»Defeat the Cookie Monster«
Protecting one's privacy on the Internet is not that easy: cookie banners pop up on every web page and the design urges us to get to the actual content of the page with a simple and ill-considered click on "accept all cookies". Such misleading designs ("deceptive design") are tricks in the design of user interfaces. They use so-called "dark patterns" in design, which we now encounter unconsciously every day on websites, in apps or even in the settings of operating systems. By means of the dark patterns we are supposed to be purposefully controlled and deceived into making decisions that we might not have thought of making in the first place. For the LNDW, we developed an arcade game with which we take dark patterns to the extreme. Visitors had to protect their privacy and resist the Cookie Monster's deceptive design. In classic arcade fashion, players have three "lives" in the game, represented by cookie icons. For each wrong and ill-considered choice, a "life" or cookie is deducted. The visitors who were able to recognize the "dark patterns" and avoided them were rewarded with a real cookie. Visitors of all age groups took their chance at defeating the Cookie Monster, including kids as young as 8 years old. Families and groups of friends played together and gave each other tipps and shared their own experiences with dark patterns on the web.