Uncovering Dark Patterns - Learning Through Serious Gameplay About the Dangers of Sharing Data

(Publisert i Information Systems and Technologies. WorldCIST 2023. Springer 2024).

Dark patterns refer to tricks used in websites and apps to make you
do things that you do not intend to do. This paper presents the board-game Dark
Pattern, in which players install apps, draw dark patterns cards, and make choices
about the sharing of personal data. To win the game, a player must share as little
data as possible and play cards that punish other players. Two groups, the first with
56 students and the second with 45 students, played the game and then answered
a survey with questions controlling their knowledge about the dark patterns types
featured in the game. In addition, a further 50 students answered the same survey
without playing the game. In this paper we present key findings about the dark
patterns knowledge generated by playing the game. 
We analysed whether dark patterns knowledge and risk perception, the likelihood
of negative incidents due to data sharing, could predict the players behavioural
intention to take proactive privacy steps.