Uncovering manipulation techniques in Virtual Reality

Open your favourite travel or clothing app and soon you will discover so-called ‘dark design patterns’, subtle techniques that encourage you to spend money. These patterns are mostly visual, but with the rise of VR, sound and touch-based techniques can also be used. Researchers Gijs Huisman and Karthik Venkatraj have designed a VR demo highlighting some of these touch-based techniques. “We want people to be aware of manipulative potential that new technologies like VR pose.”