B
Betrayal consists of the failure to uphold a clear or unspoken agreement with users or players. Games can usually put players in situations in which these agreements are to be forcibly broken or they simply create favourable conditions for them to be broken, either by explicit or implicit rules and mechanics.
Betrayal may be driven by individual gain, hidden loyalties, player position, revenge, or forced alliances.
There is a potential risk of losing trust when using betrayal. Breaking promises or expectations of these interactors may impact trust between each other, and with the game or computational system.
There may be an overlap between betrayal and breaking users, players or interactors’ legitimate expectations and/or particular social norms, either established within the system or the gameworld. +
The game introduces a metric or mechanic that appears to have a significant impact on gameplay progression, character performance, or story outcomes. This can manifest as a visual indicator, numerical value, or gameplay mechanic that the player is made to believe to be cautious or trying in managing the introduced metric or mechanic. It may provide in-game hints or feedback that reinforce the notion of its importance, which leads players into prioritizing and focusing their attention on it.
However, the deceptive twist occurs when the game reveals that the metric or mechanic was misleading or inconsequential to the player's overall success or failure. This revelation may occur through a narrative event or gameplay scenario that demonstrates the true nature of the metric or mechanic. +
C
Checkpoint placement or accessibility is designed in a way that makes it difficult for the player to survive before they reach a possibility to save their progress. The access to checkpoints can be limited through distance between them, specific objects in their inventory that allow saving, or parts of the gameworld. The player is forced to give more value to the possibility of saving, and to put more thought into using it. This cautiousness creates additional tension and makes the user more vulnerable to unpredictable events of the game. +
Confront the User challenges the ongoing action or intention of the user. The system gives the user warnings, reflective questions or reframes information. The goal is to break automatic behavior and prevent cognitive biases. By leveraging the fact that the user doesn’t want to regret later and surfacing potential risks or overlooked consequences, the system encourages conscious decision-making and reduces impulsivity. +
Crash & Burn introduces deliberate, fabricated system malfunctions to mislead the user into thinking the system has crashed. These cues mimic genuine technical failure and exploit user expectations of instability. The user may restart the system or the application, believing progress has been lost, only to later discover that the interruption was purposeful and part of the designed deception. +
D
The Double Twist pattern introduces an unexpected turn of events by establishing an initial twist or bluff through the intentional conveyance of messages, dialogue, or visual cues. This deceptive setup creates an expectation for players based on an established pattern of trickery. The pattern culminates in a double bluff where, contrary to the player's assumption that a threat is false, a genuine and surprising outcome occurs. +
E
This pattern targets the mechanisms intended to protect player progress. It introduces fragility into the save system, either by making the player character vulnerable during the act of saving or by putting the save file itself at risk of deletion. It requires players to heighten their caution, as failure to manage these vulnerabilities can lead to a significant loss of invested time. +
F
Faux Finale operates by deliberately misleading players about the conclusion of a specific phase or the entirety of the gameplay. It commonly utilizes narrative scripting and environmental cues to create a palpable sense of climax. Just as the player anticipates closure or accepts an end to the narrative, the pattern unfurls the revelation that a new chapter or challenge beckons, and that the real ending has not yet been achieved. +
Forced Downtime, also referred to as Sudden Loss of Interaction, is defined by interrupting the user’s established rhythm of activity through imposed periods of low agency, waiting, or drastically altered interaction. These interruptions often occur directly after moments of heightened intensity, action, or emotional charge, creating a stark contrast that challenges the user’s expectations of flow and gratification. The user is pushed into an intentionally unengaging or even empty interaction moment, which may feel slow or even stagnant. By breaking the user’s momentum and withholding the gratification normally provided by the core interaction loop, the pattern introduces friction that can provoke discomfort, introspection, and heightened emotional awareness. +
I
Induce Pauses interrupts the user’s interaction flow, creating enforced moments of stillness that slow down automatic, unconscious behaviour. These short reflective gaps encourage the user to consider their actions, their goals and the consequences of their choices. Instead of supporting continuous, frictionless progress, this pattern slows the interaction on purpose, helping the user step out of repetitive or impulsive loops. This approach aims to give the user the cognitive room to make more informed decisions. +
L
Limited Zones are temporary traps or constraints that interrupt the player’s usual access to abilities, resources, or playable characters. These limitations do not remove core mechanics permanently but create controlled conditions that provoke tension, demand adaptive thinking and highlight vulnerability. The pattern makes the player operate under scarcity or disadvantage. This disruption introduces a sense of pressure, interdependence, and instability, helping the designer shape pacing, emotion, and thematic resonance through constraint rather than empowerment. +
M
Mimics are visually designed to closely resemble their harmless counterparts, making it difficult for players to distinguish them from genuine items. They often appear as desirable objects, characters, or actions in which users expect to find valuable content, rewards or benefits.
In video game design, mimics typically take the form of characters, treasure chests, doors, switches, checkpoints, or other objects that players would naturally interact with during gameplay. When a player engages with a mimic, it reveals its true nature – either by triggering a trap, exhibiting unexpected behavior, or transforming into a hostile entity –resulting in some form of negative consequence, such as damage, status effects, or the loss of valuable resources.
In the context of web design, mimics may appear, for example, as disguised advertisements, misleading content or wording, or via the use of misdirection in call-to-action highlights intended to deceive, confuse, or distract users into clicking or performing an action that is not in their best interest. +
Misleading Standards uses terminology, conventions, or assumptions that appear familiar to players but gives them altered, unexpected, or subverted meanings within the game. Concepts can be reshaped through renaming mechanics, altering the meaning of established terms, or overturning widely accepted norms. This subversion encourages players to question their assumptions, remain attentive, and rethink familiar structures. The technique also strengthens immersion by constructing a world where even common concepts carry unique meanings, contributing to surprise, narrative twists, or conceptual depth. +
O
Offer Multiple Points of View provides the user with contrasting or complementary viewpoints to counteract confirmation bias and automatic decision-making. The additional perspectives should not be seen as restrictions but as prompts that help users consider broader implications before acting. Presenting multiple viewpoints creates a moment of reflection within the interaction flow, leading the user to reassess their choices with expanded contextual awareness. +
R
Remind of the Consequences draws attention to the relationship between past actions and their present impact. It ensures that user behaviour leaves visible traces through narrative callbacks, changes in the environment, or shifts in system logic. The strength of the pattern lies not in surprising the user, but in making them recognise the weight of their previous actions through subtle reminders, persistent alterations, or emotionally charged reactions from the system. +
Request Additional Confirmations introduces extra confirmation steps that require users to consciously verify their actions before proceeding. The goal is to mitigate cognitive biases, prevent automatic or impulsive decisions, and promote a more deliberate and reflective user experience. +