How dark patterns affect
desirability in Candy Crush Saga
PAPER WITHIN Informatics
AUTHORS: Sofia Flankkumäki, Elin Söderholm
SUPERVISOR:Martin Lindh EXAMINER: Bruce Ferwerda
This final thesis has been carried out at the School of Engineering at Jönköping University within informatics. The authors are responsible for the presented opinions, conclusions and results.
Examiner: Bruce Ferwerda Supervisor: Martin Lindh Scope: 15 hp
Date: 2020-06-06
Postal address: Visiting address: Phone: Box 1026 Gjuterigatan 5 036-10 10 00 551 11 Jönköping
Abstract
Dark game design patterns are features used by game creators to manipulate the player to make certain choices. These patterns can lead to unintentional player actions causing negative experiences. In this descriptive user experience study, focused on the mobile game Candy Crush Saga, the dark patterns’ effect on desirability (whether something is fun and engaging) and the players’ decision to quit or continue to be a player due to the patterns were investigated. An online survey, where the participants were asked about their feelings towards five different dark patterns identified within Candy Crush Saga, was conducted and distributed by using Google Forms and Facebook. The survey received 60 responses from current and previous players of the game. The sample was not controlled and rather homogeneous, therefore it was not necessarily representative of the entire Candy Crush Saga audience. The analysis of the gathered data indicated correlation between the use of certain types of dark patterns and decreased desirability. Some variation could be detected between the effects of different dark patterns. Similarly, certain patterns had a stronger impact on the players’ decision to quit being a player and other patterns on the choice to continue. Four out of the five patterns studied were indicated as both a reason to quit for some and a reason to continue for others. The results offer insight to game developers and businesses about the previously insufficiently studied connection between the dark game design patterns and their direct effects to the users’ perceived experience. It is apparent that a decrease in the use of certain dark patterns would contribute to a more positive playing experience.
Keywords – Informatics, Dark Patterns, User Experience, Desirability, Candy Crush Saga, Mobile Games
Table of contents
Abstract
2
Table of contents
3
1
Introduction 1 1.1 Background 1 1.2 Problem statement 41.3 Purpose and research questions 5
1.4 The scope and delimitations 6
1.5 Disposition 7
2 Method and implementation 8
2.1 Methodological approach 8
2.2 Design and link between research questions and methods 9
2.3 Data collection 11
2.4 Data analysis 11
2.5 Validity and reliability 12
3 Theoretical framework 14
3.1 Key concepts 14
3.2 Link between research questions and theory 16
4 Empirical data 20
4.1 Demographic data and playing habits 20
4.2 Link between dark patterns and desirability 22 4.3 Contribution to quitting or continuing to be a player 24
4.4 Answers to open-ended questions 25
5 Analysis 27
Do dark patterns make playing Candy Crush Saga less fun and engaging? 27 Do dark patterns contribute to the players’ decisions to quit or continue
playing? 28
6 Discussion and conclusion 30
6.1 Findings 30 6.2 Implications 31 6.3 Limitations 32 6.4 Conclusion 33 6.5 Further research 34 References 35
Appendices 38
Survey 39
Answers to open-ended questions 42
1
Introduction
This chapter provides an introduction to the topic of the thesis by presenting the background and problem area for the study. The purpose and the research questions are presented. The scope and delimitations of the study are also described. Lastly, the disposition of the rest of the thesis is outlined.
1.1
Background
“Good design reflects users’ psychology as a way of meeting their needs”, leading to ultimately happier users, according to Victor Yocco (2016). While persuasive design can be used as a means to create a better user experience, the same tools can be used to exploit the user to gain financial or other advantage. The persuasive design patterns that exploit users were originally defined as dark patterns by a user experience specialist named Harry Brignull in 2010 (Brignull & Darlo, 2019). While the original definition of dark patterns was created to include patterns within web design and applications, similar concepts can be found in other fields dealing with user experience. This study builds upon the conference proceeding Dark Patterns in the Design of Games (Zagal, Björk & Lewis, 2013) which attempted to clarify terminology and definitions for dark patterns within game design. In the conference paper (Zagal et al, 2013) the authors elaborate on possible definitions for various deceitful game design patterns, and go through different perspectives on why some persuasive design patterns can be seen as bad and some should not count. It is to be noted that throughout this paper the terms ‘deceitful patterns’ or ‘manipulative patterns’ are used interchangeably with ‘dark patterns’ to describe and refer to the design practices that manipulate the user, and if not otherwise stated, in the context of game design.
To understand how dark patterns manipulate the user, it is worthwhile to look at psychology behind motivation and what affects our choices in the first place. According to Chris Lewis (2014), there are two types of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic.
“Intrinsic motivation comes from within, whereas extrinsic motivation comes from without. It’s what motivates us to do things only for the joy of doing them, and we do them even if there are no environmental reasons to do so.”
The different intrinsic motivating factors can be divided into three through the so-called SDT: Self Determination Theory (Ryan & Deci, 1985). The choices we humans make are, according to the theory, based on the factors autonomy, competence and relatedness: to make our own choices, to take on tasks that are challenging yet achievable, and to feel connected to others. In the case of mobile games, intrinsic motivation would be that it is entertaining to play, a cure for boredom, and increasingly challenging as the levels get harder. Extrinsic motivation is the rewards, keeping the players coming back. These rewards have to become better and better in order to be sufficient motivation, and eventually the limit is reached (Lewis, 2014).
In the field of mobile gaming, decisions are made by the players all the time. Which game has the best ability to keep the player motivated to return and keep playing? When the motivators are being intentionally shaped, it could raise a question: are the users actually enjoying playing, or is there something external that compels them to continue?
Motivational or persuasive design can also be used to affect positive change and it has been a research topic of its own with recurring conferences on Persuasive Technology for Human Well-being (Bang & Ragnemalm, 2012). So for better or for worse, design can be used to alter the actions of the users. When motivational design is used to gain advantage for the creator by exploiting the user (through dark patterns), ethical questions might arise. The less talked about implications of dark patterns have to do with how the user actually feels when encountering them. To be able to explore this question, the focus of this study is the desirability aspect of user experience. Desirability is the emotional experience users have while using the product (“The 3 Elements of Good Design”, n.d). Positive feelings compel the users to keep engaging.
Gaming industry went through a major change with the increasing number of portable devices that games can be played on and the rise of the popularity of online social platforms such as Facebook to facilitate the games to be widely accessible (Leaver & Willson 2015). A new type of gaming was born. And when a growing mobile game market discovered the free-to-play/freemium business model, difficult questions started to emerge for the companies and developers (Leaver & Willson
2015). Freemium games by design persuade users to spend money within the game, since that is often the company’s only source of revenue (the games are generally free to play). With persuasion already in the equation, it could be tempting to start directing players to directions they do not want to go. Highly competitive markets force the companies to balance the thin line between designing games that are profitable and staying away from using deceitful tactics. Sometimes (depending on the definition) dark patterns can even get created unintentionally (Lewis, 2014, p.110). However, there are ways to avoid dark patterns by giving the users a choice and by being transparent (Lewis, 2014, p.99-125). But with a pressure from the industry to make profitable games and dark patterns sometimes being created by accident, what is the motivation needed for companies to make a change and purposefully start avoiding creating dark patterns? This study aims to take part in the conversation by investigating the effect of dark patterns from the users’ perspective. By figuring out how the users are affected by the dark patterns, we might be able to contribute some additional motivation for game designers and companies to start moving away from practices involving dark patterns.
To be able to investigate the dark patterns’ effect from the users’ perspective, we needed to study a game that uses dark patterns, has a considerable and consistent user base and shares enough characteristics with other games for our results to be as scalable as possible.
Candy Crush Saga provided us with the capability to answer our questions comprehensively. One of the first motivators for studying the patterns of Candy Crush Saga was our own familiarity with the game, but more importantly many people have had personal experience with it, and even those who never played it may have encountered for example invitations on Facebook (Singleton, 2015). Reaching the most downloaded iOS app of all time in 2018 (Cheney, 2018) and a revenue of close to 945 million dollars the same year (“Candy Crush Players,” 2018), Candy Crush Saga has enjoyed immense success. The game is also briefly mentioned by Zagal et al (2013) as an example of a game using a monetary dark pattern by exploiting the users’ competitiveness. The popularity of the game and its previous identification as using dark patterns by other parties gave us reason to suspect that multiple dark patterns might be used by King, the Swedish company behind Candy Crush Saga,
such as manipulating the players to spend money through pop-ups or persuade them to play longer periods of time through competitions.
1.2
Problem statement
In earlier discussions, the focus has been on the ethical side of using dark patterns and little has been done to understand the consequences to user experience. Zagal et al (2013) point out in their conference paper that: “In keeping with previous work in game design patterns, there is no one-design-affects-all-pattern that is guaranteed to have the same effect on all players. We can only make an informed estimation as to how a pattern might affect most
.
” This identifies a research gap to explore. The goal of this thesis was to dig into the user experience and explore if there are some common characteristics in how the dark patterns affect the players’ gaming experience.Various studies have previously explored different aspects that could be connected to the usage of dark patterns within mobile gaming, such as addictiveness ( Kausar, R., & Pallesen, S. (2018), Chen, C., & Leung, L. (2016) ), why the users spend money on the games (Hamari, J. et al (2017), Soroush M. et al (2014)) and social aspects (Paavilainen, J. (2016), Wei, P., & Lu, H. (2014)). Many of these studies deal with the connection of practices that could be considered dark patterns and user behaviour, but the connection between dark patterns and users’ desirability towards the games is not explored.
What this thesis study focused on, was not the concept of dark patterns itself either, as in how the tricks and traps are created, or the ethical questions they might bring forward, but how the desirability is affected and what implications possible negative experiences might have. Well executed dark patterns do not necessarily chase the users away. An example of the behaviour where a user is even aware of manipulation, but still chooses to continue using the service, comes from the field of web design. Paul Boag (2018) conducted usability testing on a booking service when the user commented on how much they dislike manipulativeness of the service. When asked why they chose to use the site anyway, the user said they enjoyed the ease of use and just ignored all the other stuff. Boag argues that a negative impression of the website had nevertheless been created. He goes on to explain the implications:
“...the cost of a customer being aware that a company has manipulated them is much higher than losing one customer. In today’s world, one disgruntled customer can undermine an entire brand.”
The experiment by Paul Boag supports our hypothesis: that the use of dark patterns comes at some cost to the user experience. Candy Crush Saga is able to maintain popularity over time (Sahoo N., 2019), but there has not been research on the users' perspective on the manipulative design tactics used. Neither is there any concrete data on how many players quit playing Candy Crush Saga, and it could be a key component in why dark patterns’ use persists; the numbers could be overshadowed by the new players joining and the most loyal players that have stuck with the game for years.
Even when the users decide to continue playing, it does not necessarily mean there is no harm to the company’s image. Brice Berdah (2019) argues that in the short term, dark patterns work more efficiently than honest approaches and “The harmful consequences they can unleash are delayed and at the brand level. They only come later on when people are denouncing their practices online.”
If we are able to provide evidence that the players are not satisfied with the deceitful tactics, our contribution together with future research might help motivate companies and developers to find other ways to maintain a profitable business model.
1.3
Purpose and research questions
There is plenty of existing research from identifying dark patterns to related studies on how different design choices persuade the users and the ethics of it all. However, there is room in the field of user perception for more studies to take part in this ongoing discussion. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of dark patterns within game design from the perspective of desirability. Additionally, we explored what implications the use of dark patterns has in terms of the users’ decision to continue or quit playing. To be able to fulfil the purpose, the study was broken down into 2 research questions.
In order to study the desirability, we relied on the definition of desirability as “fun and engaging” from the Four Elements of User Experience table shown in Figure 3. Hence, the first research question was:
[1] Do dark patterns make playing Candy Crush Saga less fun and engaging?
Further, we wanted to study if the effects on desirability could be severe to the point that players decide to quit playing, or if the dark patterns on the contrary are a key component that keeps the players engaged with the game. Our second research question was therefore:
[2] Do dark patterns contribute to the players’ decisions to quit or continue playing?
A descriptive study was conducted by collecting user input in the form of a survey from Candy Crush Saga players. The survey was divided into sections to make sure we were able to answer both research questions respectively (see Figure 1 and 2, in section 2.2)
1.4
The scope and delimitations
While the purpose of this study was to investigate the dark patterns’ relation to desirability and motivation to quit or continue playing in mobile games in general, the scope of the study was limited to Candy Crush Saga. Candy Crush Saga was chosen for the investigation based on its vast user base and continuous popularity over the years. The possibility of finding participants who have encountered dark patterns, in the short time available, was higher than with some less popular games. The game has generated revenue of billions of dollars, possibly because the dark patterns used are effective.
While dark patterns are presumably practiced in many different games, this study did not encompass the browser version of Candy Crush or any of the related titles Candy Crush Soda Saga, Candy Crush Jelly Saga or Candy Crush Friends Saga. As a game that shares a similar model to dozens of other games (consists of levels, puzzles, social, freemium), it offered a reasonably good representation of the phenomenon with results that could be, to some extent, generalized to other similar games, however this limitation has to be taken into account in further research.
The decision to study just one specific game, instead of for example comparing dark patterns' effects in many different games, was made based on the priorities of this study. While studying multiple games could have given a better representation of just how common the use of the patterns is, the purpose of this study was rather to showcase what kind of effect the patterns might have on desirability and players’ choice to quit or continue playing. Therefore studying multiple games would not have added considerable value and comparison between different games might even have distracted the focus from the desirability aspect. This is not to say that comparing dark patterns’ effects on desirability within different games would not be useful in the future, on the contrary, it might even be required to understand how the context affects the severity of the effects on desirability and to find possible alternative solutions to the use of the dark patterns.
1.5
Disposition
In the following chapters the method and implementation of the study will be introduced, subsequently the theoretical framework, that collects together the literature and theories in relation to this study, is presented in chapter 3. Chapter 4 displays the empirical data collected, finally followed by chapter 5 analysis and chapter 6 discussion & conclusions . The references and appendices can be found at the end of this paper. The appendices contain comprehensive empirical data from the survey used as a research method and the survey in its entirety.
2
Method and implementation
This chapter provides an overview of the methodology of the study. Further, the design of the chosen method and its link to the research questions are described as well as the data collection and data analysis. The chapter ends with a discussion about the validity and reliability of the study.
2.1
Methodological approach
The study was conducted as a descriptive survey research. A sample of Candy Crush Saga players was studied through an online questionnaire and both qualitative and quantitative questions were involved. The questionnaire was constructed to include questions that gave information relating to both research questions. The questionnaire was first tested on selected test participants to ensure understandability and technical quality. Based on the feedback from the test group, the survey was refined and then published online. The results were analysed in relation to the research questions.
The opinions and perceptions of the users were at the center of our study, therefore a survey was chosen as the research method. Given the limited time frame, a survey allowed for drawing both quantitative and qualitative data in a reasonable amount of time. Additionally, survey data is quick to process and analyze (McCombes, 2019). The aim was to get insight to opinions and habits of customers of an existing product and according to Baxter, Courage & Caine (2015):
“In the case of an existing product, a survey can help you to:
● Learn about your current user population and their characteristics ● Find out the users’ likes/dislikes about the current product and track
user sentiment over time
● Learn how users currently use the system”
In the context of this study, the “product” was the existing game Candy Crush Saga with a focus on dark patterns found in the game. The study was not done in cooperation with any business or company, so while the study was conducted similarly to practices seen in market research, it was done as an independent student thesis.
The survey consisted of 20 multiple-choice questions and open-ended questions, not only obtaining quantitative data, but also allowing the respondents to use their own words to describe their opinions. An online survey was chosen to facilitate participation by being quick, affordable and anonymous, as opposed to a paper-based survey. The survey was posted on Facebook, because it was a convenient way for us to reach Candy Crush Saga players, who connect their game to Facebook to interact with other players. It also allowed for the largest reach available.
One week was allocated to formulate and test the survey questions to make sure that the data would be as accurate and valid as possible. After the preparations, the survey was posted online for two weeks, while we actively monitored and collected the data.
2.2
Design and link between research questions and methods
The full survey can be found in Appendix 1. Survey questions 1-6 collected demographic data and what type of playing habits the respondents have (level reached, time spent playing and money spent on the game). Age, gender and country were collected for a general overview of the sample, since as an online survey the sample could not be limited and anyone who gained access to the link could respond. By collecting the demographic data we were able to monitor any possible deviations based on factors such as gender or age. By asking how much money the respondents spent on the game, which level they were on and how much time playing they spent daily, we were able to gain a more accurate picture of what type of Candy Crush Saga players the pool represented.
The main section of the survey was divided into two parts with questions about the two research questions respectively. The structure of the survey questions collecting data related to each question can be seen in the following figures 1 and 2.
Figure 1 - structure of questions related to the first research question “Do dark patterns make playing Candy Crush Saga less fun and engaging?”
Figure 1 describes how the survey questions that were aimed to answer the first research question were built. First, a picture from the game was shown, depicting the pattern, in order for the respondents to recognise what the following questions related to. Next, the respondents answered whether they had encountered that particular pattern before, and lastly through three-step Likert scale if the pattern had made the game more or less fun and engaging or had a neutral effect, if they have encountered it.
Figure 2 - structure of questions related to the 2nd research question “Do dark patterns contribute to the players’ decisions to quit or continue playing?”
Figure 2 demonstrates how the survey questions in relation to the second research question were built. First, a list of the patterns was shown with small pictures for recognition. The respondent was asked whether any of these patterns would cause them to quit playing the game. Multiple patterns were possible to mark. This was followed by an open question asking if there are any other reasons for quitting, that were not mentioned in the previous list. The format was the same for the second part of the section, where the respondent instead was asked if the patterns cause them to continue playing the game.
2.3
Data collection
The aim of the data collection was to reach a sample size as big as possible within the given time frame. A total of 60 responses was reached, a sufficient size considering the scope and the bachelor level. The survey was first posted on Facebook on each of our own pages and later on in a group for students in the biggest student accommodation area in Jönköping, Sweden. This was done in order to generate more answers and reach a wider variety of people. After the survey was posted on our Facebook pages, more people (Facebook “friends”) shared the survey on their own pages. The audience thereby grew with numbers that are incalculable. Moreover, multiple persons are simultaneously in both friend groups, and perhaps also in the additional student group that the survey was posted in. Therefore, it is difficult to estimate the response rate, that is, how many of the people who were suitable participants in the survey actually answered it, and how many chose to opt out.
2.4
Data analysis
The data was automatically stored through Google Forms which was used to host the survey. We were continuously monitoring the incoming responses and checking for any outlier or incorrectly filled forms. After the data was sorted and the survey was closed, a cross-tabulation method was used to check for any correlation between variables. Google Forms offered the ability to pull an Excel sheet of all the collected data. Moreover, the results were inspected to identify any trends that are meaningful in the context of this thesis. The graphical overviews generated by Google Forms were
also used to aid observing these trends. For the open-ended questions a content analysis was made. The data was categorized based on similarities between answers and investigated for any occurring trends.
When determining the dark patterns’ effect on desirability, the trends (how the answers were distributed between less fun and engaging, neutral, and more fun and engaging) around every individual pattern were studied and then compared between all the patterns.
The analysis of if the dark patterns contribute to the players’ decisions to quit or continue playing was conducted by first studying with the help of the visualised data if any patterns had been recognised as possible reasons for quitting or continuing to be a player. Next step was to compare which of the recognised patterns received the most votes as likely reasons and which were voted less. After individually analysing the different reasons for quitting and continuing to be a player, they were then cross-compared to see if any patterns were effective in both, quitting and continuing. The open-ended questions were then analysed through content analysis to see, if any additional reasons indicating the involvement of dark patterns were presented.
2.5
Validity and reliability
“Reliability refers to how consistently a method measures something. If the same result can be consistently achieved by using the same methods under the same circumstances, the measurement is considered reliable. Validity refers to how accurately a method measures what it is intended to measure. If research has high validity, that means it produces results that correspond to real properties, characteristics, and variations in the physical or social world.” (Middleton, 2020)
The target group was people who play or have ever played Candy Crush Saga. Since the survey was shared online, the sampling method could be regarded as a non-probability sample. “Non-probability samples, sometimes called convenience samples, occur when either the probability that every unit or respondent included in the sample cannot be determined, or it is left up to each individual to choose to participate in the survey.” (Fricker, 2008). This could be seen as a threat to the
validity of the data. However, by being aware of the limitations of the chosen method and by collecting demographic data we were able to gain an understanding of the sample, and offer valid results within the data collected. All participants were informed that the survey is about Candy Crush Saga and answering it would have been complicated and gratuitous for someone who has not played it before. Since no major deviations were detected in the survey answers, the data was found reliable.
By carefully operationalizing variables in the following theoretical framework chapter, it was made sure that the definitions within the contexts of this thesis can be well understood, viewed accordingly and used again with the same definitions, increasing the reliability of the study.
The recent literature around dark patterns most commonly refers to the same original definition that Harry Brignull coined in 2010. Since this definition has been largely accepted and used, it is here found valid. The use of known concepts also increases reliability. The dark patterns within gaming and especially social games only saw their explosive rise over the 2010s, and the literature concerning them is all fairly recent. On the other hand, the market is developing so quickly that finding, for example, up-to-date books about the latest trends is very difficult at best.
The conference proceeding Dark patterns in the design of games (Zagal et al, 2013) that provided the tool for dark pattern identification in this thesis has been cited in many peer-reviewed works according to Google Scholar, increasing its validity and reliability and thereby justificating its use here.
Additionally, by conducting a user test before publishing the survey, we ensured that the questions were understandable and of good technical quality. By doing this, the accuracy of our method was increased, hence improving the validity.
Even though the contribution of this student thesis does not come without limitation, it provides a valuable take to the ongoing discussion and a basis for further studies. Additionally, as one purpose for this thesis was to hopefully offer some motivation for companies, designers and developers to move away from deceitful practices, this work and methodology checks the boxes in terms of validity and reliability to do just that.
3
Theoretical framework
This chapter presents the theoretical foundation for the study. In Chapter 1, throughout sections 1.1 Background and 1.2 Problem statement, some relevant concepts were introduced. This chapter collects the key concepts relevant to this study. Further they are linked to our research questions, and the dark patterns identified within Candy Crush Saga are presented.
3.1
Key concepts
Desirability
Desirability is a part of user experience, but the details of the definition might vary in different contexts. User experience strategist and architect Frank Guo has created a simplified definition of user experience by dividing it into four fundamental elements (2012). For the purpose of investigating desirability in this study, Guo’s definitions were used and therefore desirability was defined through asking “is it fun and engaging?”
Figure 3 - Table of Guo’s four fundamental UX elements
Dark pattern
While the original definition by Brignull and his work within the phenomenon ever since (Brignull & Darlo, 2019) was beneficial for gaining an insight to dark patterns, it did not translate directly to the world of games and was thereby not used in this study any further. The conference proceeding (Zagal et al. 2013) where dark patterns’ terminology was transformed from web design to the design of games, the authors’ final definition for dark patterns is as follows:
“A dark game design pattern is a pattern used intentionally by a game creator to cause negative experiences for players which are against their best interests and likely to happen without their consent.”
The wording of the authors’ definition could be seen as misleading, since the goal of the game creator is not necessarily to cause negative experiences for the players, but is rather an unfortunate side effect of persuading the player to spend resources. To clarify the definition within the context of this thesis, we have rephrased it to the following:
A dark game design pattern is a pattern used intentionally by a game creator to reach a certain goal, ending up causing negative experiences for players, which are against their best interests and likely to happen without their consent.
This definition was used as a definition to find dark patterns within Candy Crush Saga.
Monetary, temporal and social dark patterns
Dark patterns were divided into three categories by Zagal et al (2013). The categories are temporal, monetary and social capital. The definitions of the three are depicted in Figure 2 below.
Figure 4 - 3 Types of Dark Patterns by Zagal et al. (2013)
To be able to tell if patterns with certain characteristics are more influential than others, the division into categories is beneficial. We were able to identify both time-related (temporal) and monetary dark patterns in Candy Crush Saga. However, the evidence for the existence of social capital dark patterns was not as strong and they were therefore not explored in depth in this study.
3.2
Link between research questions and theory
The strongest and most obvious link between the research questions and existing theory was the process of identifying dark patterns. Dark patterns are a concept defined by others and since both of the research questions were aimed towards investigating the effects of dark patterns, the identification of them altogether within the researched game Candy Crush Saga was an indispensable first step. Previous
theory thereby was crucial in recognizing the patterns present in the game in a way that is reliable and in line with previous research.
The categorization of monetary and temporal type patterns was done based on the definitions of Zagal et al. (2013). It is to be noted that the identification process was in no way exhaustive, meaning that we do not claim to have identified all possible dark patterns which exist within the game. In order for a pattern to count as a dark pattern within our study, it had to meet the characteristics from the definition of a dark pattern: intention to reach a certain goal from the game creator, a possible negative experience for the player, not in players best interest (no added entertainment value) and lack of consent. It is not always possible to know what the possible intention(s) from the game creator is, but since these features exist, their goal can be estimated by studying what the effect is. The entertainment value/players best interest was estimated considering the game is supposed to be and is marketed as “free to play”. The five identified dark patterns were as follows:
Time-limited boosters. Additional free resources that make the game easier for the player to play and pass levels, but are limited by time. Categorized as a temporal
dark pattern due to the time-limitation, coercing the player to keep playing in order to benefit from these “free” boosters. Even though the player might enjoy gaining a booster, it is hard to find justification for the time-limitation from the perspective of players best interest, which only limits the players’ experience and can cause negative experiences if the user does not spend it in time. Intention from the game creator is to get the player to spend more time within the game.
“Don’t give up!”-messages. Pop-ups that act as a motivating voice, displaying how much the player will lose if they stop playing now. This dark pattern could actually fit in both: temporal and monetary categories. The aim by the game creator is to encourage players to keep playing and spending resources. By pleading the player not to stop playing, it works as a factor in “cheating” the player to give more time to the playing experience, but since these pop-ups appear when a player is about to lose a level and feature buttons leading to purchasing resources or the fortune wheel (Bait and Switch pattern described below) it can be viewed as also encouraging the player to spend resources, or money if out of resources. It is good to keep in mind that simply offering the player the option to use their resources to continue playing is
not necessarily a dark pattern, but when featured by a “sympathetic” character asking the player to act in a way the player might not want to, it can cause negative experience making this feature a dark pattern. No added entertainment value/users best interest when used as a persuasion to spend time and resources.
Levels that are too hard to pass without using boosters. There are two possibilities a player has when encountering a level that is so hard that they get stuck. They can try to use boosters to make the level easier or try again and again without boosters. The Candy Crush board shuffles every time the level is started, making the level slightly different every time. There is some speculation that over time the levels’ difficulty decreases so eventually the player would pass without the use of boosters. If the levels do get easier over time, it would count as a temporary pattern cheating the player of their time by making the level too hard at first. Due to the difficulty in proving that this kind of automatically decreasing difficulty exists within Candy Crush Saga, we will only focus on the monetary aspect of the levels that the players feel are too hard to pass without the use of boosters.
This dark pattern partly has to do with perception and if the users feel some levels are impossible to pass without boosters. However, if the perception holds and users think some levels are too hard without boosters, this works then as a persuasion tactic for game creators to get players to spend their resources, as passing levels is the only way to unlock new levels and keep playing. Therefore categorized as a monetary dark pattern within this context. No added entertainment value. Negative experiences can happen when the player has to spend resources or is unable to continue playing.
Bait and Switch pattern. A common term in web design dark patterns as well (Brignull & Darlo, 2019), where the user is led to believe their action will lead to something else than the action in reality will. In Candy Crush Saga, a spinning fortune wheel where resources or additional moves for a level can be won is presented for the player. The first spin is free, but afterwards the player is immediately led to a second spin where pushing the same button leads to spending game currency. Because this easily leads to unintentional actions involving real money, this is categorized as a monetary dark pattern. Intention of game creator to get players to accidentally spend resources and has no added entertainment value. Negative feelings
are possible even if the player does not end up spending resources, since the misleading intention is quite apparent.
Discount as a reward. After a quest is completed, the player is offered a reward, which is a discount on different game items. Since the player is motivated throughout the quests about a price that is waiting for them, but never informed that the price still requires them to spend real money, this again is categorized as a monetary dark pattern. Intention from the game creator to get the player take advantage of the discount and spend real money. Negative experiences can happen when the players’ expectations for the reward are not met. No added entertainment value when compared to the possibility of a reward without the need to spend real money.
All patterns studied happened without player consent. If there was to be a possibility for the player to turn the feature off, they would no longer fit the definition of a dark pattern.
The link to theory can also be seen in the definitions used. When formulating the first research question, the term desirability had to be operationalized to be able to measure it. This definition was based on Frank Guo’s (2012) Aspects of user experience, regarding desirability. Our hypothesis also drew from Guo’s description of desirability - fun and engaging. If a pattern makes the game less fun and engaging, we believed it contributes to a person’s decision to stop playing the game.
4
Empirical data
This chapter provides an overview of the empirical data collected through the survey which formed the basis for our study. Answers to open-ended questions have been grouped together by similarity of the answers and all answers can be found in the appendix.
The data represented in this chapter answers to the survey conducted and hosted with Google Forms, which automatically provides a graphical overview of the results. The responses of the survey are displayed through charts and diagrams in this section. The total number of responses was 60, although not all participants answered the open-ended questions. The open-ended questions were not mandatory, so there was no consequence in leaving them empty.
The quantitative data was collected through multiple-choice questions. In two of the questions, participants could fill in multiple answers. These two questions are displayed as bar charts.
The qualitative data was collected through open-ended questions where the participants could write detailed answers. These have been sorted into a table and translated when necessary. Comprehensive list of all the answers to the open-ended questions can be found in the appendix.
4.1
Demographic data and playing habits
The players age:
Age Percentage Under 12 0 % 12-17 1,7 % 18-24 75 % 25-34 20 % 20
35-44 0 %
45-54 3,3 %
Above 54 0 %
The levels were varied and dispersed as follows:
0-49: 6,7 % 50-299: 23,3% 300-499: 21,7% 500-999: 18,3% 1000-2000: 21,7% Above 2000: 8,3%
The majority of responses came from Finland (28 of 60 participants) and Sweden (15 of 60), the additional answers were divided over a number of countries:
Romania: 3 France: 2 Poland: 2 Germany: 2 India: 1 Netherlands: 1 Pakistan: 1 Belgium: 1 Bolivia: 1 Bulgaria: 1 Croatia: 1 Egypt: 1
80% of the participants were female, 20% male. When asked how much money the participants had spent on in-app purchases, only 3,3% (two persons) had spent money at all, and no more than 1-49 SEK.
4.2
Link between dark patterns and desirability
Here we present the statistics regarding whether the players had encountered the five different dark patterns before and what the effect of the individual patterns was in terms of desirability.
91.7% of the respondents had received free time-limited boosters before. Visual representation of the distribution of answers in terms of the perceived effect on desirability can be seen below.
93.3% of the respondents had received messages encouraging them not to give up playing. Visual representation of the distribution of answers in terms of the perceived effect on desirability can be seen below.
81.7% of the respondents felt a level had appeared too hard to pass without boosters. Visual representation of the distribution of answers in terms of the perceived effect on desirability can be seen below.
83.3% of the respondents had accidentally clicked on an additional pop-up window. Visual representation of the distribution of answers in terms of the perceived effect on desirability can be seen below.
76.7% of the respondents had encountered an event where the game offered them a discount to purchase something as a reward. Visual representation of the distribution of answers in terms of the perceived effect on desirability can be seen below.
4.3
Contribution to quitting or continuing to be a player
4.4
Answers to open-ended questions
The answers are presented in tables below. Similar answers have been categorized into generalized groups, as they were often repeated. The full list of answers can be found in Appendix 2.
Are there any other reasons you would consider quitting?
Times mentioned
Too time-consuming or considered waste of time
10
Got tired of playing/bored or did not find it as fun anymore
6
Not passing levels 3
No 2
Waiting for lives and/or forget to play 2
Find new game to play 1
Too many challenges and awards when you enter the game
1
The game resets 1
“Realising that it’s fine tuned to trigger the reward part if the brain, creating an addiction”
1
Are there other reason(s) you decide or decided to keep playing?
Times mentioned
Boredom/to pass time 7
Competition/ keeping score 3
No/Have quit playing 3
I missed playing the game after a while 1 Play together with someone 1
To succeed on a level 1
Don’t know 1
Free things are a plus 1
26
5
Analysis
This chapter presents answers to the research questions by processing the empirical data collected. This analysis was performed according to those principles stated in the methods chapter.
The demographics of the players were included in the survey to receive a general overview of the sample and their background characteristics. Based on that, we could study if different players, for example players on different levels, reacted differently to dark patterns in the game. Upon analysing the answers, no direct patterns in the answers were found. For example, the time spent daily on the game varied and was not tied to the level the player was on, and there was no considerable correlation between gender or age between different answers.
Do dark patterns make playing Candy Crush Saga less fun and
engaging?
The general consensus among participants appeared to be that the patterns, in the shape of reminders, discounts or other pop-ups, are an annoyance that makes the game less fun to play. This applies especially to additional pop-up windows that encourage the user to purchase more boosters, with 45% of users thinking it makes the game less enjoyable.
However, the free boosters make the game more fun, according to 65%. Levels that are too difficult without boosters made Candy Crush Saga less entertaining by a full 81,7%.
“Don’t give up!”-messages are another type of pop-ups that appear when a player is about to lose a level. They encourage the player to keep on playing, reminding them that they are about to lose everything they have collected so far. However, to keep playing costs game currency (which eventually runs out and can only be bought with real money if the player does not proceed in the game), or they can win moves by a “free spin” which requires watching an advertisement. 35% of the players find that this type of pop-up worsens the gaming experience.
Another occurrence are the pop-ups that offer discounts when you complete a quest. 48,3% of the respondents think this makes the gaming experience worse, while 31,7% are neutral and only a single person out of 60 found it positive.
This all lines up with the previously mentioned self-determination theory about the factors autonomy, competence and relatedness. The players want to decide when to play and whether to make purchases or not - keeping their autonomy. They like the challenge the levels give, but if they cannot succeed on their own, the desirability of the game plummets abruptly. The boosters are therefore a helping hand that lead to succeeding without the players completely losing autonomy. Lastly, the participants mentioned that competing with friends, partners and family and improving their score kept them playing Candy Crush Saga. This conforms to the last factor: relatedness, to feel connected to others.
These pop-ups supposedly function as rewards, but also act as dark patterns trying to get players to spend money and time on the game.
A dark pattern is defined as making people do things they did not intend or consent to, causing negative experiences. Making players accidentally and unwillingly interact with these additional features fits that definition, thus implicating some of these dark patterns make playing Candy Crush Saga less fun and engaging.
Do dark patterns contribute to the players’ decisions to quit or continue
playing?
The empirical data suggests that dark patterns have a role to play in the players’ decision to keep playing, but also in their decision to quit. A majority of the survey respondents chose at least one dark pattern as a likely reason if they were to quit playing and half gave credit to dark patterns as a reason to continue to play the game. The survey answers also indicated quite clearly which dark patterns are the most critical in the players’ decision making.
When the participants were asked if any of the five identified dark patterns would be likely reasons if they were to quit playing candy crush saga, 16 respondents answered
none of them while the rest 44 of the respondents chose one or more dark patterns as a likely reason. All dark patterns received votes as being reasons for quitting. The dark pattern that received the most answers as a reason to stop playing was levels that are too hard to pass without using boosters with 35 respondents identifying it as a likely reason. It was followed by the patterns discounts as rewards and pop-up windows for purchasing something with 21 and 20 answers respectively. While the temporal type dark patterns time-limited boosters and “Don’t give up now- messages (temporal & monetary)” were less popular answers as reasons to quit, they both still received five votes.
While levels that are too hard dominated as the reason to quit playing, the reasons to continue playing had an equally clear front-runner. Time-limited boosters received 30 answers as a reason to continue playing, while the rest of the patterns received less than 10 votes each. Discounts as rewards did not receive any votes as a reason to continue being a player.
While some patterns had clearly either a negative or a positive effect on the players’ decision to quit or keep playing, four out of the five patterns were voted both as a reason to continue and as a possible reason to quit playing. While the dark patterns might contribute to the continued use of the game, some players find the same patterns irritating to the point of quitting becoming an option.
“Don’t give up”-messages were the most divisive pattern. While it could be seen as less impactful than some other patterns by receiving only 12 votes either way, as a reason for continuing or quitting, the votes were divided almost evenly: five votes as a reason to quit and seven as a reason to continue. “Don’t give up”-messages were also the only pattern that is both of monetary and temporal nature, which could explain it splitting the opinion so evenly. The only other temporal pattern (time-limited boosters) was overwhelmingly more popular as a reason to continue being a player and the monetary patterns as a reason to quit. Therefore it seems that monetary patterns are more likely to contribute to the decision to quit and temporal patterns to the motivation to continue being a player.
6
Discussion and conclusion
This chapter includes a discussion about the results and describes the implications and limitations. Conclusions are followed by suggestions for further research given at the end of the chapter.
6.1
Findings
The majority of the answers claim that most of the aforementioned dark patterns make the game “less fun to play”. The exception was time-limited boosters where a majority, on the contrary, voted for “more fun to play.” Additionally, there was continuously at least one occurrence where a respondent found a pattern fun. Therefore, one can not assume all patterns are considered bad by all users. That finding fits Zagal’s statement that there is no “one-design-affects-all-pattern” (2013).
However, there seems to be a general consensus among the respondents: most dark patterns are neither fun nor make the game more engaging. Thereby, our hypothesis that the patterns affect user experience in a negative way can be partly considered confirmed.
It appears monetary patterns, where players are encouraged for example to buy boosters, contribute more to a lower desirability and the players quitting than the temporal ones (which patterns are considered temporal and which ones monetary can be seen in chapter 3.2). This is based on the fact that the portion of people answering “less fun” is considerably larger in the questions regarding monetary patterns (37, 27 and 29) compared to the temporal patterns (3 and 21).
The first research question is answered by these findings, since according to our sample, some dark patterns do make playing Candy Crush Saga less fun and engaging. The second research question, regarding the players’ decision to quit or continue playing, can be debated as it seems that the dark patterns contribute to both choices, but there are also a number of other factors in play. According to the open-ended questions the main additional reason for quitting is that the player feels
bored. Whether it is the patterns that lead to that feeling, or for example the repetitive nature of the game, the famously short millennial attention span or something else is up for discussion, and perhaps subject for a more psychological take digging deeper into causes of boredom. Other popular answers were that the game requires too much time. Simultaneously, a common reason for playing in the first place is to spend time on occasions where players are bored.
Ten participants mentioned time-consumption as an additional reason they would consider quitting playing Candy Crush Saga. Since the temporal patterns seemed to have more of a neutral or even positive user perception on desirability, it is good to remember that by “cheating” the players out of their time, the temporal patterns might have a secondary effect. The player does not feel the pattern itself makes the game less fun to play, but is still dissatisfied with the amount of time they end up playing, which again is something the temporal patterns do contribute to.
6.2
Implications
The use of dark patterns is a double-edged sword. The results of this study show that they can have both a positive and a negative effect on the players’ gaming experience and on their decision to remain or quit being a player. Since the results do show that the desirability suffers from certain dark patterns and moreover has an effect on some players’ decision to quit playing, this aspect will hopefully be considered by game designers, developers and companies in the future.
For players of the game it might be interesting to know that other players share their frustration towards manipulative tactics, even if they are not aware of the manipulation. The awareness might help bring forward pressure that eventually leads to positive change.
The differences between the effects of temporal and monetary patterns implicate that there are some differences in how players perceive spending money and committing more time to the gaming experience. Perhaps time is something the player has already chosen to spend playing and is therefore not so bothered by the tactics that offer incentives in order to keep them playing longer periods of time, whereas money
tactics are not equally well received in a freemium model game. This might be exceedingly true within our predominantly young sample, who do not spend money on the game.
From a research perspective, our results provide evidence that there is more to consider than just the ethical point of view when it comes to dark patterns. Since our results indicate a strong relation between dark patterns and desirability, it presents an area to explore, with many different possible perspectives.
6.3
Limitations
The purpose of this study was to find out if desirability within Candy Crush Saga was affected by dark patterns and if dark patterns contribute to the players’ decision to quit or continue being a player. To receive even more accurate answers to our research questions first and foremost the sample could have been more controlled to be able to more accurately represent the entire audience of Candy Crush Saga. Our sample consisted of predominantly young players, who do not spend a lot of money on the game, and this group of players might not be the most important demographic for King, since the actual revenue mostly seems to come from middle-aged women who are avid players (The Guardian, 2019). It is possible that so-called “whales” (Carmichael, 2013), who are a small percentage of players who spend a lot of money on microtransactions, ultimately end up bringing the majority of the revenue, and thereby being the group that matters the most to the companies.
As we did not make a distinction between players who are currently players of Candy Crush Saga and those who have already quit, the question about the reasoning for quitting and continuing playing the game is of speculative nature. While the results offer valuable data on the differences of the patterns’ effects as contributors to continuing and quitting, for more accurate answers it would be of interest to separately study and then compare the views of individuals who have quit the game and those who have stuck with the game for an extended period of time.
Some modifications could have been made to the survey to receive more accurate answers regarding feelings towards dark patterns. For example, a few participants in
the survey answered that they had not encountered a certain pattern before. However, they still gave their opinion about their feelings toward it, despite having a specific option to choose if they had not experienced the pattern. We had not accounted for that occurrence. A clarification to skip the following question could perhaps have been useful, since Google Forms does not offer the option to hide questions depending on previous answers. The Likert scale for measuring desirability was quite robust with 3 steps: less fun and engaging, neutral, or more fun and engaging. If the survey was to be redone with a greater volume, it might be of interest to expand the scale to for example 5 steps to be able to express how strongly the desirability is affected and to measure variables such as averages and medians.
Our results can give an idea how dark game design patterns are perceived by the players across different games, but the player demographics and individual design choices could alter the perception and therefore would have to be studied on their own to make game-specific conclusions.
The social types of dark patterns were not explored in this thesis, since we could not reliably verify their existence within the game. A few of the answers to the open-ended questions in the survey indicated, however, that some kind of social dark patterns might be present in the game. Since this study did not take social dark patterns into consideration, their effect on desirability and how they compare to temporal and monetary patterns remains to be researched.
6.4
Conclusion
Ultimately, 73,3% of the respondents did answer that one or more of the patterns presented to them would be likely reasons for them to quit. Some patterns disturb the players’ sense of making their own choices - an important factor according to the previously mentioned Self Determination Theory (Ryan & Deci, 1985). Exclusively monetary patterns seemed to contribute to the decision to quit more strongly than the temporal pattern or split pattern, which had the opposite effect. Whether these results apply to for example other demographics or to a more extensive set of dark patterns, requires further studies.
Additionally it appears that players quit playing because they get bored of playing, but at a later occasion being bored makes them play again. Another paradox is that some quit because it takes too much time, while others keep playing or return to spend time. This implicates that the patterns can have different effects at the same time. Nevertheless, certain patterns showed clear negative consequences in terms of desirability, thus suggesting that certain dark game design patterns do make playing the game less fun and engaging.
It could be that as players become aware of the dark patterns and realise that they are being manipulated, the desirability of the game decreases and they stop playing. However, other players remain neutral to the patterns, and the yearly revenue is hard evidence that the patterns even work in King’s favor. Therefore, removing persuasive patterns altogether might not be a viable option for them. Instead, a recommendation could be to implement the possibility for players to turn off certain features, for example discounts as a prize. This has already been an existing function within the game, where the players could choose whether to compete with their Facebook friends or not. This solution could result in a higher overall desirability, since the disgruntled users simply could modify the game for an uninterrupted gaming experience, and the users already satisfied with the game remain unaffected.
6.5
Further research
As previously mentioned, additional research could be made to discover whether user experience differs between different types of players, across different games and different types of dark patterns. One aspect of the dark patterns researched in web design is the visual appearance and functionality, for example how it is harder to exit a pop-up with a small button than to buy items with a big one. This is also applied in mobile games and could be subject for further research.
Since our recommendation is to decrease the usage of dark patterns, further studies exploring alternative solutions to dark patterns without compromising success could be beneficial in aiding the change.
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