Evaluating User Experience in Games: Concepts and Methods - Lirmm

Chapter 5
The Life and Tools of a Games Designer
Emily Brown
Abstract There is a great deal of research exploring the experience of games.
However, this research is not necessarily being used in the games industry. This
chapter provides a snapshot of the games industry, its people, and the user experience
evaluation tools in use. In doing this, we can start to ask what the tools in use
are providing and what they are not. Where the tools are weak, we can begin to look
at how new tools can help make even more enjoyable games experiences.
Keywords Game industry · Development phases · Lessons learned
5.1 Introduction
There has been a significant shift in the focus of usability research over the
past decade. It’s no longer just about functionality and efficiency, but about pleasure,
and aesthetic. Donald Norman is considering aesthetics (Norman 2002) and
Chapman talks of looking at a more holistic approach to design (Chapman 2005).
Functionality is no longer our core ambition. We want to deliver experiences.
Games are inherently frivolous. No task is accomplished in the greater universe;
the act of playing is for its own sake. This isn’t to say that players can’t learn anything,
just that the motivation for play is somewhat distinct to other platforms. So
we start asking questions like the following: What is fun? How do we design for
fun? How do we know fun is happening? Research in this area has also become
more common; this book is testament.
Researchers are looking into immersion and gaming, constructing and evaluating
questionnaires, testing developing theories on immersion and how it is exhibited,
how it might be measured, and identified (Jennett et al. 2008). Much work has been
devoted to constructing heuristics for game design, going back to Federoff (2002).
Developed further by Deservire et al. (2004) and again by Sweester and Wyeth
E. Brown (B)
Sony Computer Entertainment, London, UK
e-mail: ems_brown@gmail.com
R. Bernhaupt (ed.), Evaluating User Experience in Games, Human-Computer
Interaction Series, DOI 10.1007/978-1-84882-963-3_5,
C○ Springer-Verlag London Limited 2010
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