Dark Patterns in Games: An Empirical Study of Their Harmfulness

Emerson Veiga, Nabson Silva, Bruno Gadelha, Horácio Oliveira, Tayana Conte

2025

Abstract

Dark patterns (DPs) are manipulative design strategies that exploit players’ cognitive biases, often at their expense. DP in games can negatively affect players’ experiences by coercing them into unwanted behaviors, often without informed consent. While previous research has categorized DPs and explored their impacts, an empirical evaluation of their perceived harmfulness remains unexplored. This study aims to create a catalog of DP and evaluate players’ perceptions of them to gather insights into how they are experienced and understood by players. We extracted DPs and their definitions from prior academic work, refining them with examples from community forums. To evaluate players’ perceptions, we developed a survey to assess each DP’s harmfulness, problematic nature, and prevalence. We surveyed 30 participants representing a range of gaming engagement levels. Statistical tests were conducted to compare harmfulness scores across different patterns, identifying significant differences among them. Additionally, qualitative analysis provided insights into players’ experiences and perceptions, highlighting key concerns regarding specific Dark Patterns. The results provide valuable insights into players’ perceptions of DPs and how they may be unaware of these patterns, aiming to raise awareness and reduce their use in game design.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Veiga E., Silva N., Gadelha B., Oliveira H. and Conte T. (2025). Dark Patterns in Games: An Empirical Study of Their Harmfulness. In Proceedings of the 27th International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems - Volume 2: ICEIS; ISBN 978-989-758-749-8, SciTePress, pages 470-481. DOI: 10.5220/0013365800003929

in Bibtex Style

@conference{iceis25,
author={Emerson Veiga and Nabson Silva and Bruno Gadelha and Horácio Oliveira and Tayana Conte},
title={Dark Patterns in Games: An Empirical Study of Their Harmfulness},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 27th International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems - Volume 2: ICEIS},
year={2025},
pages={470-481},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0013365800003929},
isbn={978-989-758-749-8},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 27th International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems - Volume 2: ICEIS
TI - Dark Patterns in Games: An Empirical Study of Their Harmfulness
SN - 978-989-758-749-8
AU - Veiga E.
AU - Silva N.
AU - Gadelha B.
AU - Oliveira H.
AU - Conte T.
PY - 2025
SP - 470
EP - 481
DO - 10.5220/0013365800003929
PB - SciTePress