Towards Trustworthy MetaShopping: Studying Manipulative Audiovisual Designs in Virtual-Physical Commercial Platforms

Esmee Henrieke Anne de Haas, LIK-HANG LEE, Yiming Huang, Carlos BERMEJO FERNANDEZ, Pan Hui, Zijun Lin

Abstract: E-commerce has emerged as a significant endeavour in which technological advancements influence the shopping experience. Simultaneously, the metaverse is the next breakthrough to transform multimedia engagement. However, under such situations, deceptive designs aimed at deceiving users into making desired choices might be more successful. This paper proposes the design space of manipulative techniques in e-commerce applications for the metaverse. We construct our arguments by evaluating user interaction with manipulative design in metaverse shopping experiences, followed by a survey among users to understand the effect of counteracting manipulative e-commerce scenarios. Our findings can reinforce understanding of design guidelines according to metaverse e-commerce experiences and the possibility of opportunities to improve user awareness of manipulative experiences.

Primary Subject Area: [Experience] Interactions and Quality of Experience

Secondary Subject Area: [Experience] Multimedia Applications

Relevance To Conference: This paper examines the risks and threats of dark pattern in XR e-commerce applications

Submission Number: 5551