A research primer from Dagstuhl Seminar 26261
Deceptive, exploitative & harmful design in games
A research-based reference to the design patterns that extract money, time, data, and attention from players. We have collected what they are, how they work, and the conditions under which they become harmful.
- 66
- named patterns
- 9
- mechanism families
- 7
- player costs
- 81
- cited sources
Deception ≠ harm
Games legitimately deceive — bluffs, fog of war, plot twists. We classify by the conditions under which a pattern becomes harmful, not by the label.
Exploitation is the target
The gravest harms — loot boxes, whale-targeting — are often fully transparent. We foreground exploitation, not just deception.
Evidence on the surface
Every entry carries an evidence level and resolvable sources, with scholarly evidence distinguished from primary documentation.
A three-axis model
Each technique is described by how it works, what it costs, and where it sits in the catalogue. The map below is interactive — hover any node to trace its links; click a technique to open it.
Hover a mechanism, technique, or cost to trace its links — click a technique to open it. Prefer a list? Browse all patterns.
Highest-severity patterns
All patterns →Loot boxes / gacha
Paid, randomised reward containers whose contents — and often whose odds — are unknown before purchase.
Personalised spend-optimisation
Silently using a player's behavioural data to tune offers, prices, odds, difficulty, or matchmaking to maximise that individual's spending.
Accidental-purchase / default-to-purchase UI
Purchase is the default or easily mis-tapped path, so spending happens without express, informed consent.
Can't pause or save
Designs that prevent safely stopping — no pause or save, or progress lost (or attacked) when you leave — so players can't quit on their own terms.
Disguised ads / content
Ads are styled as gameplay or rewards so the player cannot tell promotion from play.
Forced registration / data disclosure
Access to play, rewards, or social features is made conditional on creating an account, linking an identity, or sharing unnecessary personal or contact data.