alt Hacker NewsSomething funny is that I watched someone use my app for the first time yesterday, and she specifically requested more dark patterns. She said "you should add something that makes you want to come back like the duolingo owl looking sad". I don't know if I can bring myself to do that, but I have a feeling that I can find a way to play to my strengths rather than copy duolingo. Specifically, my advantage is that my app will actually teach you the language, so I can maybe find a way to turn that into motivation rather than needing to rely on dark patterns.
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Trying your app from your profile, and the movie thing is a bit weird for two reasons - at first, I thought it was an ad when it popped up above the fold, and second, I'm seeing a bunch of horror posters, which I don't really want to see? The movie thing is 'neat' but my main reason for learning another language isn't to be able to tell people "I know 56% of the words in La Bruja"
I absolutely understand your reluctance; Duolingo isn't the only thing you can take inspiratiom from, you can have an XP/level system like Clozemaster, which has (had?) an animated celebration gif on level-up and also an option to switch it off.