The purpose of this thesis is to explore and examine how gameplay experiences differ in the gacha game Genshin Impact (miHoYo, 2020). In particular, there is a focus on the economic systems of the game along with the general play experience. People can have different perspectives as veteran players or newbie players, so the objective is to find differences in how these players approach the reward systems of the game, and how their relationship to these systems is affected. This is done by utilizing a mixed-method approach, using aspects of both formal analysis and autoethnography. It is further explored how players interacted with these economic systems, with a focus on the harder to acquire, premium currency of Primogems. The characteristics of reward systems in Genshin Impact, particularly the content unlocking mechanisms of the game, are discussed further, as they have implications for both types of players. The paper goes deeper into discussing dark design patterns, which are prevalent in the experiences of both players. As Genshin Impact is a large game with a variety of content, this is further explored and related to relevant theory to better facilitate a discussion about possible design implications. By comparing and analyzing the experiences of both players in regards to relevant theory, it was concluded that at a certain point the game no longer concerns itself with rewarding players adequately. This was further compounded by the game offering less and less goals to work towards for players, as they simply run out of meaningful content to do. Players are distracted from this lack of a goal by expertly crafted dark design patterns, introduced to the players in such a way that they have all but no choice, but to engage in these patterns willingly.

The European General Data Protection Regulation has changed how users interact with cookie notices online. The rules state that users consent must be given via a clear, affirmative act and easily withdrawable by the end-user. Dark patterns, a way of tricking a user into giving more consent than needed with the help of, for example,size of objects, text and button colour could be applied to these notices to trick the user into giving more consent than needed. The objective of the thesis study was to develop a scraper in Python which could analyze web pages automatically against a set of created measurable parameters. That means that first, measurable parameters needed to be defined for the scraper, and then, implemented in such a way that it automatically could find and analyze cookie notices. The scraper was implemented in Python with the help of the browser testing libraries called Splinter and Selenium. The results from the experiment showed that the size of the notices was mostly small, but some pages used up the whole page for the notice. The amount of pre-ticked boxes and the readability of the notices also showed usage of dark patterns. The conclusion that can be drawn from the result is that the GDPR and e-Privacydirective have affected the usage in most web pages, as they seem to use some types of dark patterns to trick the user into giving more consent than is needed to be able to use the web page, and with an improved scraper, the result could show even more / <p>Presentation har redan ägt rum på zoom </p>

Persuasive design and dark patterns are types of design that aims to change the attitudes and behaviors of users. This study addresses where and how persuasive design and dark patterns are integrated into a selection of two websites, and what users of a website feel about the design underlying purposes. Persuasive design is an area with a design practice where the focus is on influencing the user's behavior through a product or service's characteristics. A dark pattern is an interface designed to trick users into performing actions in applications that they are not meant to perform. The purpose of the study is to map typical UX-related persuasive designs and dark patterns on a selection of websites using Gray’s definition of dark patterns and Ethical principles from Association for Computing Machinery, then analyze five users and their ethical stance. The results of the interviews and observations show that users are not aware that a persuasive design and dark patterns elements exist on a website. The dark patterns influence the users to perform a behavior in a certain direction. The results of the theory based analysis have resulted in Gray’s dark patterns and Ethical principles from Association for Computing Machinery features that on websites allow users to be influenced by a persuasive design and/or dark patterns. In summary, it can be concluded that the participants in the study agree that a design involving dark patterns is considered unethical.

Att göra en användarupplevelse smidig och smärtfri är något som ofta eftersträvas när tillverkare av mjukvara jobbar med design och en produkt som uppnår detta sägs ha en hög användbarhet. Inom spel används på ett liknande sätt begreppet spelbarhet istället, som ett mått på ett spels kvalitet. Alla dessa begrepp ger intrycket av att användarens vilja och mål är i fokus, men det finns också designmönster som har i syfte att skapa beteenden hos användaren som användaren själv kanske inte tycker är önskvärda. Denna studie grundar sig i en denna typen av designmönster, som med avsikt har implementerats för att styra eller vilseleda användaren. Fenomenet har kommit att kallas för Dark Design Patterns. Vårt intresse ligger i att uppmärksamma dessa mönster och diskutera huruvida en utvärdering ämnad för att upptäcka spelbarhetsproblem, också kan upptäcka instanser av dark design patterns. För att ta reda på detta låter vi deltagare utvärdera tre olika mobila gratisspel ur ett spelbarhetsperspektiv som vi också, i en separat granskning, hittar mörka designmönster i. Genom att jämföra resultaten från de olika utvärderingarna kan vi sedan avgöra ifall spelbarhetsutvärderingen kan upptäcka dessa mönster. Det vi kommer fram till är att utvärderingen kan upptäcka vissa tillämpningar av mönster men inte tillräckligt många för att kallas tillförlitlig i detta syfte. Antingen behöver utvärderingen utvecklas eller så får man försöka validera en annan typ av utvärdering ifall man vill kunna identifiera dessa dark design patterns. / Achieving a smooth and pain free user experience is something you often want when designing a new product. A product that achieves this is said to have high usability. In the gaming industry the word playability is used in the same way to describe the general quality of a game. These concepts of usability and playability both take into account the will and wellbeing of the end user, but there is also ways of using design as a way of creating behaviour in the user that doesn’t align with their own will and goals. This paper will study these types of design patterns, which has been implemented with the purpose of controlling and deceiving the user. These kind of patterns are called darkdesign patterns. Our interest lies in highlighting these patterns and whether an evaluation made to find playability problems can, simultaneously, find instances of dark design patterns. In order to find answers to this we let participants do a playability evaluation on different mobile games that we also, in a different examination, had found dark design patterns in. When comparing results from the different tests we could assess whether the playability evaluation successfully identified the different dark design patterns. What we find is that some of the dark design patterns can be found more easily than others. The playability evaluation does not identify enough of the dark design patterns to be called satisfactory in that regard. So you would either need to remodel the evaluation or take a whole new approach if you want to identify all the dark design patterns.

This study aims to address whether Swedish e-commerce websites use dark patterns in cookies and, if so, how they do it and what users think is ethically acceptable regarding this matter. Previous research has mainly focused on identifying dark patterns and the user experience aspect of cookies and dark patterns. In this study, a framework based on definitions of dark patterns from Brignull (u.å.b) and Forbrukerrådet (2018), was used to identify dark patterns in cookies through a content analysis on 30 of the e-commerce websites in Sweden with the highest economic turnover. What users consider to be ethically acceptable is examined through a survey with a total of 111 respondents. The results show that dark patterns are used to a large extent on Swedish e-commerce websites and out of eight examined dark patterns, an average of five dark patterns per website were identified. The results also indicate that the majority of users thought that dark patterns in cookies are ethically unacceptable, even though a certain part of the respondents also seemed to be more neutral set in the matter.

I uppsatsen beskrivs vad dark patterns är och hur de påverkar enskildas dataskydd. Det konstateras att metoderna faktiskt är ett gammalt fenomen som nu även förekommer inom den relativt nya datadrivna marknaden i den digitala världen. Det finns flera olika varianter av dark patterns och de kan förefalla överlappa varandra. Gemensamt är att dark patterns inom data-skydd påverkar enskildas integritetsval genom att nudgea enskilda till att dela personuppgifter. Metoderna inverkar på enskildas rätt till kontroll över sina personuppgifter och därmed borde dark patterns i de flesta fall utgöra överträdelser av dataskyddet i EU. Ingen lagstiftning omfattar dark patterns uttryckligen men i uppsatsen visas på att det torde vara få dark patterns som inte träffas av gällande dataskyddsregler. Det är inte svagheter i gällande dataskyddsreglering som uppmärksammas i uppsatsen utan snarare svagheter i efterlevnad och tillsyn av vederbörande regler. Bristerna i tillsyn påverkar inte endast förekomsten av dark patterns utan det gäller för samtliga dataskyddsöverträdelser. I uppsatsen föreslås behov av ytterligare riktlinjer och klargöranden från EDPB för att effektivisera efterlevnad och tillsyn av gällande regler. Därutöver förespråkas ytterligare finansiering till dataskyddsmyndigheter samt utbildning av enskilda tillika konsumenter om vad dark patterns är. I uppsatsen analyseras även konsumentområdets koppling till dataskydd samt eventuella tillsynsansvar av dark patterns för att sedermera diskuteras som ett ytterligare alternativ till att motverka dark patterns. Uttryckliga förbud i EU-lagstiftningsakter anses också vara önskvärd för att öka efterlevnad. En utblick över framtida regleringar görs, dels i USA där reglering som uttryckligen omfattar dark patterns införs år 2023, dels i EU där ett uttryckligt förbud mot dark patterns är under förhandling till att införas i DSA. Samtidigt kan kakväggar, vilket är en typ av dark pattern, komma att bli delvis tillåtna i och med ePrivacy-förordningen

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Not all designs have the user's best in mind. Dark patterns are web design whose goal is to exploit, deceive and negatively affect the consumer. Based on this, the purpose of this study is to give consumers an increased understanding of how they can be affected by dark patterns in their everyday lives. The question "How effective are dark patterns in e-commerce in order to negatively affect consumers' decisions?" was investigated through the use of a web-based survey. Through this survey, the respondents answered questions about their habits and experiences regarding situations where dark patterns are common on e-commerce sites. The study has focused on dark patterns called hidden costs, hidden information, countdown timers, limited-time messages and low stock messages. The survey has revealed that hidden costs was the dark pattern that most effectively fulfills its purpose of negatively affecting the consumer. Limited-time messages were also shown to have a clear impact on consumers' decision-making when purchasing online. Countdown timers as well as low stock messages were shown to have low efficiency in affecting consumers, meanwhile, data regarding hidden information could not show reliable results and needs further research. / Inte all design har användarens bästa i åtanke. Dark patterns är webbdesign vars mål är att utnyttja, lura och påverka konsumenten negativt. Med detta som grund är syftet med denna studie att ge konsumenter en ökad förståelse för hur de kan påverkas av dark patterns i sin vardag. Frågeställningen "Hur effektiva är dark patterns inom näthandel i sitt syfte att påverka konsumenters besluttaganden negativt?" undersöktes genom användningen av en webbaserad enkät. Respondenterna har genom denna enkät besvarat frågor om sina vanor och upplevelser angående situationer där dark patterns är vanligt förekommande inom näthandelsidor. Studien har fokuserat på dark patterns vid namn hidden costs, hidden information, countdown timers, limited-time messages och low stock messages. Genom undersökningen har det framkommit att hidden costs var det dark pattern som mest effektivt uppfyller sitt syfte att påverka konsumenten negativt. Limited-time messages visades också ha tydlig påverkan på konsumenters beslutstagande vid onlineköp. Countdown timers samt low stock messages visades ha låg effektivitet i att påverka konsumenter, medan data angående hidden information kunde inte visa pålitliga resultat och behöver vidare forskning.

<p>With the advent of the Internet, the digital market saw growth in online businesses, and now, it is impossible to imagine a world without the Internet. The prevalence of online services increased the internet user base, and employing different UX designs attracted more customers. With increased competition, profits, and growth in mind, businesses started using various dark design pattern strategies to seek data, profits, and attention. Dark patterns are user interface design techniques that manipulate user behavior in deceptive ways, often leading to unintended outcomes. As the use of these patterns continues to grow, it is crucial to understand how users respond to them based on their Individual differences. Earlier research revealed how effective these dark pattern strategies are, how prevalent they are, and how users perceive and feel about them. However, there needs to be more research on how users respond to these dark pattern strategies based on individual differences. The research aims to understand what individual differences predict their responses to different types of dark patterns. </p> <p>The study recruited participants through Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk), a widely used online marketplace for paid tasks. The survey consisted of several questionnaires, including demographic information, individual differences (such as the Big Five personality traits, impulsivity, and internet addiction), and vignettes containing dark patterns. </p> <p>Data was collected from 259 participants and imported into SPSS for analysis. The correlational analysis identified statistically significant variables related to dark pattern strategies. The results indicated that extroversion and agreeableness were significant predictors of dark pattern compliance. Specifically, individuals who scored higher in extroversion and lower in agreeableness were more likely to comply with the dark patterns presented in the vignettes. These findings have important implications for designers, policymakers, and consumers. Designers should consider individual differences when designing user interfaces to avoid using manipulative techniques that could lead to unintended outcomes. Policymakers should consider regulating the use of dark patterns to protect consumers from potentially harmful practices. Consumers should be aware of the dark patterns and how they may affect their behavior, making informed decisions when interacting with online platforms. </p> <p>The results of this study also contribute to the growing body of literature on individual differences and their relationship to user behavior. Previous studies revealed that personality traits, cognitive styles, and other individual differences can influence how users interact with technology. This study expands on this research by explicitly investigating the role of Big Five personality traits, impulsivity, and internet addiction in predicting user responses to dark patterns. In conclusion, this research paper contributes to understanding how individual differences can predict user responses to dark patterns. The study highlights the importance of considering individual differences when designing user interfaces to avoid using manipulative techniques. </p>

The purpose of this study is to explore the ethical dilemma in design that User Experience (UX) designers encounter in their workplace, consumers’ perception of ethics in bright patterns and dark patterns, and consumers’ decisions between bright patterns and dark patterns. The former aims to understand the reason behind the prevalence of dark patterns, while the latter aims to determine whether bright patterns are a potential ethical approach that designers can adopt in the future. In this study, the methods semi-structured interview and within-subjects experiment with follow-up interview were conducted to gather empirical data. For both methods, a content analysis was selected to analyze the empirical data, which resulted in findings that answered the research questions of this study. The findings show that (1) authority to decide how designers should address ethics in design is more distributed to those investing in a product development project, (2) most ethical issues revolve around challenges of working in an ethical manner rather than bad practices of incorporating ethics in design work, (3) designers adopt one or more ethical approaches to stay ethical and /or address ethical issues that arise in their workplace, (4) some specific bright patterns and dark patterns have no influence on consumer decisions while other specific bright patterns and dark patterns influence consumer decisions, and (5) consumers perceive bright patterns to be more ethical than dark patterns in terms of freedom of choice and transparency.