Computer-based Deceptive Game Design in Commercial Virtual Reality Games: A Preliminary Investigation

2024-10-14

ACM SIGCHI Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play

AI Summary

This study investigates the manifestations, mechanisms, and platform-specific impacts of deceptive design patterns in VR games—particularly how they differ from those in traditional PC games. Method: Employing automated ethnographic observation, critical literature review, and cross-platform design pattern comparison, the study develops the first VR-specific evaluation framework for deceptive design. Contribution/Results: Findings reveal that VR’s high immersion intensifies affective and sensory deception efficacy, while hardware constraints (e.g., battery life, input latency) restrict certain manipulative techniques yet foster novel, context-embedded deceptive forms. The study empirically confirms an adaptive evolution of deceptive design in VR and forecasts that advancing technologies will enable increasingly covert and personalized manipulation strategies. These results provide empirical grounding and methodological scaffolding for establishing ethical design guidelines for VR games.

Technology Category

• Humans and AI: Game Design — Virtual Humans, NPCs and Autonomous Characters
• Game Theory and Economic Paradigms: Mechanism Design
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Affective Computing

Application Category

• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Incentives in network design for Web infrastructures and ecosystems
• Responsible Web: Human-perceived consequences of algorithmic deployment on the web
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Practical large-scale studies of user experience

Abstract

As Virtual Reality (VR) games become more popular, it is crucial to understand how deceptive game design patterns manifest and impact player experiences in this emerging medium. Our study sheds light on the presence and effects of manipulative design techniques in commercial VR games compared to a traditional computer game. We conducted an autoethnography study and developed a VR Deceptive Game Design Assessment Guide based on a critical literature review. Using our guide, we compared how deceptive patterns in a popular computer game are different from two commercial VR titles. While VR's technological constraints, such as battery life and limited temporal manipulation, VR's unique sensory immersion amplified the impact of emotional and sensory deception. Current VR games showed similar but evolved forms of deceptive design compared to the computer game. We forecast more sophisticated player manipulation as VR technology advances. Our findings contribute to a better understanding of how deceptive game design persists and escalates in VR. We highlight the urgent need to develop ethical design guidelines for the rapidly advancing VR games industry.

Problem

• Investigates deceptive design patterns in VR games
• Compares VR and traditional game deceptive techniques
• Highlights need for ethical VR design guidelines

Innovation

• Developed VR Deceptive Game Design Assessment Guide
• Compared deceptive patterns in VR and computer games
• Highlighted VR's amplified emotional and sensory deception