Summary
- Dark patterns in gaming manipulate users into spending money, sharing personal information, spending time with a service, and making purchases based on trickery.
- Epic Games was fined $520 million by the FTC for unlawfully using dark patterns in Fortnite, and players may be entitled to a refund if they apply by January 10, 2025..
- Although Fortnite still uses some dark patterns, this controversy sheds light on an industry-wide problem.
After being fined by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for using “dark patterns” in 2022, Epic Games—the developers behind the popular online-multiplayer shooter Fortnite—has recently started refunding players. So what happened?
What Are Dark Patterns?
“Dark patterns” are manipulative design practices that companies use to trick you into sharing personal information, installing unwanted programs, making misinformed purchases, or doing something else that you weren’t intending to. You’ve probably come across numerous examples of dark patterns just by browsing the web.
Some of these include pop-ups that hide their opt-out buttons, products advertised with fake reviews or testimonials, and bait-and-switch prices that come with hidden costs.
Dark patterns can be found in some of your favorite apps and websites, but many of the most egregious cases are hidden in video games. Dark patterns can influence any aspect of a game, including menus, progression systems, and even fundamental gameplay mechanics. A wide variety of dark patterns are used to push you into paying for microtransactions or unwittingly sharing your personal information, but most can be divided into four main categories.
“Temporal dark patterns” encourage you to spend lengthy amounts of time on a game or punish you for not playing. Login bonuses and in-game timers are some of the most common examples of temporal dark patterns, as many games use these practices to constantly log back in for new rewards. They may not seem harmful on their own, but temporal dark patterns are designed to help you form habits that other malicious practices can exploit.
“Monetary dark patterns” are—as the name implies—patterns designed to mislead or pressure you into spending real money. While loot boxes and artificial paywalls are the most well-known examples, many other monetary dark patterns are less apparent. Some competitive games allow you to buy items to gain an unfair advantage, while others encourage you to purchase microtransactions to skip excessive grinding and long wait times.
Monetary dark patterns aren’t just limited to gameplay. Plenty of games use multiple types of in-game currencies to hide the real prices of items behind convoluted exchange rates. In-game stores also sell currency in slightly higher quantities than the amounts required for most purchases, encouraging players to buy even more to not let the remaining currency go to waste.
For example, an in-game item may cost 500 points (or whatever the currency is called), but the cash shop only sells currency in packets of 550 points. After making the purchase, you’ll still have 50 points left over, which incentivizes you to buy more.
“Social dark patterns” are often overlooked, but they’re one of the most common issues that affect multiplayer experiences. This category includes any dark patterns that reward players for sharing others’ information (usually through game invitations) or are designed in a way that exposes players to potentially harmful online interactions.
Lastly, there are “psychological dark patterns”, which involve the use of false pretenses or deliberate manipulation of common player behaviors to keep them playing and spending real money on a game. Some games with prominent gambling mechanics, such as loot boxes and gacha rolls, will temporarily alter the win rates after enough losses. This can easily fool you into believing your luck turned around when, in actuality, you just earned a one-time pity roll.
Other forms of psychological dark patterns involve collectibles or completion rewards that may be difficult to leave behind. Even if you lose interest in one of these games, the fear of losing all your progress or potentially missing out on future events may keep you hooked long after the fun runs out.
How Fortnite Manipulated Its Players
Although dark patterns have been a source of controversy for many games, most aren’t illegal. Temporal and psychological dark patterns are especially difficult to address since—despite leaving players vulnerable to exploitation—they don’t directly harm consumers. However, the FTC’s two complaints against Epic Games alleged that the developer went beyond subtle manipulative practices, citing multiple violations of privacy and consumer protection laws in Fortnite.
The FTC’s first complaint against Epic Games centered around Fortnite‘s multiple violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which states that online service providers cannot collect personal information from children under 13 years old without notifying parents or obtaining parental consent.
Not only did Fortnite fail to meet this requirement, but Epic Games also required parents to go through an unnecessarily complicated process just to file a request for their child’s information to be deleted. This is another commonly used dark pattern known as “obstruction”, which refers to the presence of unnecessary hurdles that prevent users from completing basic tasks or accessing personal records and other important information.
The FTC also cited Fortnite‘s handling of communication settings as another violation of COPPA. Back in 2022, the game’s voice chat and text communication options were automatically enabled by default. This feature isn’t as problematic for games marketed towards adult audiences, but in a game that is heavily marketed towards teens and children like Fortnite, it can potentially expose young players to online bullying and harassment. The game features an option to disable voice chat, but some players didn’t know where to find it (or that it even existed).
In addition to these violations of COPPA, Fortnite also used multiple monetary dark patterns to trick users into making accidental purchases. The second complaint against Epic Games mentions numerous examples. Some of these include Fortnite automatically saving credit card information without consent, failing to provide safeguards against accidental purchases, and allowing for one-button purchases without verification.
The last point is an especially common dark pattern that makes it easy to get charged for an accidental click and enables children to make purchases without parental consent.
Epic Games profited from these unlawful practices for years, but the company was eventually fined $275 million for violating COPPA and forced to pay $245 million in refunds to affected consumers, adding up to a record $520 million settlement with the FTC. The window for Fortnite players to apply for refunds is open until January 10, 2025, and you can find out if you qualify by visiting the FTC’s official website.
In recent years, Epic Games has updated Fortnite and its policies to remove these dark patterns and become more transparent about its business practices. This doesn’t mean the game is now completely free of dark patterns; it still features login bonuses and an increasing reliance on FOMO with limited-time events and battle passes.
Even so, the controversy surrounding Epic Games’ use of dark patterns—and the high price it paid for them—is shedding much-needed light on similar practices in other games.
Dark Patterns Are Everywhere in Gaming
Other major companies like Microsoft and Apple have been busted by the FTC for using dark patterns for data collection and monetization in games. Additionally, countless mobile games and live service games are similarly guilty of using dark patterns to manipulate consumers into spending real money.
The gaming industry is still rife with dark patterns, but the FTC’s harsh penalties against Epic Games will hopefully be the first step towards widespread reforms and the adoption of less predatory monetization practices in future releases.
