Dark Patterns and Video Games: Empirical Analysis Among Spanish Youth
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.62008/ixc/16/02PatronKeywords:
Video Games, Dark Patterns, Reward Systems, Loot Boxes, Persuasive Design, MicrotransactionsAbstract
This paper analyses the presence and impact of dark patterns in popular video games through a mixed-methods study focused on a sample of 927 young Spanish gamers aged 16 to 25. The research is divided into two phases: (1) a theoretical analysis conducted by 6 experts on 12 games, which identified 25 dark patterns classified into 8 general categories; and (2) an assessment of players' perceptions of the 6 most mentioned games regarding how these persuasive elements affect their experience. The study uses both sets of results to establish a critical basis for future ethical debates and regulatory proposals on video game design in the current industry.
Metrics
References
Alharti, S. A., Alsaedi, O., Topups D., P. O., Tanenbaun, T. J., y Hammer, J. (2018, abril). Playing to wait: A taxonomy of idle games. In Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-15). https://doi.org/10.1145/3173574.3174195
Alsheail, M. M., Gerling, K., y Yildiz, Z. (2025). A qualitative exploration of how children and parents experience and structure disengagement from games. Proceedings of the ACM on Human‑Computer Interaction, 9(6), 542–565. https://doi.org/10.1145/3748614
Asociación para la Investigación de Medios de Comunicación (AIMC). (s. f.). Datos del Estudio General de Medios (EGM) — reporting.aimc.es. Recuperado de https://reporting.aimc.es/index.html#/main/cockpit
Ball, M. L. (2025, 14 de enero). The state of video gaming in 2025. MatthewBall.co. https://www.matthewball.co/all/stateofvideogaming2025
Barter, C. A., y Renold, E. (1999). The use of vignettes in qualitative research. Social Research Update, 25. https://hdl.handle.net/1983/cba10285-9773-4786-ad5e-9dc243be8657
Brawl Stars Fandom. (s. f.). Brawl Pass. Wiki Brawl Stars. https://brawlstars.fandom.com/es/wiki/Brawl_Pass
Steinnes, K. K. (2024). Architecting virtual storefronts: how in-game shops are designed to encourage consumption. Consumption Markets & Culture, 27(4), 346–363. https://doi.org/10.1080/10253866.2024.2385562
Brignull, H. (2023, 25 de abril). Deceptive patterns – user interfaces designed to trick you. Deceptive Design. https://www.deceptive.design/
Brooks, G. A., y Clark, L. (2023). The gamblers of the future? Migration from loot boxes to gambling in a longitudinal study of young adults. Computers in Human Behavior, 141, 107621. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2022.107621
Cabeza‑Ramírez, L. J., Rey‑Carmona, F. J., Cano‑Vicente, M. C., y Solano‑Sánchez, M. Á. (2022). Analysis of the coexistence of gaming and viewing activities in Twitch users and their relationship with pathological gaming: A multilayer perceptron approach. Scientific Reports, 12, 7904. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-11985-0
Calderón Gómez, D., Puente Bienvenido, H., y García Mingo, E. (2024). Generación expuesta: jóvenes frente a la violencia sexual digital. Centro Reina Sofía de Fad Juventud. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14169647
Call of Duty Staff. (2024, 18 de octubre). Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Launch: Everything You Need to Know on Progression, Leveling, and Prestige. Call of Duty Blog. https://tinyurl.com/yw2r32bm
Chiu, S. I., Hong, F. Y., y Chiu, S. L. (2015). An analysis on the correlation and predictor of rituals, self-esteem, and game addiction. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 18(11), 666–672. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2015.0415
Close, J., Spicer, S. G., Nicklin, L. L., Uther, M., Lloyd, J., y Lloyd, H. (2021). Secondary analysis of loot box data: Are high-spending “whales” wealthy gamers or problem gamblers?. Addictive Behaviors, 117, 106851. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2021.106851
Conti, G. J., y Sobiesk, E. (2010). Malicious interface design: exploiting the user. En Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on World Wide Web (WWW 2010) (pp. 271–280). ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/1772690.1772719
Dahlan, R. P., y Susanty, M. (2022). Finding dark patterns in casual mobile games using heuristic evaluation. PETIR: Jurnal Pengkajian dan Penerapan Teknik Informatika, 15(2), 185–195. https://doi.org/10.33322/petir.v15i2.1151
Datareportal. (2026, 27 de enero). Digital 2026: Global Overview Report. DataReportal – Global Digital Insights. https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2026-global-overview-report
Di Geronimo, L., Braz, L., Fregnan, E., Palomba, F., y Bacchelli, A. (2020). UI dark patterns and where to find them: A study on mobile applications and user perception. En Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1–14). ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/3313831.3376600
Dreier, M., Wölfling, K., Duven, E., Giralt, S., Beutel, M. E., y Müller, K. W. (2017). Free-to-play: About addicted Whales, at risk Dolphins and healthy Minnows. Monetarization design and Internet Gaming Disorder. Addictive behaviors, 64, 328-333. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2016.03.008
Droumeva, M. (Ed.). (2024). Playthrough poetics: Gameplay as research method. Amherst College Press. https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.14464860
Drummond, A., Hall, L. C., Lowe‑Calverley, E., Garrett, E. P., y Sauer, J. D. (2025). Loot box spending is associated with greater distress when normalized to disposable income: A reanalysis and extension of Etchells et al. and Xiao et al. Royal Society Open Science, 12(7), 231264. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.231264
Duarte, F. (2025, 20 de enero). Fortnite User and Revenue Stats (2025). Exploding Topics. https://explodingtopics.com/blog/fortnite-stats
Dubois, L.‑E., y Weststar, J. (2022). Games‑as‑a‑service: Conflicted identities on the new front‑line of video game development. New Media & Society, 24(10), 2332–2353. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444821995815
Epic Games. (2023, 22 de marzo). Introducing the Creator Economy 2.0. Fortnite. https://www.fortnite.com/news/introducing-the-creator-economy-2-0
Epic Games. (2025, 22 de marzo). Island Creator Program. https://create.fortnite.com/enroll?team=personal
Evans, S. (2020). Pandora’s Loot. Legal studies research paper series. 20-0015. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3733910
Fernández-de-Castro, P., Aranda, D., y Montaña Blasco, M. (2025). Gamblification, Youth and Digital Games: A Dataset on Gaming Practices and Emotional Impacts Among Spanish Young People in Spain (Version 4). Figshare. https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.30467558.v4
Ferris, J. A., y Wynne, H. J. (2001). The Canadian Problem Gambling Index. Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse. https://bdoc.ofdt.fr/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=72544
García, E. (2021, 16 de febrero). How Dream, a 21-year-old YouTuber, changed the face of Minecraft content with his SMP series. Business Insider. https://tinyurl.com/57ryewkz
González-Cabrera, J., Basterra-González, A., Montiel, I., Calvete, E., Pontes, H. M., y Machimbarrena, J. M. (2022). Loot boxes in Spanish adolescents and young adults: Relationship with internet gaming disorder and online gambling disorder. Computers in Human Behavior, 126, 107012. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2021.107012
González-Cabrera, J., Caba-Machado, V., Díaz-López, A., Jimeénez-Múrcia, S., Mestre-Bach, G., y Machimbarrena, J. M. (2024). The mediating role of problematic use of loot boxes between internet gaming disorder and online gambling disorder: cross-sectional analytical study. JMIR Serious Games, 12, e51523. https://doi.org/10.2196/57304
Greo (2019). Proportion of revenue from problem gambling. Gambling Research Exchange (GREO). https://doi.org/10.33684/2019.002
Haidt, J. (2024). The anxious generation: How the great rewiring of childhood is causing an epidemic of mental illness. Penguin.
Houe, N. P. (2020). The death of gamers: How do we address the gamer stereotype? En Proceedings of DiGRA 2020 Conference: Play Everywhere. https://doi.org/10.26503/dl.v2020i1.1194
Knezovic, A. (2024, 24 de enero). Mobile Game Push Notifications: Best Practices & Examples. Udonis. https://tinyurl.com/bdh55xyy
Leahy, D. (2022). Rocking the boat: Loot boxes in online digital games, the regulatory challenge, and the EU's Unfair Commercial Practices Directive. Journal of Consumer Policy, 45(3), 561–592. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10603-022-09522-7
Lemmens, J. S., Valkenburg, P. M., y Peter, J. (2009). Development and validation of a game addiction scale for adolescents. Media Psychology, 12(1), 77–95. https://doi.org/10.1080/15213260802669458
Luotonen, N. (2024). Leftover premium currency in video games [Tesis de bachelor, Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences]. Theseus. https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202404096089
Macey, J., y Mattinen, T. (2025, 16 de junio). Is esports spectating associated with gambling behaviour? En Conference Proceedings of DiGRA 2025: Games at the Crossroads. DiGRA. https://doi.org/10.26503/dl.v2025i2.2435
Mannström, D. (2022). Power creep in videogames, an analysis of the competitive scene in Pokémon games [Tesis de máster, Åbo Akademi University]. DSpace. https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2022112867480
Messner, S. (2021, 8 de enero). Rust tops a million peak viewers on Twitch thanks to dozens of big-time streamers. PC Gamer. https://tinyurl.com/yhavfdn7
Newman, N., Ross Arguedas, A., Robertson, C. T., Nielsen, R. K., y Fletcher, R. (2025). Digital news report 2025. Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/digital-news-report/2025
Newzoo. (2021, 14 de abril). GTA RP (NoPixel Server) skyrockets Grand Theft Auto V’s Twitch viewership in March. Newzoo Resources. https://tinyurl.com/3czt4fs3
Niknejad, S., Mildner, T., Zargham, N., Putze, S., y Malaka, R. (2024). Level up or game over: Exploring how dark patterns shape mobile games. En Proceedings of the International Conference on Mobile and Ubiquitous Multimedia (MUM '24) (pp. 148–156). ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/3701571.3701604
Nong, M. N. (2025, 29 de marzo). Predatory Game Monetization: Going Beyond Loot Boxes and Gambling. Mia’s World Academic Repository. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/add.14286
Petrovskaya, E., y Zendle, D. (2022). Predatory monetisation? A categorisation of unfair, misleading and aggressive monetisation techniques in digital games from the player perspective. Journal of Business Ethics, 181(4), 1065–1081. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-021-04970-6
Riot Games. (2017, 13 de diciembre). Pregúntale a Riot: URF. League of Legends Nexus. https://nexus.leagueoflegends.com/es-es/2017/12/ask-riot-urf/
Roblox Corporation. (s. f.). Developer Exchange Terms of Use. Roblox Support. https://tinyurl.com/esj37yhc
Saffar, A. (2024). Monetization in Video Games: Evolution, Techniques, and Impact [Tesis de maestría, TH Köln - University of Applied Sciences]. ResearchGate. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.15843.46889
Save the Children España. (2024, 11 de julio). Derechos sin conexión: Un análisis sobre derechos de la infancia y la adolescencia y su protección en el entorno digital. https://tinyurl.com/mr2yv8zb
Sigmon, K. A. (2021). Pay to play: video game monetization patents and the doctrine of moral utility. Georgetown Law Technology Review 72. https://tinyurl.com/4b8pftfz
Sinclair, B. (2022, 9 de agosto). Overwatch dropping paid loot boxes this month. GamesIndustry.biz. https://tinyurl.com/227n2k37
Sirola, A., Nyrhinen, J., Nuckols, J., y Wilska, T. A. (2023). Loot box purchasing and indebtedness: The role of psychosocial factors and problem gambling. Addictive Behaviors Reports, 18, 100516. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.abrep.2023.100516
Sledge, B. (2025, septiembre 18). Valve invents new Counter‑Strike 2 loot boxes that dodge gambling regulations. PCGamesN. https://tinyurl.com/3sd37a23
Speed, A., Burnet, A., y Robinson II, T. (2023). Beyond the Game: Understanding why people enjoy viewing Twitch. Entertainment Computing, 45, 100545. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.entcom.2022.100545
Tran, L. T., Wardle, H., Colledge‑Frisby, S., Taylor, S., Lynch, M., Rehm, J., Volberg, R. A., Marionneau, V., Saxena, S., Bunn, C., Farrell, M., y Degenhardt, L. (2024). The prevalence of gambling and problematic gambling: A systematic review and meta‑analysis. The Lancet Public Health, 9(8), e594–e613. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(24)00126-9
Van de Pol, F., y Sanders, T. (2022, 21 de marzo). Loot boxes are legal in the Netherlands. AKD. https://www.akd.eu/insights/loot-boxes-are-legal-in-the-netherlands
Villalba-García, C., Griffiths, M. J. D., Demetrovics, Z., y Czakó, A. (2025). The relationship between loot box buying, gambling, internet gaming, and mental health: Investigating the moderating effect of impulsivity, depression, anxiety, and stress. Computers in Human Behavior, 166, 108579. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2025.108579
Waldman, A. E. (2020). Cognitive biases, dark patterns, and the 'privacy paradox'. Current Opinion in Psychology, 31, 105‑109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.08.025
Wang, P., Lyu, Y., y Lu, Z. (2025). Online Game Players on Peer-to-Peer Trading Platform: An Infrastructure Perspective. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 9(CSCW2), Article 542. https://doi.org/10.1145/3757420
Wardle, H., y Zendle, D. (2021). Loot boxes, gambling, and problem gambling among young people: Results from a cross-sectional online survey. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 24(4), 267–274. https://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2020.0299
Welsh, M. (2023, 6 de noviembre). Fortnite OG player record: How many people are playing Fortnite? Polygon. https://tinyurl.com/3jcm5r85
Xiao, L. Y. (2023). Breaking Ban: Belgium's Ineffective Gambling Law Regulation of Video Game Loot Boxes. Collabra: Psychology, 9(1), 57641. https://doi.org/10.1525/collabra.57641
Xiao, L. Y. (2024). Loot box state of play 2023: Law, regulation, policy, and enforcement around the world. Gaming Law Review, 28(10), 450–483. https://doi.org/10.1089/glr2.2024.0006
Xiao, L. Y., y Lund, M. L. (2025). Non-compliance with and non-enforcement of UK loot box industry self-regulation on the Apple App Store: A longitudinal study on poor implementation. Royal Society Open Science, 12(5), 250704. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.250704
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Joan Josep Pons López, Dídac Jiménez-Torras, Alexandra Samper-Martínez, Joan Arnedo-Moreno (Autor/a)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Authors who submit to this journal agree to the following terms:
Authors retain copyright and ensure the magazine's right to be the first publication of the work as licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoComercial 4.0 International License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of authorship of the work and the initial publication in this magazine, with no commercial purpose.
Authors can establish separate additional agreements for non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in the magazine (for example, to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
It allows and authors are encouraged to disseminate their work electronically (eg, in institutional repositories or on their own website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as a citation more early and most of the published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
