Temporal Dark Patterns
This game has 17 reported Temporal Dark Patterns. There are 2 votes indicating the absense of a dark pattern.
3 votes
Playing by Appointment
-
Being forced to play according to the game's schedule instead of yours.
3 / 0 votes
2 votes
3 votes
3 votes
3 votes
3 votes
2 votes
Monetary Dark Patterns
This game has 21 reported Monetary Dark Patterns. There are 6 votes indicating the absense of a dark pattern.
3 votes
Premium Currency
-
Exchange rate between real money and in-game currency disguises the real price of items.
3 / 0 votes
2 votes
Pay to Win
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A player can spend real money to purchase something that gives them an advantage in the game.
2 / 0 votes
3 votes
3 votes
2 votes
Recurring Fee
-
Encourages players to play as much as possible to get their money's worth.
2 / 0 votes
3 votes
2 votes
1 votes
Anchoring Tricks
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Placing a cheap item next to an expensive item to make it look more affordable.
2 / 1 votes
1 votes
1 votes
1 votes
1 votes
1 votes
1 votes
Waste Aversion
-
Capped inventory forces you to destroy items or upgrade inventory. Also, having small amounts of left over premium currency.
1 / 1 votes
2 votes
Accidental Purchases
-
Making it easy to accidentally spend money with no confirmation or ability to undo or refund the action.
0 / 2 votes
Social Dark Patterns
This game has 2 reported Social Dark Patterns. There are 12 votes indicating the absense of a dark pattern.
1 votes
1 votes
Fear of Missing Out
-
If you stop playing you'll miss out on something or be left behind and unable to catch up.
1 / 1 votes
1 votes
1 votes
2 votes
Social Pyramid Scheme
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You get a bonus for inviting your friends and then they have to invite their friends.
0 / 2 votes
2 votes
Social Obligation / Guilds
-
To avoid letting down your friends, you are obligated to play when you don't want to.
0 / 2 votes
2 votes
Friend Spam / Impersonation
-
The game sends spam to your contact list or social media account.
0 / 2 votes
2 votes
2 votes
Encourages Anti-Social Behavior
-
The game incentivizes players to lie, cheat, or backstab other players to get ahead.
0 / 2 votes
Psychological Dark Patterns
This game has 5 reported Psychological Dark Patterns. There are 10 votes indicating the absense of a dark pattern.
2 votes
1 votes
Invested / Endowed Value
-
Having already spent time and money to improve your status in the game, it's difficult to throw it away.
2 / 1 votes
1 votes
1 votes
Badges / Endowed Progress
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Reluctancy to abandon a partially completed goal, even one forced upon the player.
1 / 1 votes
1 votes
1 votes
Complete the Collection
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The urge to collect all the items, achievements or secrets in a game.
1 / 1 votes
1 votes
1 votes
Aesthetic Manipulations
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Trick questions or toying with emotions or our subconscious desires.
1 / 1 votes
2 votes
Illusion of Control
-
The game cheats or hides information to make you think you're better than you actually are.
0 / 2 votes
2 votes
Variable Rewards
-
Unpredictable or random rewards are more addictive than a predictable schedule.
0 / 2 votes
2 votes
Optimism and Frequency Biases
-
Overestimating the frequency of something because we’ve seen it recently or memorably.
0 / 2 votes
App Store Ratings
| iOS: | (4.50) with 412,036 votes. |
| Google Play: | (4.58) with 1,484,621 votes. |
Recent Dark Pattern Reviews
Artificial Scarcity reported on May 23, 2021
Temporary offers in the in-game shop. It opens random windows telling you about "first time buyer" offers that are available for a limited time.
Aesthetic Manipulations reported on May 23, 2021
'cha-ching' noises when you buy something in game like an upgrade. When you go into the 'gold' (premium currency) part of the shop, it asks if you are 'feeling indulgent'. The first-time buyer offers say they are for "savvy capitalists".
Waste Aversion reported on May 23, 2021
You pay real money for Gold but the gold is in weird bundles of 55/115/240/624/1300. But most items in the shop are multiples of 10 aside from one item which is 25 gold - eg if you bought the 55 gold bundle, you would always have 5 gold leftover unless you used the gold 'inefficiently' (eg. buying 3 1d time warps 10g each and one 7d at 25g, which gets you less overall time warp days than 2x 7d time warps at 50g total with 5g left).
Pay Wall reported on May 23, 2021
It's not a real pay-wall, just one where progress can end up painfully slow if you don't pay for boosts etc. You go from upgrading things constantly to suddenly being unable to do so without waiting for days for profits to accrue.
Badges / Endowed Progress reported on May 23, 2021
You get achievements for practically everything.
Power Creep reported on May 23, 2021
The early game "businesses" become effectively worthless over time.
Recurring Fee reported on May 23, 2021
'VIP' which comes with things like gold for logging in daily.
Pay to Skip reported on May 23, 2021
You can pay 'gold' (premium currency) for "Time Warps" which give you X number of days worth of profit instantly.
Wait To Play reported on May 23, 2021
As it's an idle game, you sometimes need to wait for in-game currency to accrue in order to be able to do anything to progress.
Playing by Appointment reported on May 23, 2021
If you don't play regularly, you'll hamper your progress by not using your in-game currency to upgrade your "businesses". There's also limited time events.
Report a Dark Pattern
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