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

TL;DR

This study investigates how privacy deceptive patterns in commercial VR exploit ergonomic vulnerabilities and immersion, affecting user responses and highlighting the need for ethical, privacy-preserving VR design.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of Ergonomic Susceptibility and provides empirical insights into user reactions to privacy deception in VR environments.

Findings

VR deceptive design exploits cognitive vulnerabilities and bodily strain.

Users are more likely to accept invasive data disclosure due to immersion.

Prior non-VR exposure can lead to privacy resignation.

Abstract

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.