Browsing by Author "Hadan, Hilda"

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Computer-based Deceptive Game Design in Commercial Virtual Reality Games: A Preliminary Investigation
(Association for Computing Machinery, 2024-10-14) Hadan, Hilda; Zhang-Kennedy, Leah; Nacke, Lennart
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.
Culture Clash: When Deceptive Design Meets Diverse Player Expectations
(Association for Computing Machinery, 2024-10-14) Hadan, Hilda; Sgandurra, Sabrina; Zhang-Kennedy, Leah; Nacke, Lennart
Deceptive game designs that manipulate players are increasingly common in the gaming industry, but the impact on players is not well studied. While studies have revealed player frustration, there is a gap in understanding how cultural attributes affect the impact of deceptive design in games. This paper proposes a new research direction on the connection between the representation of culture in games and player response to deceptive designs. We believe that understanding the interplay between cultural attributes and deceptive design can inform the creation of games that are ethical and entertaining for players around the globe.
Mitigating Privacy Harms from Deceptive Design in Virtual Reality
(University of Waterloo, 2025-03-15) Hadan, Hilda; Zhang-Kennedy, Leah; Nacke, Lennart E.
This report was prepared as a final project report in response to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada Contributions Program 2024-25. This research investigates deceptive design in Virtual Reality (VR) environments and its impact on user privacy. The research team at the University of Waterloo conducted an autoethnographic evaluation of 12 top-rated VR applications to analyze deceptive design patterns in their privacy communication and interaction mechanisms. The findings reveal 14 distinct deceptive design patterns and demonstrate how deceptive tactics in traditional web and mobile environments are being adapted to immersive environments. While many of these patterns still heavily rely on 2D interfaces elements, VR’s spatial, immersive, and multi-sensory features amplify their impact and increased the privacy risks for users. The VR applications’ convoluted privacy policies and consent mechanisms further hinder user comprehension on the data practices. Through the evaluation, the team also identified 7 exemplary privacy-enhancing design strategies, which can serve as a foundation for improved implementation of privacy mechanisms in VR environments. To assess user perceptions of these deceptive design patterns, the team surveyed 424 users of the selected VR applications. The findings indicate that while users felt the manipulative influences and expressed discomfort, they often resign themselves to accepting privacyinvasive options and viewing such design as “typical” or “inevitable” across both VR and nonVR platforms. Their repetitive exposure to such design in mobile and web environments fostered a false sense of normalcy, and eroded user resistance to manipulation. This research provides valuable insights for VR developers, designers, policymakers, and researchers on creating privacy-preserving VR experiences and developing clearer, more ethical privacy policies in this rapidly evolving field.
Studying Immersive Deception: Manifestations and User Perceptions of Deceptive Design in Commercial Virtual Reality
(University of Waterloo, 2025-07-03) Hadan, Hilda
Deceptive Design (formerly “dark patterns”) refers to design practices that distort or impair users’ ability to make informed decisions, regardless of intent. As immersive technolo- gies, such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR), transform people’s daily experiences, their immersive virtual environments unleash a highly engaging experience while enabling new opportunities for deceptive design strategies that users cannot easily recognize or resist. Consequently, ethical and privacy concerns are expanding into these environments. While previous research has examined deceptive design issues in websites, mobile apps, games, and gamification, the extent of these problems in immersive environ- ments remains largely unexplored. This thesis investigates deceptive design in immersive environments with a specific attention to VR. It identifies deceptive design that presents in VR and emerges from VR technology’s unique properties, and examines their impacts from users’ perspective. We first conducted a systematic literature review to synthesize the state-of-the-art research on deceptive design. This review revealed potential deceptive strategies that can be employed in immersive environments, and those that can be enabled by the large amount of user data collected by these technologies. However, most of the existing literature focused on hypothetical scenarios rather than examining deceptive design as it appears in commercially available applications. Informed by the findings from this review, we surveyed experienced users about their awareness of data practices in immersive technologies, examined deceptive design in commercially available VR applications, and compared these findings with those from traditional computer platforms. To ensure consistent and comparable deceptive design analyses across these platforms, we developed a Deceptive Design Assessment Guide grounded in foundational deceptive design literature. This Assessment Guide was applied and validated in two studies that examined how deceptive practices manifest and influence user experience in exemplary computer and VR applications. Our findings show that the deceptive design in VR applications relies heavily on 2D interfaces, such as dialogue windows and checkboxes, rather than fully integrating VR-specific properties. Hypothesized scenarios from the literature, such as perception-hacking and emotional-based manipulation, were not observed in our selected VR applications. Certain VR properties (e.g., realistic simulation, virtual-physical barrier) amplified the impacts of deceptive design in users’ decision-making process but did not directly enable it. While users cannot point out specific design elements that used deceptive practices, they still expressed a general discomfort and feeling of manipulation. Nevertheless, many users felt powerless in protecting themselves or asserting their autonomy, and perceived deceptive design as a standardized industry practice with no possible escapes. Our research has implications for future research, and immersive technology design, development, and regulation for building better industry design standards and stronger user protections. For future researchers, the findings provide guidance on fostering user awareness through effective educational strategies, expanding theoretical approaches for understanding deceptive design in immersive environments, and refining user-centered empirical approaches for identifying and evaluating deceptive practices. For designers and developers, this thesis offers a structured Assessment Guide and actionable recommendations for supporting the creation of ethical and user-centered immersive applications that respect privacy and autonomy. For immersive technology regulation, this thesis identifies the limitations of current regulations and provides practical advice for expanding and strengthening regulatory frameworks, enforcing transparent privacy communication and ethical industry design standards tailored to immersive technologies. In conclusion, this thesis advances the understanding of deceptive design in commercially available VR applications, delivers actionable strategies for identifying and mitigating deceptive practices, and establishes a foundation for cross-disciplinary collaborations to protect user well-being in immersive environments.
The great AI witch hunt: Reviewers’ perception and (Mis)conception of generative AI in research writing
(Computers in Human Behavior: Artificial Humans, 2024-10-24) Hadan, Hilda; Derrick, Wang; Mogavi, Reza Hadi; Tu, Joseph; Zhang-Kennedy, Leah; Nacke, Lennart
Generative AI (GenAI) use in research writing is growing fast. However, it is unclear how peer reviewers recognize or misjudge AI-augmented manuscripts. To investigate the impact of AI-augmented writing on peer reviews, we conducted a snippet-based online survey with 17 peer reviewers from top-tier HCI conferences. Our findings indicate that while AI-augmented writing improves readability, language diversity, and informativeness, it often lacks research details and reflective insights from authors. Reviewers consistently struggled to distinguish between human and AI-augmented writing but their judgements remained consistent. They noted the loss of a “human touch” and subjective expressions in AI-augmented writing. Based on our findings, we advocate for reviewer guidelines that promote impartial evaluations of submissions, regardless of any personal biases towards GenAI. The quality of the research itself should remain a priority in reviews, regardless of any preconceived notions about the tools used to create it. We emphasize that researchers must maintain their authorship and control over the writing process, even when using GenAI's assistance.