Playability: Usability in the Gaming World

gsandhu — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 11:31:04 +0000

User testing within the video gaming sector is fairly uncommon, however with the introduction of next generation consoles and gaming technology such as the Microsoft Kinect and Sony NGP (Next Generation Portable), it is essential that it becomes more and more widely adopted.

In the gaming world user testing is not focussed entirely on the conventional ‘usability of interfaces’ but also looks into other aspects of the games. The key reason that year on year people pay in the thousands for games is because they find them fun, engaging and compelling. Any user testing which is to be conducted on games should not just focus on user interface design but also the level of fun and engagement a game provides. The user experience or ‘Playability’ of a game can be identified by seven facets:

1. Satisfaction –degree to which players are content with the overall game play of the video game.
2. Learning – difficulty of learning to play and interact with the game. Games will not be ‘fun’ if they are too difficult to master. Capcom’s Street Fighter was a success due to the ease in which players could quickly pick up how to play the game. Novice players could tap random buttons and still manage to win games.
3. Efficiency – time taken for players to feel satisfied with the game e.g. unlocking an achievement, reaching a checkpoint etc.
4. Immersion – degree to which players get involved in the virtual gaming environment e.g. World of Warcraft has been a huge global success because it offers players a very immersive experience through challenges and the depth of story.
5. Motivation – degree to which players are encouraged to continue playing the game. Xbox and PS3 have both added to the level of motivation by introducing the concept of ‘achievements’ – this is something which was lacking in handheld consoles but is also now being introduced into the upcoming Sony NGP.
6. Emotion – levels of emotion evoked when playing games such as fear and happiness can further enhance the experience of the game e.g. Resident Evil was enjoyable because of the fear factor and the build up of tension involved when playing the game.
7. Socialisation – degree to which the game allows for co-operative or competitive game play, be it an option within the game or an online mode e.g. death match modes in shoot-em up games. The majority of games currently in the market do allow for online game play against contacts or random players, however, it is essential that multiplayer games provide varied modes to still add depth and offer a variety of gaming options to enhance the experience e.g. conventional multiplayer shoot-em up games tended to only provide death match however this has now further evolved to modes such as ‘capture the flag’, ‘team death match’ etc.

Current consoles such as the Sony Playstation 3 and Microsoft Xbox, which have been around for 4 to 5 years, both provide relatively the same gaming experience because the controls, story lines and general game play within video games are established.

However with gaming manufacturers vying for greater recognition amongst gamers, both novice and more experienced, they are starting to create unique products such as the Kinect, NGP and N3DS, and are increasingly breaking outside of the norms and conventions that are expected. With these advancements, game developers are also trying to capitalise and are quickly releasing games into an unknown territory which will ultimately lead to issues in the overall playability of the game.

One to One Insight feel that it is becoming increasingly important for games developers to seek out user experience practitioners during development phases in order to discover any issues which may hinder the playability of the game. Even prior to the development it is paramount to understand gamer expectations so that the right foundations are laid to aid playability. If a game does not offer an enjoyable experience then it is guaranteed to end up in a bargain bin on sale for a fraction of the value within months of release.

OTObuzz.com | june 09 edition

admin — Sun, 31 May 2009 14:58:34 +0000

Above screen shot is of the OTObuzz Social Media Dashboard

OTObuzz is One to One Interactive’s marketing trends dashboard. Currently, it is deployed as Pageflakes Pagecasts. We do have designs to deploy via Netvibes and iPhone in the coming months.

On a monthly basis we plan to continue to optimize each dashboard, opportunistically add new feeds, add new categories, and refresh video/presentation content. Please never hesitate to post any suggestions and/or recommendations.

OTObuzz | june 09 edition

Culture | Trends

Leo Burnett Group: 2009 Marketing Trends Predictions (YouTube Video)

Advertising

Added “Marketing & Strategy Innovation Blog” Feed

Social Media

Chris Messina: New Assumptions for Designing for the Social Web (Slideshare)

Design | Inspiration

Added “VisualComplixity” Feed (Great data vizualization site)
Added “Behind the websites” Feed (This project illustrates what people think about some websites. Everyweek (day) a new illustration will come up here. Check them out. They are fantastic!)

User Experience