Social Pyramid Scheme
You get a bonus for inviting your friends and then they have to invite their friends.
Some games will give you a bonus when you invite your friends to play and link to them to your account. This bonus may be a one-time benefit, or it may be an ongoing benefit that improves the gaming experience for each friend that you add. This gives players a strong incentive to convince their friends to play. Those friends then have to sign up more friends and so on, leading to a pyramid scheme and viral growth for the game.
Often, this is combined with another Dark Pattern called Social Obligation where you and your friends can help each other in the game. This leads to a feeling of obligation and people keep playing the game even when they no longer enjoy it.
Often, this is combined with another Dark Pattern called Social Obligation where you and your friends can help each other in the game. This leads to a feeling of obligation and people keep playing the game even when they no longer enjoy it.
Examples
Minecraft"Promoted multiplayer servers have invite rewards."
CATS: Crash Arena Turbo Stars"The game has a referral system where you can get a lootbox with strong items for referring new players to the game."
animal restaurant"Yes people can log on to gift their friends reward bags, but most people don't do it a lot."
Drilla: Idle Gold Miner Game"If you invite a friend to play, you get some crystals, which are this app's premium currency."
Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel"You and your friend will get the Swordsoul structure deck with the new/return players campaign. This deck can still reach the highest rank in the game with some cards replaced, it used to be Meta."
RPG Toram Online"You can be invited to a party with other players via; a raid, farm, and events which can be beneficial to interact with others. But you could become an easy target to be kicked out of the party like an example of for having a poor performance during leveling/farming sessions, one petty mistake, or in general having your build and class scuffed. Asobimo had FAILED to identify and report other players who are toxic or cheating, while innocent players have caught in a crossfire for "cheating"."
MONOPOLY GO!"Getting rewards for inviting friends"
Bud Farm: Grass Roots"friends can water your plants so that they grow faster"
PewDiePie's Tuber Simulator"You can people to a friends list, you can send all of the people on the list a gift (contains views, subscribers, rarely booster items or furniture), with a 17 hour cooldown"
Honkai: Star Rail"Optional rewards for inviting friends"