Could you explain more? Most dark patterns seem to me to be metrics-driven tricks to maximise people accepting GDPR or spam opt-ins, or making additional uninte

Could you explain more? Most dark patterns seem to me to be metrics-driven tricks to maximise people accepting GDPR or spam opt-ins, or making additional unintended purchases etc. I don't believe they come from any sort of process of watching users on a task and talking to them. If you're saying that understanding your users allows you to better be hostile towards them, then yes, I agree, but that's bad user interface design by definition.