Why Don’t You Let the Light In? Developing Radiant Patterns for a Critical Game Aiming Player Empowerment

Luiz Santos Filho; Nayana Carneiro; Alairton Sousa Junior; Ticianne Darin

doi:10.5753/jis.2026.5923

Authors

Luiz Santos Filho Federal University of Ceará https://orcid.org/0009-0004-3338-268X
Nayana Carneiro Federal University of Ceará https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8253-6375
Alairton Sousa Junior Federal University of Ceará https://orcid.org/0009-0004-5744-9818
Ticianne Darin Federal University of Ceará https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3617-5462

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5753/jis.2026.5923

Keywords:

Radiant Patterns, Deceptive Patterns, Dark Patterns, Critical Game, Self-Determination Theory

Abstract

The exponential growth of the digital games industry has intensified the use of Deceptive Patterns (DPs) – design strategies that, while profitable, undermine players’ psychological well-being by frustrating their needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, as defined by Self-Determination Theory (SDT). In response, ethical alternatives, such as Radiant Patterns (RPs), have been proposed; however, they have remained mainly theoretical. This study addresses this gap with a twofold contribution. First, it details the refinement and operationalization of the RPs concept, transforming it from an abstract idea into a structured framework for well-being-oriented design. Second, it presents the development and evaluation of The Good Dev (TGD), the first critical game to implement this refined framework. TGD was evaluated in two phases (Alpha and Beta tests) using a mixed-methods approach, including validated instruments and semi-structured interviews. Findings reveal that while players recognize DPs, they are unaware of the psychological impact these patterns have on player well-being. The game demonstrated high playability and engagement, proving effective in fostering critical reflection on design ethics. Ultimately, this study highlights the potential of combining the RP framework with critical gameplay to empower players and contribute to healthier digital gaming environments.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Aagaard, J., Knudsen, M. E. C., Bækgaard, P., and Doherty, K. (2022). A game of dark patterns: Designing healthy, highly-engaging mobile games. In CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems Extended Abstracts, pages 1–8. sage publications ltd. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3491101.3519837.

Allen, J. J. and Anderson, C. A. (2018). Satisfaction and frustration of basic psychological needs in the real world and in video games predict internet gaming disorder scores and well-being. Computers in Human Behavior, 84:220–229. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.02.034.

Almerico, G. M. and Baker, R. K. (2004). Bloom’s taxonomy illustrative verbs: Developing a comprehensive list for educator use. Florida Association of Teacher Educators Journal, 1(4):1–10.

Aranha, R. V. and Nunes, F. L. (2022). Player experience with brazilian accent: development and validation of px-br, a summarized instrument in portuguese. In Proceedings of the XVIII Brazilian Symposium on Information Systems, pages 1–8. ACM New York, NY, USA. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3535511.3535527.

Ballou, N. and Deterding, S. (2023). ‘i just wanted to get it over and done with’: A grounded theory of psychological need frustration in video games. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 7(CHI PLAY):217–236. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3611028.

Barbosa, S. D. J., Silva, B. d., Silveira, M. S., Gasparini, I., Darin, T., and Barbosa, G. D. J. (2021). Interação humano-computador e experiência do usuario. Auto publicação.

Bizzocchi, J. (2007). Games and narrative: An analytical framework. Loading-The Journal of the Canadian Games Studies Association, 1(1):5–10. [link]. Accessed on 18 December 2025.

Blizzard Entertainment (2023). Overwatch 2. Game [Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S]. Blizzard Entertainment.

Brignull, H. (2010). Dark patterns. [link]. Accessed on 18 December 2025.

Brignull, H. (2023). Deceptive Patterns: Exposing the Tricks Tech Companies Use to Control You. Testimonium Ltd., United Kingdom. eBook edition, published August 1, 2023.

Callaghan, M., McShane, N., Eguíluz, A., and Savin-Baden, M. (2018). Extending the activity theory based model for serious games design in engineering to integrate analytics. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3991/ijep.v8i1.8087.

Capcom Production Studio 4 (2005). Resident evil 4. Game [GameCube, PlayStation 2, Windows, Wii, iOS, Zeebo, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Android, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Oculus Quest 2]. Capcom.

Carvalho, M. B., Bellotti, F., Berta, R., De Gloria, A., Sedano, C. I., Hauge, J. B., Hu, J., and Rauterberg, M. (2015). An activity theory-based model for serious games analysis and conceptual design. Computers & education, 87:166–181. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2015.03.023.

Darin, T. (2024). Manual da autonomia digital: bem-estar na experiência do usuário. Editora UFC, Fortaleza.

Darin, T. and Carneiro, N. (2026). From understanding to intervention: Towards an agenda for countering dark patterns in games. In Darin, T., Rios, K., Cruz, G., Tórtoro, L., and Ricca, D., editors, Interaction and Player Research in Game Development, pages 87–101, Cham. Springer Nature Switzerland. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-01426-9_6.

Darin, T., Carneiro, N., Miranda, D., and Coelho, B. (2023). Challenges in evaluating players’ interaction with digital games. In Santos, R. P. d. and Hounsell, M. d. S., editors, Grand Research Challenges in Games and Entertainment Computing in Brazil - GranDGamesBR 2020–2030, pages 1–24, Cham. Springer Nature Switzerland. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-27639-2_1.

Deci, E. L. and Ryan, R. M. (2012). Self-determination theory. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446249215.n21.

Dumativa (2024). Enigma of fear. Game [Microsoft Windows]. Nuuvem.

Eidos-Montréal (2021). Marvel’s guardians of the galaxy. Game [PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch]. Square Enix.

Epic Games (2017). Fortnite. Game [macOS, Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, iOS, Nintendo Switch, Android, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2]. Epic Games.

Fizek, S., Fiadotau, M., Wirman, H., and Garda, M. (2023). Teaching environmentally conscious game design: Lessons and challenges. ACM Games: Research and Practice, 1(1):1–9. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3583058.

Flanagan, M. (2010). Creating critical play. Artists re: thinking games, pages 49–53.

Flanagan, M. (2018). Critical play and responsible design. In The Routledge Companion to Media Studies and Digital Humanities, pages 183–194. Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315730479-18.

Flanagan, M. and Nissenbaum, H. (2007). A game design methodology to incorporate social activist themes. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems, pages 181–190. ACM New York, NY, USA. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/1240624.1240654.

Flood, S., Cradock-Henry, N. A., Blackett, P., and Edwards, P. (2018). Adaptive and interactive climate futures: systematic review of ‘serious games’ for engagement and decision-making. Environmental Research Letters, 13(6):063005. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/aac1c6.

Frommel, J. and Mandryk, R. L. (2022). Daily quests or daily pests? the benefits and pitfalls of engagement rewards in games. Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact., 6(CHI PLAY). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3549489.

Game Freak (2009). Pokémon heartgold. Game [Nintendo DS]. The Pokémon Company, Nintendo.

Gauthier, A., Porayska-Pomsta, K., Mayer, S., Dumontheil, I., Farran, E. K., Bell, D., Mareschal, D., and Team, U. (2022). Redesigning learning games for different learning contexts: applying a serious game design framework to redesign stop & think. International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction, 33:100503. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijcci.2022.100503.

Gavriel-Fried, B., Serry, M., Katz, D., Hidvégi, D., Demetrovics, Z., and Király, O. (2023). The concept of recovery in gaming disorder: A scoping review. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 12(1):26–52. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1556/2006.2023.00002.

Ghodsvali, M., Dane, G., and de Vries, B. (2022). An online serious game for decision-making on food-water-energy nexus policy. Sustainable Cities and Society, 87:104220. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2022.104220.

Gray, C. M., Kou, Y., Battles, B., Hoggatt, J., and Toombs, A. L. (2018). The dark (patterns) side of ux design. In Proceedings of the 2018 CHI conference on human factors in computing systems, pages 1–14. ACM New York, NY, USA. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3173574.3174108.

Gray, C. M., Santos, C. T., Bielova, N., and Mildner, T. (2024). An ontology of dark patterns knowledge: Foundations, definitions, and a pathway for shared knowledge-building. In Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI ’24, New York, NY, USA. Association for Computing Machinery. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3613904.3642436.

Hart, S., Margheri, A., Paci, F., and Sassone, V. (2020). Riskio: A serious game for cyber security awareness and education. Computers & Security, 95:101827. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cose.2020.101827.

Hefner, D. and Vorderer, P. (2017). Digital stress: Permanent connectedness and multitasking. In Reinecke, L. and Oliver, M. B., editors, The Routledge Handbook of Media Use and Well-being, pages 237–249. Routledge, New York, NY. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315714752.

Helamo, A. (2023). Fighting the dark side: A scoping review of dark pattern mitigation. Master’s thesis, University of Oulu. [link]. Accessed on 18 December 2025.

Herman, J. (2024). Dark patterns: Eu’s regulatory efforts. Security and Privacy, 7(6):e441. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/spy2.441.

Hsiung, H.-H., Lin, C.-Y., and Zhu, G.-Y. (2023). The impact of intellectual capital efficiency on value creation in video game industry—an evidence from taiwan. Journal of Infrastructure, Policy and Development, 7(3). DOI: https://doi.org/10.24294/jipd.v7i3.2340.

Jěčius, D. and Frestadius, A. (2022). How do players experience a gacha game depending on their perspective as a starting or a veteran player? a case study of genshin impact. Bachelor Thesis, Uppsala University. URN: urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-477009.

Johannes, N., Vuorre, M., and Przybylski, A. K. (2021). Video game play is positively correlated with well-being. Royal Society open science, 8(2):202049. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.202049.

Kaptelinin, V. and Nardi, B. (2009). Acting with Technology: Activity Theory and Interaction Design. Acting with Technology. MIT Press.

Klei Entertainment (2013). Don’t starve. Game [Android, iOS, Linux, Microsoft Windows, OS X, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Wii U, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch]. Klei Entertainment.

Kruschitz, C. and Hitz, M. (2009). The anatomy of hci design patterns. In 2009 Computation World: Future Computing, Service Computation, Cognitive, Adaptive, Content, Patterns, pages 202–207. IEEE, ACM New York, NY, USA. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/ComputationWorld.2009.45.

Lamb, R. L., Annetta, L., Firestone, J., and Etopio, E. (2018). A meta-analysis with examination of moderators of student cognition, affect, and learning outcomes while using serious educational games, serious games, and simulations. Computers in Human Behavior, 80:158–167. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.10.040.

Malazita, J. and O’Donnell, C. (2023). Introduction: Toward critical game design. Design Issues, 39(1):4–13. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1162/desi_e_00702.

Marini, D., Medema, W., Adamowski, J., Veissière, S. P., Mayer, I., and Wals, A. E. (2018). Socio-psychological perspectives on the potential for serious games to promote transcendental values in iwrm decision-making. Water, 10(8):1097. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/w10081097.

Mathur, A., Kshirsagar, M., and Mayer, J. (2021). What makes a dark pattern... dark? design attributes, normative considerations, and measurement methods. In Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI ’21, New York, NY, USA. Association for Computing Machinery. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3411764.3445610.

Media Molecule (2008). Littlebigplanet. Game [PlayStation 3]. Sony Computer Entertainment.

Media Molecule (2020). Dreams. Game [PlayStation 4]. Sony Computer Entertainment.

Mills, D. J., Milyavskaya, M., Mettler, J., and Heath, N. L. (2018). Exploring the pull and push underlying problem video game use: A self-determination theory approach. Personality and Individual Differences, 135:176–181. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2018.07.007.

Miranda, D., Li, C., and Darin, T. (2021). Ues-br: Translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the user engagement scale for brazilian portuguese. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 5(CHI PLAY):1–22. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3474705.

Miranda, D. M., Pontes, R. M., and de Gois Ribeiro Darin, T. (2022). It’s dark but just a game: towards an ethical and healthy game design practice. In Proceedings of the 21st Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pages 1–7. ACM New York, NY, USA. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3554364.3559144.

Muri, M., Rodrigues, K., and Darin, T. (2023). Beauty is in the eye of the beholder-an experience report on evaluating aesthetics of a design system for huds in eud serious games. In Proceedings of the XXII Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pages 1–11. ACM New York, NY, USA. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3638067.3638093.

Naughty Dog (2022). The last of us part i. Game [Playstation 5, Windows]. Sony Interactive Entertainment.

Neset, T.-S., Andersson, L., Uhrqvist, O., and Navarra, C. (2020). Serious gaming for climate adaptation—assessing the potential and challenges of a digital serious game for urban climate adaptation. Sustainability, 12(5):1789. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/su12051789.

Nintendo EAD (1998). The legend of zelda: Ocarina of time. Game [Nintendo 64, GameCube, iQue Player]. Nintendo.

Nintendo EPD (2015). Super mario maker. Game [Wii U, Nintendo 3DS]. Nintendo.

Nintendo EPD (2017). The legend of zelda: Breath of the wild. Game [Wii U, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2]. Nintendo.

Nintendo R&D1 and Intelligent Systems (1994). Super metroid. Game [Super Nintendo Entertainment System]. Nintendo.

Peters, D., Calvo, R. A., and Ryan, R. M. (2018). Designing for motivation, engagement and wellbeing in digital experience. Frontiers in psychology, 9:797. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00797.

Potel-Saville, M. and Da Rocha, M. (2024). From dark patterns to fair patterns? usable taxonomy to contribute solving the issue with countermeasures. In Rannenberg, K., Drogkaris, P., and Lauradoux, C., editors, Privacy Technologies and Policy, pages 145–165, Cham. Springer Nature Switzerland. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-61089-9_7.

Rigby, S. and Ryan, R. M. (2011). Glued to Games: How Video Games Draw us in and Hold us Spellbound. Praeger, Santa Barbara, CA.

Riot Games (2020). Valorant. Game [Windows, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S]. Riot Games.

Rocksteady Studios (2009). Batman: Arkham asylum. Game [PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Windows, Mac OS X, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch]. Eidos Interactive, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.

Rogers, R. (2017). The motivational pull of video game feedback, rules, and social interaction: Another self-determination theory approach. Computers in Human Behavior, 73:446–450. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.03.048.

Romero, M. (2016). Digital game design as a complex learning activity for developing the 4cs skills: Communication, collaboration, creativity and critical thinking. In Games and Learning Alliance: 4th International Conference, GALA 2015, Rome, Italy, December 9-11, 2015, Revised Selected Papers 4, pages 90–99. Springer. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40216-1_10.

Ryan, R. M., Curren, R. R., and Deci, E. L. (2013). What humans need: Flourishing in aristotelian philosophy and self-determination theory. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/14092-004.

Ryan, R. M. and Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American psychologist, 55(1):68. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.68.

Ryan, R. M. and Deci, E. L. (2017). Self-determination theory: Basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness. Guilford publications.

Ryan, R. M., Rigby, C. S., and Przybylski, A. (2006). The motivational pull of video games: A self-determination theory approach. Motivation and emotion, 30:344–360. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-006-9051-8.

Sánchez, J. L. G. and Vela, F. L. G. (2014). Assessing the player interaction experiences based on playability. Entertainment Computing, 5(4):259–267. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.entcom.2014.08.006.

Sandhaus, H. (2023). Promoting bright patterns. ArXiv. DOI: https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2304.01157.

Santa Monica Studio (2022). God of war: Ragnarok. Game [PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows]. Sony Interactive Entertainment.

Santos Filho, L. and Darin, T. (2026). Operationalizing radiant patterns: A refined definition and pattern structure to mitigate deceptive game design practices. In Interaction and Player Research in Game Development, volume 2623 of Communications in Computer and Information Science, pages 1–20. Springer, Cham. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-01426-9_8.

Santos Filho, L., Sousa Junior, A., Ribeiro, G., and Darin, T. (2024). They say that the world was built for two but deceptive patterns say otherwise: A critical game for player empowerment. In Proceedings of the XXIII Brazilian Symposium on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pages 1–15. ACM New York, NY, USA. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3702038.3702059.

Schäfer, R., Preuschoff, P. M., Röpke, R., Sahabi, S., and Borchers, J. (2024). Fighting malicious designs: Towards visual countermeasures against dark patterns. In Proceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI ’24, New York, NY, USA. Association for Computing Machinery. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3613904.3642661.

Sousa, C. and Oliveira, A. (2023). The dark side of fun: Understanding dark patterns and literacy needs in early childhood mobile gaming. In European Conference on Games Based Learning, volume 17, pages 599–610. DOI: https://doi.org/10.34190/ecgbl.17.1.1656.

Sousa Junior, A., Santos Filho, L., Ribeiro, L., Coelho, A., Santos, V., Carneiro, N., Pereira, G., and Darin, T. (2025). The good dev: A reflective game to provoke behavior change about deceptive patterns in digital games. In Companion Proceedings of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play, CHI PLAY Companion ’25, page 326–332, New York, NY, USA. Association for Computing Machinery. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3744736.3749314.

Souza, B. M., Almeida, M., and Lopes, R. P. (2021). A decision game for informal learning. In 13th International Conference On Computer Supported Education (Csedu), pages 360–367. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5220/0010492403600367.

Spicer, S. G., Nicklin, L. L., Uther, M., Lloyd, J., Lloyd, H., and Close, J. (2022). Loot boxes, problem gambling and problem video gaming: A systematic review and meta-synthesis. New Media & Society, 24(4):1001–1022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448211027175.

Spyridonis, F. and Daylamani-Zad, D. (2019). A serious game for raising designer awareness of web accessibility guidelines. In Human-Computer Interaction–INTERACT 2019: 17th IFIP TC 13 International Conference, Paphos, Cyprus, September 2–6, 2019, Proceedings, Part I 17, pages 3–12. Springer. DOI: https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.20218.54725.

Square (2002). Kingdom hearts. Game [PlayStation 2]. Square, Square Electronic Arts, Sony Computer Entertainment.

Stevens, M. W. et al. (2021). Global prevalence of gaming disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 55(6):553–568. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0004867420962851.

Stockman, C., O’Connell, A., and Nottingham, E. (2024). When it’s cute but also dark: critical analysis of farmville 3’s game design in the digital economy. International Review of Law, Computers & Technology, pages 1–23. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13600869.2024.2330034.

Tyack, A. and Mekler, E. D. (2020). Masterclass: Rethinking self-determination theory in player-computer interaction. In Extended Abstracts of the 2020 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play, pages 1–2. ACM New York, NY, USA. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3383668.3419848.

Ubisoft Montreal (2007). Assassin’s creed. Game [PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, GeForce NOW]. Ubisoft.

Uysal, A. and Yildirim, I. G. (2016). Self-determination theory in digital games. In Gamer Psychology and Behavior, pages 123–135. Springer. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29904-4_8.

Van Roy, R. and Zaman, B. (2019). Unravelling the ambivalent motivational power of gamification: A basic psychological needs perspective. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 127:38–50. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2018.04.009.

Wijman, T. (2023). Newzoo’s year in review: the 2023 global games market in numbers. [link]. Accessed on 18 December 2025.

Wolf, S., Maas, F., Künzl, P., Hohm, A., and Hurtienne, J. (2022). Uneeds: Development of scales to measure the satisfaction and frustration of 13 fundamental needs. In Proceedings of Mensch und Computer 2022, pages 539–544. ACM New York, NY, USA. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3543758.3547572.

World Health Organization (2020). Addictive behaviours: Gaming disorder. [link]. Accessed on 18 December 2025.

Yang, Q. and Gong, X. (2021). The engagement–addiction dilemma: an empirical evaluation of mobile user interface and mobile game affordance. Internet Research. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/INTR-11-2020-0622.

Zagal, J. P., Björk, S., and Lewis, C. (2013). Dark patterns in the design of games. In Foundations of Digital Games 2013.

ZA/UM (2019). Disco elysium. Game [Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Stadia, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Android]. ZA/UM.