Ask HN: Is Optimizing for Engagement Ethical? - notaboutdave
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CM30
Dpends what you mean by optimising for engagement. Taking games as an example,
that could theoretically mean multiple things:

1\. That you're making a really good game with a compelling core gameplay loop
that keeps people coming back because of how enjoyable it is to play, and
which has few if any awkward barriers in the UX department. That's fine, and
I'd say it's perfectly ethical.

2\. On the other hand, if you're making a manipulative, pay to win, lootbox
and microtransaction stuffed piece of crap (like many mobile games) and its
only optimised for engagement in the sense its trying to pressure users to
keep playing, then no, that probably wouldn't be ethical.

So it depends really. A well designed, usable system that people want to keep
using because of how much easier it makes their life/how much more fun it is
to play around with is fine, but one which tries to manipulate them with dark
patterns and psychological tricks is not.

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ffwacom
who cares at this point

