Irresistible Apps: Motivational Design Patterns for Apps, Games, and Web-based Communities

Chapter     10

Monetary Dark Patterns

If time is money, then it should come as no surprise that if there are temporal dark patterns, there are monetary dark patterns as well. A cynic would view these patterns as a means for companies to extract extra money from users, while an accountant might conclude these patterns are actually good short-term business. As with all dark patterns, users will eventually spot what is happening and become resentful, so those patterns are poor long-term business strategies.

Users who regret spending money, lose track of how much money they will spend, or don’t know how much money will be required in order to progress are engaged with a monetary dark pattern. Note that I am not saying that users who are big spenders ...