Designing a persistent online strategy game - Department of ...

8 Chapter 2. Methods
perform brainwriting as well, such as passing ideas on to the next person who then
develops the idea further [55].
2.5 Prototyping
Prototyping is used to test and communicate a design. With prototypes different designs
can be examined more closely. They can also be used to evaluate usability and clarify
requirements [52].
A prototype can be anything from a sketch on a piece of paper to complex software. Two
main kinds of prototyping are high-fidelity (hi-fi) and low-fidelity prototyping (lo-fi).
Hi-fi prototypes are similar in look and feel to the final product, but they do not have
the same functionality. Hi-fi prototypes can for example be used to test the usability
with end users. A problem with hi-fi prototypes is that the users may expect too much
of them, because it looks like a real product. They may also be reluctant to suggest too
drastic changes in the design.
Lo-fi prototypes are simple and cheap prototypes, often made in paper. They can be
sketches of the user interface or a usage scenario of the product. Lo-fi prototypes are
used to explore different design ideas. One disadvantage of lo-fi prototypes is that it
might be hard to predict how the users will interact with the final system [52].
2.6 Evaluation
Evaluating the design is a very important part of designing an interactive system. It
can be performed to make sure that all requirements are met, that the product is usable
and to determine if users like to use the product. Evaluation has traditionally concerned
users’ objective performance, such as time to complete a task, but there is a growing
trend towards also evaluating users’ subjective experience [52].
Evaluation can be performed in a lab or in a natural environment. In the lab interaction
can be observed as an isolated event and the evaluator has more control over the
situation. Some aspects are however best evaluated in their natural environment. In
real life, interaction can be interrupted by telephone calls, people and other tasks, which
makes it harder to perform a task from the beginning to the end. Some systems are also
meant to be used by several people. If it is important to see how a system is used in
real life, it can be better to evaluate it where it is actually meant to be used.
Evaluation can roughly be divided into two sets of methods; those that involve users
and those that do not. A widely used method that does not involve users is heuristic
evaluation. In heuristic evaluation an evaluator checks the system against a list of design
guidelines. The purpose is to find areas where the system violates the guidelines and
correct them. Heuristic evaluation can be performed early in the design when there is
no real system to test with users.
Involving users in evaluation can be performed in different ways. One way is to interview
them, this way the evaluator can learn their thoughts and feelings about a system. But
the evaluator can not see how the users interact with the system. Another way is to