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Show HN: Interactive game teaching dark patterns in UX design

(games.productartistry.com)
115 points rohandehal | 1 comments | 17 Jan 25 14:23 UTC | HN request time: 0.392s | source

I built this educational game to help people identify and understand dark patterns in digital products. It features 10 interactive scenarios based on real-world examples.

The game includes:

• Interactive pattern recognition scenarios • Explanations of psychological principles • Simulated real-world examples with guided feedback

Built with Next.js, TypeScript, and Tailwind.

I'd especially appreciate feedback on the educational approach and scenario design.

1. IggleSniggle ◴[17 Jan 25 17:28 UTC] No.42740788[source]▶
Very cool interactive, nice work! I think your progression probably works well on desktop, just turn off the "auto scroll to next activity" on mobile devices where it's impossible to see the message without scrolling back up to it... and maybe stick the message right below the last place the user clicked.

Also, I didn't really understand this one, where the phrase in question is "I wish to opt out of receiving exclusive promotional offers and updates about products I might be interested in." How does unchecking this result in an opt out? I can't figure out how to read this to make "[x]" mean anything other than "opt me out of offers and updates."

>

What this means:

When checked: They will send you marketing emails. Uncheck to stop promotional emails.

How it tricks you: They use 'opt out' and 'wish' to create a double negative - saying no to opting out means saying yes to emails

Edit: oh I see. I got confused by the triple negative! The "correct" answer is indeed to keep it checked, but the instructional aspect of the page as a whole implies that you need to uncheck the box to have succeeded (aligning with the mistake). I think starting with the box unchecked might be a little more clear for the purposes of demonstrating.