What Makes XR Dark? Examining Emerging Dark Patterns in Augmented and Virtual Reality through Expert Co-Design

Dark patterns are deceptive designs that influence a user’s interactions with an interface to benefit someone other than the user. Prior work has identified dark patterns in windows, icons, menus, and pointer (WIMP) interfaces and ubicomp environments, but how dark patterns can manifest in Augmented and Virtual Reality (collectively XR) requires more attention. We therefore conducted 10 co-design workshops with 20 experts in XR and deceptive design. Our participants co-designed 42 scenarios containing dark patterns, based on application archetypes presented in recent HCI/XR literature. In the co-designed scenarios, we identified 10 novel dark patterns in addition to 39 existing ones, as well as 10 examples in which specific characteristics associated with XR potentially amplified the effect dark patterns could have on users. Based on our findings and prior work, we present a classification of XR-specific properties that facilitate dark patterns: perception, spatiality, physical/virtual barriers, and XR device sensing. We also present the experts’ assessments of the likelihood and severity of the co-designed scenarios and highlight key aspects they considered for this evaluation, for example, technological feasibility, ease of upscaling and distributing malicious implementations, and the application’s context of use. Finally, we discuss means to mitigate XR dark patterns and support regulatory bodies to reduce potential harms.