, the ongoing degradation of our attention spans, spending addictions, and can even contribute to the development or worsening of mental illness.

To tap into the tangible consequences of this a little more, a 2014 study by Zhejiang Normal University found that gaming addiction can lead to "lower volumes of gray and white brain matter."

These, in turn, can lead to even more impulsive behaviours -- lowered attention span with an insatiable need for constant stimulation in the form of turning back to your screen for some sweet, sweet gratification for one -- and other tendencies that serve to fuel the cycle even more. Impulse control and decision making are compromised by these lowered volumes of brain matter, leading to more spending of your hard-earned money and therefore more money in the pockets of these developers.

Daily Rewards and Social Pyramid Schemes

Log on every day to receive a free item! If you miss a day, you have to start all over. Lots of games have an implementation like this, and it's an incentive to keep you coming back for more. Seems pretty harmless on its own, right?

Let's combine it with a few other dark patterns you frequently see in video games. Variable Rewards are randomized rewards, like prize wheels or gacha machines. If you log on every day for a week, you get a ticket to spin a big wheel of fun with a chance of getting a super rare and coveted item. To add to this, the Social Pyramid Scheme dark pattern encourages you to invite your friends to receive rewards ingame! If you invite a friend using a special code, you get to spin the wheel again. (There's plenty of manifestations of the social pyramid scheme outside of this, but this is just one common case of it.) This propagates the Fear of Missing Out -- a dark pattern where, if a player ends up recruiting groups of friends into this game, they're going to be left out by quitting.

There are hundreds of dark patterns out there, some that we don't even know about yet. These are only a few examples. They become even more and more potent as more and more of them are worked into one another. While plenty of players aren't shaken by these temptations, far too many people are caught in this intricate web of stratagem and can't seem to break free of its clutches.

When Free Isn't Really Free

Picture this: you're on your phone's app store. You're looking for a new game to satiate your boredom during idle time at work, while you're loafing around in the hallway, or while you're procrastinating on going to bed again. One in particular stands out to you. Its marketing is vibrant, colorful, and pleasing to the eye. It's literal eye candy -- it satisfies you in ways that are hard to fulfill -- and like real sweet tooths, some of us are more inclined than others to take a bite! It's an easy sell for you. You tap the download button and you're whisked away to the whims of whatever these designers have carefully crafted for you.

How many times has this happened to you? Most of the time, we're met with disappointment. It's the same game you've seen a million times before, maybe with a new gimmick in its mascot or in its art style, but it plays just like everything else. Another match-four candy crush. Another arcade game with an ad that plays every time you fail. Another tycoon that creates the illusion of advancement, only for things to slow to a snail's pace until you pay up...

While some games offer an initial enjoyable experience to hook players, dark patterns then emerge to change the dynamic. You might start out having fun matching candies or building up your virtual business, but eventually hit barriers that force your hand. Often these barriers come in the form of timers -- now you have to wait hours to make your next move unless you pay up. Energy or stamina systems may artificially limit how much you can play in one sitting. Games that initially feel generous become much more stingy about rewarding players.

You're blazing through levels at first, making such great accomplishments, and then it all comes to a standstill! It's frustrating and keeps you craving more. Imagine this; you've just picked up a free cookie and then it falls apart and its crumbled shape lands right into a muddy puddle on the ground halfway through your nibbling! You didn't even get to finish it, and there's no way you're going to pick it back up and eat it now! It's unsatisfying, and you were practically owed that cookie! It was so aesthetically pleasing, tasted so good, and it checked all of the boxes for what a damn good cookie should be.

...But you *could* just go back and buy another cookie. I mean, the cookie store is *right* there. Sure, it costs money, but it's really cheap...

And if you refer three facebook friends, you get a bonus cookie for free. Might as well go ahead and do that while you're at it. You can also buy a gold subscription pass to get a free cookie every week. Don't read the fine print on it, it's just a cookie and nothing else.

Through careful psychological manipulation, developers gain your trust before revealing these manipulative strings. They make the payment options feel like a logical next step to keep enjoyment levels high. Nobody wants to be blueballed while they're blazing through achievements and levels.

Even after you spend your hard-earned cash, dark patterns remain in place to keep the money flowing. If you pay to remove timers or increase your stamina, those barriers will likely return after a short period of relief - prompting further spending to restore the privileges you briefly had. The cycle can be addictive, trained to trigger that reward response each time real money is exchanged to satisfy gaming's meticulously designed systems of artificial scarcity.

Before long, your spending may exceed what you intended without feeling any real satisfaction or achievement. This is by no means an accident. Teams of psychologists, data scientists and monetization experts ensure these mechanics keep players hooked and paying. Their goal is maximum revenue extraction, not ensuring gaming brings you lasting enjoyment and value. As with any addiction, it's easy to feel entranced in the moment but step back and many players feel shame, guilt or regret over the sums blown. Then it becomes hard to escape. You've sunken so much time and money into it... why quit now and throw all of that progress away?

The house always wins, because dark patterns are a rigged game from the start. Players are viewed less as loyal fans to entertain, more milkable commodities. Mobile gaming has taken the largest market share in the gaming world for a reason; they're the largest perpetrators of this, and for good reason! Their cashcows no longer have to invest in expensive consoles or PC setups. All you need in order to become their next revenue generator is to have a smartphone in your pocket.

Conclusion

That's just the introduction to the concept. Mobile gaming is one of the largest industries in the world, but the research into cultivating these dark patterns is a multi-million dollar industry on its own.

Next time, we're going to be talking about the Illusion of Control and other psychological dark patterns. A psychological dark pattern, (as defined by darkpattern.games; a website dedicated entirely to documenting offenders of these unfortunately common implementations), are tricks taking advantage of your psychology in order to coerce you into making bad decisions.

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Nerd's cheesy pick-up line: You're hotter than the bottom of my laptop.

(Feel free to leave critique, suggestions, or corrections in the comments! I'd love to hear your feedback and how to improve my blogposts.)