arXiv subjects

Lennart E. Nacke

Publications and source records attributed to Lennart E. Nacke.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Theory, Experience, and Instinct: A Glimpse Into AAA Game Processes and How UX Leaders Navigate Pre-Production

Foundational decisions shape a project's long-term trajectory, a dynamic that becomes especially evident in the inherent complexity of game pre-production. However, academic frameworks often see limited uptake at this stage, as they do not readily map onto industry contexts, production constraints, and cross-functional workflows. To better understand how design decisions are made in practice, we conducted interviews with 15 UX leaders from the AAA (triple-A) games industry. Our findings show that early UX decisions emerge from a dynamic blend of theory, experience, and intuition. In cross-functional structures (such as strike and competency teams), UX leaders collaboratively align player needs, technical feasibility, and creative vision. These decision-making processes involve translating academic concepts into production-ready insights, codifying experiential knowledge into reusable practices, and relying on informed intuition amid uncertainty. We argue that meaningful impact requires academia to develop malleable conceptual tools that integrate with practitioners' highly adaptive design processes. We conclude by discussing how existing frameworks might be adapted to connect academic insights with AAA workflows. Rather than prescriptive directives, we offer these as starting points for discussion that support strike and competency teams through shared language, reusable design systems, and strategies for collaborative, context-sensitive decision-making.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2026

Rushed by Discomfort, Trapped by Immersion: Users' Experiences and Responses to Privacy Deceptive Design in Commercial VR Applications

Commercial Virtual Reality (VR) transforms people's virtual experiences but introduces deceptive design opportunities that threaten user privacy. Although privacy deceptive patterns on 2D platforms are well-documented, their impacts in VR remain understudied. We surveyed 481 users' experiences and responses to privacy deceptive patterns across eight commercial VR scenarios. We found that VR deceptive design can exploit both cognitive vulnerabilities and bodily strain, a phenomenon we define as Ergonomic Susceptibility, and that VR's sensory-rich experiences can make users more likely to accept invasive data disclosure framed as immersion-preserving. Users recognized manipulation but their prior non-VR exposure can foster privacy resignation. Our study shows ergonomics is a critical factor in future privacy-preserving VR design, and urges VR researchers, designers, and policymakers to develop ethical design and privacy management solutions that account for VR's unique multimodal, immersive, and ergonomic properties, building immersive experiences that respect user privacy and mitigate manipulative data practices.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2025

The Great AI Witch Hunt: Reviewers Perception and (Mis)Conception of Generative AI in Research Writing

Generative AI (GenAI) use in research writing is growing fast. However, it is unclear how peer reviewers recognize or misjudge AI-augmented manuscripts. To investigate the impact of AI-augmented writing on peer reviews, we conducted a snippet-based online survey with 17 peer reviewers from top-tier HCI conferences. Our findings indicate that while AI-augmented writing improves readability, language diversity, and informativeness, it often lacks research details and reflective insights from authors. Reviewers consistently struggled to distinguish between human and AI-augmented writing but their judgements remained consistent. They noted the loss of a "human touch" and subjective expressions in AI-augmented writing. Based on our findings, we advocate for reviewer guidelines that promote impartial evaluations of submissions, regardless of any personal biases towards GenAI. The quality of the research itself should remain a priority in reviews, regardless of any preconceived notions about the tools used to create it. We emphasize that researchers must maintain their authorship and control over the writing process, even when using GenAI's assistance.

cs.CL↗

arXiv2025

Who is Responsible When AI Fails? Mapping Causes, Entities, and Consequences of AI Privacy and Ethical Incidents

The rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies has raised major privacy and ethical concerns. However, existing AI incident taxonomies and guidelines lack grounding in real-world cases, limiting their effectiveness for prevention and mitigation. We analyzed 202 real-world AI privacy and ethical incidents to develop a taxonomy that classifies them across AI lifecycle stages and captures contributing factors, including causes, responsible entities, sources of disclosure, and impacts. Our findings reveal widespread harms from poor organizational decisions and legal non-compliance, limited corrective interventions, and rare reporting from AI developers and adopting entities. Our taxonomy offers a structured approach for systematic incident reporting and emphasizes the weaknesses of current AI governance frameworks. Our findings provide actionable guidance for policymakers and practitioners to strengthen user protections, develop targeted AI policies, enhance reporting practices, and foster responsible AI governance and innovation, especially in contexts such as social media and child protection.

cs.CY↗

arXiv2025

Immersive Invaders: Privacy Threats from Deceptive Design in Virtual Reality Games and Applications

Virtual Reality (VR) technologies offer immersive experiences but collect substantial user data. While deceptive design is well-studied in 2D platforms, little is known about its manifestation in VR environments and its impact on user privacy. This research investigates deceptive designs in privacy communication and interaction mechanisms of 12 top-rated VR games and applications through autoethnographic evaluation of the applications and thematic analysis of privacy policies. We found that while many deceptive designs rely on 2D interfaces, some VR-unique features, while not directly enabling deception, amplified data disclosure behaviors, and obscured actual data practices. Convoluted privacy policies and manipulative consent practices further hinder comprehension and increase privacy risks. We also observed privacy-preserving design strategies and protective considerations in VR privacy policies. We offer recommendations for ethical VR design that balance immersive experiences with strong privacy protections, guiding researchers, designers, and policymakers to improve privacy in VR environments.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2025

Beyond Competitive Gaming: How Casual Players Evaluate and Respond to Teammate Performance

Teammate performance evaluation fundamentally shapes intervention design in video games. However, our current understanding stems primarily from competitive E-Sports contexts where individual performance directly impacts outcomes. This research addresses whether performance evaluation mechanisms and behavioural responses identified in competitive games generalize to casual cooperative games. We investigated how casual players evaluate teammate competence and respond behaviourally in a controlled between-subjects experiment (N=23). We manipulated confederate performance in Overcooked 2, combining observations, NASA TLX self-reports, and interviews. We present two key findings. (1) Observations revealed frustration behaviours completely absent in self-report data. Thus, these instruments assess fundamentally distinct constructs. (2) Participants consistently evaluated teammate performance through relative comparison rather than absolute metrics. This contradicts task-performance operationalizations dominant in competitive gaming research. Hence, performance evaluation frameworks from competitive contexts cannot be directly applied to casual cooperative games. We provide empirical evidence that performance evaluation in casual games requires a comparative operationalization.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2025

The Jade Gateway to Trust: Exploring How Socio-Cultural Perspectives Shape Trust Within Chinese NFT Communities

Today's world is witnessing an unparalleled rate of technological transformation. The emergence of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) has transformed how we handle digital assets and value. Despite their initial popularity, NFTs face declining adoption influenced not only by cryptocurrency volatility but also by trust dynamics within communities. From a social computing perspective, understanding these trust dynamics offers valuable insights for the development of both the NFT ecosystem and the broader digital economy. China presents a compelling context for examining these dynamics, offering a unique intersection of technological innovation and traditional cultural values. Through a content analysis of eight Chinese NFT-focused WeChat groups and 21 semi-structured interviews, we examine how socio-cultural factors influence trust formation and development. We found that trust in Chinese NFT communities is significantly molded by local cultural values. To be precise, Confucian virtues, such as benevolence, propriety, and integrity, play a crucial role in shaping these trust relationships. Our research identifies three critical trust dimensions in China's NFT market: (1) technological, (2) institutional, and (3) social. We examined the challenges in cultivating each dimension. Based on these insights, we developed tailored trust-building guidelines for Chinese NFT stakeholders. These guidelines address trust issues that factor into NFT's declining popularity and could offer valuable strategies for CSCW researchers, developers, and designers aiming to enhance trust in global NFT communities. Our research urges CSCW scholars to take into account the unique socio-cultural contexts when developing trust-enhancing strategies for digital innovations and online interactions.

cs.CY↗

arXiv2025

Computer-based Deceptive Game Design in Commercial Virtual Reality Games: A Preliminary Investigation

As Virtual Reality (VR) games become more popular, it is crucial to understand how deceptive game design patterns manifest and impact player experiences in this emerging medium. Our study sheds light on the presence and effects of manipulative design techniques in commercial VR games compared to a traditional computer game. We conducted an autoethnography study and developed a VR Deceptive Game Design Assessment Guide based on a critical literature review. Using our guide, we compared how deceptive patterns in a popular computer game are different from two commercial VR titles. While VR's technological constraints, such as battery life and limited temporal manipulation, VR's unique sensory immersion amplified the impact of emotional and sensory deception. Current VR games showed similar but evolved forms of deceptive design compared to the computer game. We forecast more sophisticated player manipulation as VR technology advances. Our findings contribute to a better understanding of how deceptive game design persists and escalates in VR. We highlight the urgent need to develop ethical design guidelines for the rapidly advancing VR games industry.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2025

From Solo to Social: Exploring the Dynamics of Player Cooperation in a Co-located Cooperative Exergame

Digital games offer rich social experiences and promote valuable skills, but they fall short in addressing physical inactivity. Exergames, which combine exercise with gameplay, have the potential to tackle this issue. However, current exergames are primarily single-player or competitive. To explore the social benefits of cooperative exergaming, we designed a custom co-located cooperative exergame that features three distinct forms of cooperation: Free (baseline), Coupled, and Concurrent. We conducted a within-participants, mixed-methods study (N = 24) to evaluate these designs and their impact on players' enjoyment, motivation, and performance. Our findings reveal that cooperative play improves social experiences. It drives increased team identification and relatedness. Furthermore, our qualitative findings support cooperative exergame play. This has design implications for creating exergames that effectively address players' exercise and social needs. Our research contributes guidance for developers and researchers who want to create more socially enriching exergame experiences.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2025

Deceived by Immersion: A Systematic Analysis of Deceptive Design in Extended Reality

The well-established deceptive design literature has focused on conventional user interfaces. With the rise of extended reality (XR), understanding deceptive design's unique manifestations in this immersive domain is crucial. However, existing research lacks a full, cross-disciplinary analysis that analyzes how XR technologies enable new forms of deceptive design. Our study reviews the literature on deceptive design in XR environments. We use thematic synthesis to identify key themes. We found that XR's immersive capabilities and extensive data collection enable subtle and powerful manipulation strategies. We identified eight themes outlining these strategies and discussed existing countermeasures. Our findings show the unique risks of deceptive design in XR, highlighting implications for researchers, designers, and policymakers. We propose future research directions that explore unintentional deceptive design, data-driven manipulation solutions, user education, and the link between ethical design and policy regulations.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2025

From Motivating to Manipulative: The Use of Deceptive Design in a Game's Free-to-Play Transition

Over the last decade, the free-to-play (F2P) game business model has gained popularity in the games industry. We examine the role of deceptive design during a game's transition to F2P and its impacts on players. Our analysis focuses on game mechanics and a Reddit analysis of the Overwatch (OW) series after it transitioned to an F2P model. Our study identifies nine game mechanics that use deceptive design patterns. We also identify factors contributing to a negative gameplay experience. Business model transitions in games present possibilities for problematic practices. Our findings identify the need for game developers and publishers to balance player investments and fairness of rewards. A game's successful transition depends on maintaining fundamental components of player motivation and ensuring transparent communication. Compared to existing taxonomies in other media, games need a comprehensive classification of deceptive design. We emphasize the importance of understanding player perceptions and the impact of deceptive practices in future research.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2025

Privacy in Immersive Extended Reality: Exploring User Perceptions, Concerns, and Coping Strategies

Extended Reality (XR) technology is changing online interactions, but its granular data collection sensors may be more invasive to user privacy than web, mobile, and the Internet of Things technologies. Despite an increased interest in studying developers' concerns about XR device privacy, user perceptions have rarely been addressed. We surveyed 464 XR users to assess their awareness, concerns, and coping strategies around XR data in 18 scenarios. Our findings demonstrate that many factors, such as data types and sensitivity, affect users' perceptions of privacy in XR. However, users' limited awareness of XR sensors' granular data collection capabilities, such as involuntary body signals of emotional responses, restricted the range of privacy-protective strategies they used. Our results highlight a need to enhance users' awareness of data privacy threats in XR, design privacy-choice interfaces tailored to XR environments, and develop transparent XR data practices.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2025

Culture Clash: When Deceptive Design Meets Diverse Player Expectations

Deceptive game designs that manipulate players are increasingly common in the gaming industry, but the impact on players is not well studied. While studies have revealed player frustration, there is a gap in understanding how cultural attributes affect the impact of deceptive design in games. This paper proposes a new research direction on the connection between the representation of culture in games and player response to deceptive designs. We believe that understanding the interplay between cultural attributes and deceptive design can inform the creation of games that are ethical and entertaining for players around the globe.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2024

The Jade Gateway to Exergaming: How Socio-Cultural Factors Shape Exergaming Among East Asian Older Adults

Exergaming, blending exercise and gaming, improves the physical and mental health of older adults. We currently do not fully know the factors that drive older adults to either engage in or abstain from exergaming. Large-scale studies investigating this are still scarce, particularly those studying East Asian older adults. To address this, we interviewed 64 older adults from China, Japan, and South Korea about their attitudes toward exergames. Most participants viewed exergames with a positive inquisitiveness. However, socio-cultural factors can obstruct this curiosity. Our study shows that perceptions of aging, lifestyle, the presence of support networks, and the cultural relevance of game mechanics are the crucial factors influencing their exergame engagement. Thus, we stress the value of socio-cultural sensitivity in game design and urge the HCI community to adopt more diverse design practices. We provide several design suggestions for creating more culturally approachable exergames.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2024

Augmenting the Author: Exploring the Potential of AI Collaboration in Academic Writing

This workshop paper presents a critical examination of the integration of Generative AI (Gen AI) into the academic writing process, focusing on the use of AI as a collaborative tool. It contrasts the performance and interaction of two AI models, Gemini and ChatGPT, through a collaborative inquiry approach where researchers engage in facilitated sessions to design prompts that elicit specific AI responses for crafting research outlines. This case study highlights the importance of prompt design, output analysis, and recognizing the AI's limitations to ensure responsible and effective AI integration in scholarly work. Preliminary findings suggest that prompt variation significantly affects output quality and reveals distinct capabilities and constraints of each model. The paper contributes to the field of Human-Computer Interaction by exploring effective prompt strategies and providing a comparative analysis of Gen AI models, ultimately aiming to enhance AI-assisted academic writing and prompt a deeper dialogue within the HCI community.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2024

Born to Run, Programmed to Play: Mapping the Extended Reality Exergames Landscape

Many people struggle to exercise regularly, raising the risk of serious health-related issues. Extended reality (XR) exergames address these hurdles by combining physical exercises with enjoyable, immersive gameplay. While a growing body of research explores XR exergames, no previous review has structured this rapidly expanding research landscape. We conducted a scoping review of the current state of XR exergame research to (i) provide a structured overview, (ii) highlight trends, and (iii) uncover knowledge gaps. After identifying 1318 papers in human-computer interaction and medical databases, we ultimately included 186 papers in our analysis. We provide a quantitative and qualitative summary of XR exergame research, showing current trends and potential future considerations. Finally, we provide a taxonomy of XR exergames to help future design and methodological investigation and reporting.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2024

Sora OpenAI's Prelude: Social Media Perspectives on Sora OpenAI and the Future of AI Video Generation

The rapid advancement of Generative AI (Gen-AI) is transforming Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), with significant implications across various sectors. This study investigates the public's perception of Sora OpenAI, a pioneering Gen-AI video generation tool, via social media discussions on Reddit before its release. It centers on two main questions: the envisioned applications and the concerns related to Sora's integration. The analysis forecasts positive shifts in content creation, predicting that Sora will democratize video marketing and innovate game development by making video production more accessible and economical. Conversely, there are concerns about deepfakes and the potential for disinformation, underscoring the need for strategies to address disinformation and bias. This paper contributes to the Gen-AI discourse by fostering discussion on current and future capabilities, enriching the understanding of public expectations, and establishing a temporal benchmark for user anticipation. This research underscores the necessity for informed, ethical approaches to AI development and integration, ensuring that technological advancements align with societal values and user needs.

cs.CY↗

arXiv2023

Exploring User Perspectives on ChatGPT: Applications, Perceptions, and Implications for AI-Integrated Education

To foster the development of pedagogically potent and ethically sound AI-integrated learning landscapes, it is pivotal to critically explore the perceptions and experiences of the users immersed in these contexts. In this study, we perform a thorough qualitative content analysis across four key social media platforms. Our goal is to understand the user experience (UX) and views of early adopters of ChatGPT across different educational sectors. The results of our research show that ChatGPT is most commonly used in the domains of higher education, K-12 education, and practical skills training. In social media dialogues, the topics most frequently associated with ChatGPT are productivity, efficiency, and ethics. Early adopters' attitudes towards ChatGPT are multifaceted. On one hand, some users view it as a transformative tool capable of amplifying student self-efficacy and learning motivation. On the other hand, there is a degree of apprehension among concerned users. They worry about a potential overdependence on the AI system, which they fear might encourage superficial learning habits and erode students' social and critical thinking skills. This dichotomy of opinions underscores the complexity of Human-AI Interaction in educational contexts. Our investigation adds depth to this ongoing discourse, providing crowd-sourced insights for educators and learners who are considering incorporating ChatGPT or similar generative AI tools into their pedagogical strategies.

cs.CY↗