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Dark Pattern Games

(www.darkpattern.games)
350 points robotnikman | 1 comments | 16 Nov 25 19:38 UTC | HN request time: 0.213s | source
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joaohaas ◴[17 Nov 25 00:38 UTC] No.45949872[source]▶
Overall it feels like unless your game is a linear single-player game, it will fall under multiple of the site's labelled 'dark patterns'. Here are some really bad ones:

Infinite Treadmill - Impossible to win or complete the game.

Variable Rewards - Unpredictable or random rewards are more addictive than a predictable schedule.

Can't Pause or Save - The game does not allow you to stop playing whenever you want.

Grinding - Being required to perform repetitive and tedious tasks to advance.

Competition - The game makes you compete against other players.

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1. saretup ◴[17 Nov 25 05:21 UTC] No.45951027[source]▶
The website does label some relatively harmless elements as ‘dark patterns’, but out of your ‘really bad ones’, I don’t see ‘Competition’ as being a dark pattern.

Competition is a fundamental part of Play. Humans (and other animals) are social creatures and learn via playing and competing with others.

Can people play games by themselves? Yes.

Is competitive play bad or a dark pattern? Not at all.