I wrote:
I think users should be encouraged to use VE by making VE really awesome, and by promoting its awesomeness, rather than by trying to trick them into using it.
To clarify: I didn't mean to imply that the VE team were trying to trick users. They are not. I just mean that if you consider the user interface as a black box, solely from the perspective of how users think during their interactions with the computer, it appears to them as if the interface is trying to trick them. I'm trying to explain why users have an emotional reaction to the interface.
It's well known that users react emotionally to computers as if the computers were people. For example, people tend to be less angry with a computer if it apologises when something doesn't work. When a computer appears to trick you, you get angry, regardless of the intentions of the developer.
-- Tim Starling