Comparison prevention
Making it hard to compare prices, odds, or options so players can't judge value.
- Code
- I8
- Category
- Informational / interface
- Severity
- Medium
- Evidence
- ModerateCross-domain dark pattern (Mathur et al.; Gray et al.); catalogued by deceptive.design.
- Purpose served
- Serves businessPrimarily serves the provider's revenue, retention, or data — the most suspect.
- Mechanism family
- Obstruction
- Platforms
- Mobile / F2P
- Player costs
- FinancialAutonomy / choice
- Target Audience
- policymakersdevelopers
- Tags
- comparison preventionpricingtransparencyobstructionserves businessdeceptive communicationlow transparencyno meaningful opt outconsent underminedmonetary pressurecognitive pressureaccess pressurevulnerability exploitation
- Also known as
- price-comparison blocking
How it works
Currencies, bundle contents, and shifting offers are structured so equivalent options can’t be lined up side by side; like-for-like comparison is obstructed.
Why it can be harmful
Blocking comparison defeats informed choice and hides poor value — a key precondition for overspending, closely tied to currency obfuscation and decoy pricing.
Examples in the wild
- Game bundles priced in mismatched currencies
- No way to compare odds or value across packs
- Game shop offers that change before you can compare them
Illustrative genre examples to aid recognition — not allegations about specific titles.
References
- Mathur, A.; Kshirsagar, M.; Mayer, J. (2021). What makes a dark pattern... dark? Design attributes, normative considerations, and measurement methods. Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445610 · citing patterns
- Mathur, A.; Acar, G.; Friedman, M. J.; Lucherini, E., et al. (2019). Dark patterns at scale: Findings from a crawl of 11K shopping websites. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction (CSCW). doi.org/10.1145/3359183 · citing patterns
- Gray, C. M.; Santos, C. T.; Bielova, N.; Mildner, T. (2024). An ontology of dark patterns knowledge: Foundations, definitions, and a pathway for shared knowledge-building. Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. doi.org/10.1145/3613904.3642436 · citing patterns
Related patterns
Language inaccessibility / complex copy
Important purchase, privacy, odds, or consent information is presented in language the player cannot reasonably understand.
Hidden costs
The true cost of a purchase is revealed late, or never.
Bad defaults / preselection
The provider-preferred option is already selected or treated as the normal path, so inaction becomes consent, spending, or data sharing.
Hidden / undisclosed odds
The probability of outcomes in a paid randomised reward is withheld, buried, or hard to verify.
Trick wording / misleading copy
Confusing, ambiguous, or expectation-violating wording makes the player take an action they did not mean to take.
Obstructed exit / cancellation (sludge)
Asymmetric friction makes quitting, refunding, or disabling far harder than starting.