Against Seamlessness and Hedonistic Loops: The Cases of Pause, Reflect, Resist, and Reform, from Interaction Design into Games

This paper challenges the dominant assumption in Interaction Design and game design that friction is a usability flaw to be minimised in pursuit of seamless, uninterrupted flow. Drawing on scholarship concerned with ethics, politics, and dark patterns, the authors argue that seamlessness can conceal structural inequalities and reproduce power asymmetries, and that intentional friction can instead generate alternative forms of pleasure in play, including reflective, political, sensory, and transformative experiences. The work is framed around DiGRA's theme of Intersectional Pleasures.

The study rests on a qualitative analysis using purposeful sampling across commercial, artistic, speculative, and infrastructural cases where friction is deliberately built into systems. Examples include checkout delays that interrupt impulsive purchasing, community Wi-Fi libraries requiring physical presence, browser extensions that corrupt advertising profiles, minimalist phones that limit algorithmic engagement, and accessories that impose a physical step before opening distracting apps. Although these cases were not designed for games, the authors contend their mechanisms correspond to ludic concepts such as pacing, agency, challenge, and meaning-making.

From this analysis the authors derive four behavioural modalities: pause, reflect, resist, and reform. Pause describes interruptions that foster sensory recalibration and contemplative play, illustrated through titles such as Death Stranding and Desert Bus. Reflect concerns friction that opens space for ethical and epistemic contemplation, exemplified by Papers, Please. Resist covers friction used against surveillance and coercive loops, with examples including the AdNauseam extension and the reminders to rest in Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3. Reform addresses friction that supports long-term behavioural change and accessibility, illustrated by The Graveyard.

The paper concludes that friction should be treated as a generative design resource rather than merely a barrier. By prioritising player intention over retention and foregrounding diverse identities and embodied experiences, designers can cultivate pleasures rooted in hesitation, deliberation, and critique. The authors position this reframing as a path toward more inclusive, ethical, and reflective play that resists extractive interaction models.