DarkPattern.games » Healthy Gaming « Avoid Addictive Dark Patterns

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• ranandtoldthat@beehaw.org ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  I was pretty intrigued by this, because I actively avoid games that try to push me into doing things I don’t want to.

  Unfortunately, after reading their descriptions of the various “dark” patterns, I am quite worried that this site could do more harm than good if it gets broad traction.

  While it has a few notes here and there disclaiming people’s preferences and fun, mostly it heavily over-identifies “dark” patterns. It doesn’t make it clear enough to the non-gaming friends/spouses/parents of the gamer that these patterns aren’t by default “dark”.

  It over-classifies many forms of difficulty, mastery, complexity, routines, socializing, and more as “dark”. I hope this website doesn’t gain traction in its current state, because if it does it could further a moral panic around many games that people enjoy. Based on their descriptions, this panic would likely be even more focused on games that neurodivergent people enjoy, because of course…

  Moral panic about video games in the past has been an excuse to bully people, often kids in the past, but more and more adults as well.

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  • CrypticCoffee@lemmy.ml ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    I’m curious. Which of those do you think aren’t a dark pattern?

    Are they really not dark, or are they so common now that it has become accepted.

    For example, I love Stardew Valley but the inability to pause, and instead complete the day is a dark pattern.

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    • ranandtoldthat@beehaw.org ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      The core problem here is that the author(s) don’t seem to consider that not every game is intended for everyone, and instead seem to imply that if they’re not for everyone then some of the reasons they aren’t is a “dark pattern”.

      I really cannot be exhaustive because there are so many problems. But I will try to give a few examples. Fair warning: As I wrote the below, I began to get a bit irreverent because reading the text is pretty upsetting so I needed to lighten my own mood. I guess maybe the authors here are using some sort of dark pattern? /s

      “Some games have special events that occur during specific times. If you want to participate in the special event, you must play during this time window. Players who work or travel may be unable to play during these time windows and will miss out and feel stress.”

      Many ARPGs that have fixed-length events that occur over a period of hours, days, or months. Some games (eg. Grim Dawn) even have these modded in by players. Are those players modding in a dark pattern? Maybe the author of this personally doesn’t like the idea that some people may be left out by work or travel requirements, but like, can’t the rest of us enjoy our game without being effectively told that work and travel come first, so therefore it’s a dark pattern?

      “Some games use the time of day to change aspects of the game. Maybe certain items can only be collected at night. This forces people to play the game during times when they might not otherwise play.”

      Like, don’t play a game during a time you don’t want to? There are game developers that would like to experiment with this type of mechanic.

      " Some games use a mechanic called “Harvesting” which can be implemented in many ways, but in general the player starts an action that will take some long time to complete. The player must return to the game at some specific time in the future to collect the reward. Sometimes, the reward is lost if not collected in time."

      Welcome to almost every city builder, management game, automation game, and so on. It’s perfectly fine if some people want instant gratification in your games, but some of us really enjoy these types of mechanic.

      “Another way that developers implement an Infinite Treadmill is by continually expanding the game and adding new content. It might be possible to complete everything in the game right now, but soon the developers will release new levels and extend the game.”

      So adding new content to a game is now a dark pattern? This is just way too general.

      “Additionally, if someone is already bored with a game and a new event is announced, the player may stick around to see if the new event rekindles their enjoyment in the game in which they have already invested significant time and money.”

      Oh no, boredom, we can’t allow people to be bored in the hopes that they find newfound enjoyment in an old favorite game.

      “This is often combined with the Playing by Appointment dark pattern. For example, the team may have a raid or other event scheduled for 10:00am. Because players don’t want to let their team down, they may rearrange their schedule or play the game when they should be at work or doing something else important. A player on vacation may be desperate to find a WiFi connection so they can login and support their team.”

      Oh no, some gamers treat their games like a social hobby with meetings and events, this must be a dark pattern.

      "If the game allows you to share resources, trade items or send gifts to your friends or other players then it may be using the dark pattern of Reciprocity. The person who receives your gift may feel a sense of obligation to return the favor. They may not have resources to share, and so they may feel bad that they gave something valuable away, or they may feel shame or guilt if they do not reciprocate. These unwanted negative feelings make the game less enjoyable. "

      Oh no the game encourages… sharing digital items? I don’t know where to start.

      And then, the whole section on competition is a mess. Like yeah there can be problems with competitive games, but again it’s just so overly general. Oh no a kid who lost a game of basketball wants to play more to get better?

      "For people who collect things, the collection can have significant emotional value. It may connect them to something that they enjoy or feel strongly about. Some people collect for the thrill of the hunt, others may collect because it gives them a sense of security or control. Others may derive great satisfaction from having a complete set and feel anxious when they are missing a piece of a set. “All of these psychological effects contribute to making you keep playing the game, even if the “playing” of the game is not enjoyable anymore.”

      This reeks of “you’re not playing it right”. I’m not a huge fan of collection games, but I am close with people who really enjoy that style of gameplay. Thats WHY they enjoy them. Not because of some other “playing” the game, but because collecting things is playing the game for them.

      I’m going to stop there.

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    • Goodeye8@piefed.social ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      For example “Reciprocity”. Unless it’s something I’ve never seen in gaming I don’t see how that’s a dark pattern. Giving other players stuff is not a dark pattern, the “dark pattern” is when the person feels like they should contribute back. How can a game make a player NOT feel like they should contribute back? There is nothing a game can do to fix this which is why I don’t see how that can be a dark pattern for games.

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    • ranandtoldthat@beehaw.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      I just found a recent video from Chris Wilson that does a much better job distinguishing dark patterns from game mechanics some people might enjoy and shared it here: beehaw.org/post/23297295

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    • WALLACE@feddit.uk ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      You can pause stardew valley, just open a menu

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• 13igTyme@piefed.social ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  Lost me at mobile games. However, it’s nice to have definitions for why games are shitty when I tell my friends I’m not interested in the new flavor of the month.

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  • brsrklf@jlai.lu ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    Yeah, the fact it’s onlt mobile games surprised me a bit, especially since they don’t seem to mention it anywhere until you see the only platform filters are iOS and Android.

    There are several games I have a small interest in but from companies I don’t trust much, so a review of the potential manipulation tactics in those might have been useful to me.

    I don’t play mobile games though. This is unfortunately not at all exclusive to mobile.

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    • 13igTyme@piefed.social ⁨6⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      FYI it also says for mobile games in the title.

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