[Music]
laughing everyone right let's get
started
hi and welcome to my session for the US
Senate and as you can see on the title
slide it's called dark patterns how good
UX can be bad us a I'm actually really
nervous because it's my first time
speaking to such a large audience and so
please bear with me right so let's stop
hello right so my name is Anita Zanussi
and I'm actually from Malaysia and I
came to the UK eight years ago to study
and six years ago I started my career as
a 2d animator in a local animation
studio so we did children's shows
explainer videos and things like that
and I studied animation by the way so I
wanted to do animation but I needed a
visa to stay in the UK so the only other
company hiring was actually a video
games company and they needed a 2d
artists so just like that I changed into
a 2d artists and it was funny because
they had a heart test that I had to
learn a completely new program in one
night and managed to do it and the lady
who hired me thought I was lying when I
told her I learned everything in one
night so the moral of that story is fake
it till you make it
that's how I got here so anyway that was
great and it was in that video games
company that I learned what the world of
uy is I didn't know that it existed in
uni all I knew was there was 3d artists
that was animators those producers
things like
that but you I was completely new and
unknown to me so I kind of had to learn
from scratch what it was
besides like nobody really pays
attention to menu screens I mean it's a
good sign that's a good menu screen
because you didn't notice it but you
know and right so for the last six years
four years yeah four years in a games
industry I have been lucky enough to be
able to work on a huge amount of
different platforms one is a huge I mean
for so that I'm I didn't work on PC
consoles handheld and mobile I was very
lucky but the company that I worked for
was very ambitious and adventurous in
the platforms that we went for so I got
kind of I got a finger in different pies
all the time so it was fun
and slowly from there I learned what UX
is and from then on my life change hmm
suddenly you learned like it's not just
boxes it's not just menus is actually an
experience that's what I said but so
that's a little bit about me just in
case you're wondering why am I talking
about dark times before I start talking
about dark patterns oh and the topic
will be calling out certain techniques
or practices that's not really the best
thing for you to do and I really do not
want to name names so things like game
titles or company name I'll try my best
not to mention anything or anyone
because in the spirit of good
sportsmanship we're supposed to lift
each other up and support each other so
calling out another company or anything
like that is a big no-no for me so
because of that anything I show will not
be shown does that make sense anyway so
all right let's get started
what is a dark padding
and I don't have these except they make
my own music so luckily in 2013 a bunch
of very smart academics looked into dark
patterns in the design of games and they
finally came to a conclusion or rather a
definition of what dark patterns is so a
dark pattern is a pattern used
intentionally by a game creator to cause
negative experiences for players which
are against at best interest and lucky
hopper without their consent whoo that's
a really long thing when I found out
about dark patterns it was not too long
ago and it was in a website called dark
patterns org and was conceived by his
dude called Harry Brignole and he's a
London designer and he noticed a few
things that is a little bit iffy
especially with websites and forms and
why you buy things commercial websites
mostly so these are things like when you
check out something and then they
automatically add an extra item to your
bag and you don't know that you're
buying something until the very last
moment you're about to pay so that's a
little bit mmm that's not great is it
you feel a bit dude other things are
like this one that annoyed me was if
you're on a mailing list and by law you
do have an unsubscribe button link right
at the bottom and some companies will
have the link provided but then they'll
make the font and the same story not
font just the color the same as the
background so you can't see it unless
you actually highlight the sentence so
it's things like that that is really
squeezing not really nice to be honest
so those things are dark pattern and
what I want to talk about is dark
patterns in video games specifically so
these Academy when they talked about
doctored and thus mostly about game
design and obviously
we're in the UX limit so we're going to
talk about the UX doctorates right so
with dark patterns I need to go into
what you call your UX so good UX what is
good UX and as a very very term so I
guess from a technique point of view
good you like mean oh the technique is
perfect
you've got your psychological principles
and your behavioral techniques that you
apply to your interface to get to reach
your goals so let's say your intended
goal is monetization user retention and
this is actually pretty much what all
games try to get and it's been proven
recently the global games software
market revenue in December 2016
increased by 10% to your red card seven
point six billion but billiad with Abby
so that's loads of money so clearly good
UX is a huge contributor to people
spending money and staying playing the
games on and on and on but I wouldn't
say this is good your ex I would
actually say it's effective UX because
good could mean ethically good and
sometimes some of these things aren't
actually ethically good but they are
effective so what about value works so
what would you call that your ex I would
say a user experience should cover all
aspects of the person's experience with
the system including design graphics
interface physical interaction tutorials
and all that so if you're going through
a game and it pisses you off that's
pretty much bad your ex to me so if a
player feels cheated or dissatisfied
from an experience with the game that's
considered bad UX and usually that
results in negative perceptions of
game on negative reception of the
developers and from there a negative
perception of the industry as a whole
this is actually quite prominent
recently their eyes are free to play
games especially in the App Store and
such people do get their stuff and they
think everyone's just a money grab when
clearly that's not true so in 2014 there
was a study about mentioned out of ten
million players 19% of those only played
a game once or opened a game one and
two-thirds stopped playing after the
first 24 hours and about half of
spending happened in the first seven
days so I'm not saying that this is the
entire reason but bad UX is a
contributing reason to a retention drop
and I think about your ex is a result of
exploitative UX but the thing is and I
was thinking it makes money so why not
because I get us developers that's what
we're entering view right we're just
printing money well actually it's about
ethics
I'm really glad some of you laugh
because that was a very insight joke the
Internet's going to get me later
so anyway hmm right so the goal of UX
design is according to Oxford is to
improve customer satisfaction and
loyalty through the utility ease of use
and pleasure provided in the interaction
with a product I do believe as a UX
practitioners though we do have an
ethical obligation and dark patterns are
ultimately a cynical yet working method
for developers to make quick cash it's a
short-term solution to a financial
problem that yields little to no true
from your player base if developers wish
to cultivate a loyal long-term and
meaningful relationship with their
customers then it has to consider good
and open practices the user experience
is front and center to you that idea
it is my belief that through design we
can demonstrate to our audience how we
feel about them use of dock Islands is a
monument to our lack of respect for that
audience and only through thoughtful
designed and sensible choices can you
win it back so really we do hold quite a
lot of power in how we persuade users to
use our games and how they act with our
product so with that we do have a moral
responsibility we really should not
treat players as a source of revenue a
person has the right to be treated as
having intrinsic worth players aren't
there for us to use as sort of revenue
they are not tool to create money they
are individuals with their own
objectives of buying your product like
escapism or having fun we can't perceive
our own goals but still respect players
desires and of course it takes everyone
to uphold such ethics because if we let
others slide then it becomes normal and
I don't think I want to be in a place
where scheming people off of them money
is a normal thing so enough of that
should we look at actually a few dark
patterning examples just as I mentioned
before I can't really show actual screen
caps so these are very simplified
recreation as you can I guess you can
call them that I made it in the
PowerPoint so please buy basic soft form
using squares
[Music]
okay so this one's called the bait and
switch
so the baiting search is basically when
for example there's a video ad playing
automatically of course because they're
annoying and you just want to close them
so you wait for a little X button to
appear and then you see it and then you
press it and instead of the video ad
closing it goes straight to the
purchasing screen and you're like are
you serious
really really I just want it yet and
then this happened to me and I wanted to
throw my phone out the window I was like
why would you do this so that's just
basically made me want to delete the app
instantly so I have no idea why the
developers decided to do this is that
because they think accidentally clicking
onto the shop page with making buy it or
something if anything is just annoying
so did either option don't do that
that's what I say next one is a misuse
of graphic design this one's pretty
obvious because you see this literally
everywhere if you go to a web page we're
trying to download something you find
like 50 download buttons and a teeny
tiny link of the actual download link
same as apps why just why can you even
see the cancel button see why did that I
made it really subtle and it shouldn't
be subtle so sometimes people rapid-fire
clicking through things like next next
is next and then the next thing you know
you're clicking by and you're like what
did I do
so it's things like that where you're
taking control away from the users that
is considered bad practice it's a
basically checking them into buying your
things rather than just letting them
want to buy things this one's my
favorite demoralizing terminology yet as
you ex or you my designers we kind of we
think about the words that we use really
carefully to make sure that the players
understand what trying to say but then
some people just decide to get really
funny about things and it you know okay
this one I made it up give up lizard but
I'm pretty sure there's other games who
that kind of demoralizes the player kind
of belittled them for whatever reason
and you're playing a game and the games
being snarky at you while the UI is
being snarky a you're not even the game
but even worse to being yes some kind of
some menus pissing you off so these kind
of things contribute to an overall bad
experience so that's a bad UX next one
is called daily current code words
so this is where just as you bout to
leave an app still say oh you should log
in tomorrow and you might get this thing
it's like zero point zero zero zero
three percent chance of getting it so
you should really try and then you log
in every day hoping to get that one
amazing item and you just don't that's
just that's basically dangling a carrot
in front of players and hoop making them
come back for more and the chances are
really low
I mean daily login bonus --is is not a
bad thing but when you promise something
with such a low chance of your odd it's
it's almost like you're giving them
false hope I sound like a scorned lover
I'm sorry right next one oh
guilt-tripping notifications this one I
really really hate these this is why
every time I download a new alpha in
your game I instantly deny any
notifications because you get stuff like
this or like oh that's good voice I'm
imagining the notification to sound like
you're dying when you can come back I
was like oh my god shut up
yeah I'm literally saying shut up to my
own notifications so I know that they're
supposed to remind you that the game is
still going on and they're supposed to
entice you to come back but they're
being whiny about like and they're
basically making you feel bad for
leaving them that's almost as bad as
those again email subscriptions that you
unsubscribe home and then you go to the
website and then
that's like a sad little owls like oh
I'm going to die now because you
unsubscribed like really yeah so things
like are my is completely unnecessary to
add grievances so next one is social
validation and compliance this one is
basically using your own friends to peer
pressure you into playing a game so the
element of having friends playing the
same games does actually make you come
back to you again more often there's a
study so that I can't me site that right
now is Africa but the one thing about to
happen is when you're pushing it so much
once that person your friend probably
doesn't even care right they're kind of
using the using people you know and to
talk to you into into getting into green
back into the game and think I just
personally don't really like that right
so there are some ways of doing things
like monetization isn't evil in app
purchases is not evil obviously but
there are ways to do it better and not
so annoying
I guess so this one's a good one which
is called clear trade-offs so these are
two different and examples but basically
you are giving choice to the player they
know exactly what's happening and they
have a choice and you are giving them
control over what they want to do do you
want them if your game is given us and
they're enjoying it they probably
wouldn't mind watching that 30-second ad
without you pushing it to them I mean
I'm Jewish
I've done it myself and I know a lot of
other people have and the fact that they
actually let me say nope I really don't
want to watch this right now I just want
to continue playing something else the
same with a payroll where you buy one
and that's it no more ads for
so that's also in my favorites because
you know what if your game is so good
I don't want ads I will give you the
money just don't bombard me of things
again this is about giving the player
control next one is balance you are a
sign so as you know mosa
an app purchases a menus do you have
multiple choices where you know from the
lowest to the highest
what gets me work really ruffles my
feathers is when they automatically
highlight the most expensive choice and
make them animate or something and it's
like $99 or something insane like that
and children have been known to buy
these things because they have zero
concept of in-app gem real world values
I'm not using two items but I think you
know I'm saying the good thing about
that is that that phenomenon has been
curbed with actual laws like you know
what Amazon or Apple those platforms
have been sued because they made it too
easy for children to buy these things
without any parental supervision so from
a UX perspective we could have curbed
that a little bit I mean just to make
sure everything's balanced and to not
prey on accidental purchases basically
and the next one is definite 'iv and
clear language so again this one players
can't have a mental model of what they
expect the UI to say or what the game
does and if your game or menu basically
is very clear and very distinct about
what's happening they are less likely to
be confused they're less likely to be
frustrated and therefore they're less
likely to have a bad experience so as
long as everything's quit because I'm
pretty sure there has been games where
they muddled up words they use words
that might sound like yes might sound
like no but not quite and just like why
is that and you don't understand and you
kind of just cook it anyway and you
end up somewhere you don't want to be so
that's why we get frustrated so things
like that is easily rectified with just
clear language
this one is rewarding loyalty I play a
certain free-to-play game that goes up
to the thousands of levels and I think
I'm one of those losers that continue I
played this game for four years straight
basically and at one point I was so
addicted to this game that I installed
the game to my sister's phone or my
brother's iPad you know so I have like
three devices on the go what I did
notice was that on my account because
I've gone up to like level of thousands
I barely saw any ads or any intrusive
anything it was really easy to play and
I was just continuously playing it but
when it played on my sister's phone or
something that would be ads popping up a
bit more you know and to be honest these
kind of ads are a bit of a necessary
evil I guess a free to play games but
the fact that they never show up on my
account because I'm level 1000 something
it's kind of nice that kind of rewarding
me for being a loyal customer and I've
had such a good time with them that I've
actually I have spent money and I don't
feel at all bad I wish I could name this
game because it actually has good UX
it's one of the few free to play games
that does it well right so what does
this mean for us so if you are you Y or
Y X designer you should discuss the math
in the matter of ethics or rather the
lack of a code of ethics because the
lack of code of ethics is kind of the
reason why people get away for all these
things a lot of a lot of the reason why
these practices are so common is because
the company they set their values more
on getting monetization or getting
squeezing out the final penny from
cor uncle will whale users I really
don't like that term but issue and
sometimes you kind of have to stand your
ground I know it's difficult like I
think I've been there where I feel like
I don't really want to do this but you
can't have to follow orders but
sometimes if you if you state your case
strong enough and kind of stand together
maybe I'm being a bit romantic about
this I don't know the power friendship
yeah hopefully it will become less
commonplace
so you have to ask yourself as a UX
designer what you design does it
manipulate players or does it eat them
and let them feel secure about their
knowledge and decisions people don't
like feeling out of control and as UX
designers we do persuade players to do
certain things but persuading shouldn't
be manipulating and of course there's
always ways to design for the mutual
benefit of players and the game video
games is still a business but that
doesn't mean you should exploit people
for the sake of monetary gain an
intercompany abrogate if you could
ensure the UX conveys company values if
you remember what I said earlier you
have a bad experience you think badly of
the game and you talk about thinking
badly of that company and soon people
just like God video games all they do is
waste your money in with your time why
in fact that's not true I'm pretty sure
everybody in this room knows that's not
true so it'd be great if companies could
a facility and environment that allows
for the refusal of unethical requests
sometimes things happen and sometimes
people are like wait this this gets
money because that's metrics you know
metrics shows that it works sure it does
work but at what cost it feels a little
bit like selling your soul to the devil
but different companies have different
priorities and that has been people who
have left certain companies because they
don't agree with the company policies
I'm not saying you quit your jobs or
anything but you know you are who you
work with and finally use metrics to
increase player enjoyment and not as a
tool of manipulation I'm Pierre share
you can see by now that I use the word
manipulation quite a lot in this it's a
really fine line between aiding of the
player to do what you want or persuading
them or just guiding them and literally
manipulating them to do things that they
don't want to do so as UX designers we
do have quite a lot of power and with
that much power we have quite a bit of
responsibility so finally I just want to
end my talk with a quote but can you
guys guess who this is from anybody go
on yeah satori water business car I'm a
corporate president in my mind and again
developer but in my heart I am a gamer
and that rings true for most of us I
think no matter what we are on our
business cards are still gamers so
that's all we know life's like to be on
the other side why would we want to
manipulate them when we are them and
this one is can anybody get this one
actually me only do this first
okay I'm probably you guys - how many
does my point we're all gamers at heart
and we're all game developers we do this
because we love it and I'm pretty sure
all of you remember your first games and
you're growing you grow up thinking oh
man I want to make that I want to make
games that people enjoy and remember by
and I'm I just want you to remember that
when you go to work when you make games
remember why you got into the industry
in the first place you know it's not two
million pollute people it's not to get
it's not a cash grab it's literally an
art and you have to remember why he got
there in the first
so thank you very much and I hope you UX
responsibly
[Applause]