Evaluating User Experience in Games: Concepts and Methods - Lirmm

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74 E. Brown (2005). Björk and Holopainen (2005) have composed an inspiring compendium of patterns for game design. Others have looked at physiological measures of emotional response to assess when players are bored or excited (Mandryk and Atkins 2007). All of these are potentially powerful tools to help evaluate the experience of games. However, it is unclear whether any of these methods are actually being used in the games industry. Have any of these tools been tested in industry? How do they fit with existing processes or the people who use them? To address this issue, this chapter describes the games industry, its people, and methods which are used to evaluate the experiences created. The ambition is not to dictate how to evaluate experience, but instead to look at which methods are currently in use, and which are not. This will allow us to explore why certain tools are used and how we might enhance the tools currently being used all within the framework of game development. It is important at this point to define user experience and how it will be discussed in this chapter. In this chapter, it is used to describe the overarching experience that a person has when they use a product. Within this are different facets of experience such as usability, fun, immersion, and aesthetic pleasure. This chapter focuses on usability and fun. Fun is defined as the point at which players will self-report having a fun experience. Although this chapter does discuss methods developed and used outside the author’s experience, the methods discussed are very much one particular example in the industry. What follows is essentially a case study of the author’s experience of evaluation methods in the games industry. The games industry and the people who make games will now be introduced. From there we will look at each of the main stages of game development and the evaluation methods that are taking place. Finally, we can explore the kinds of tools that are not in use and begin to consider ways forward. 5.2 The Industry and the People As a way of understanding the culture and environment in which game development takes place, we need to look at the landscape of the industry as a whole, as well as the people and their roles. This will allow us to understand the culture and structures that influence the creation of games. 5.2.1 Industry 5.2.1.1 Platforms The games industry is composed of many different platforms for development: mobile phones, consoles, PCs, and hand-held devices for example. The technology, audience, context, and cost for the consumer as well as developer vary considerably for each platform.
5 The Life and Tools of a Games Designer 75 When comparing the Nintendo Wii platform to the PC, you can immediately see distinct contexts. Who plays these games, where are they playing, and are they alone or with other people? More obviously, what controls do they have available to them? 5.2.1.2 Genres Not only do you have the various platforms to contend with, but there is also the plethora of genres that exist. Puzzle, first-person shooter, adventure, Role-Playing Game (RPG), or Simulation (Sim) games to name a few. Each of these comes with a set of historical rules, some which dictate perspective and game play such as in firstperson shooters, others that dictate rule sets and game development, for example in RPGs. All of these genres have a different impact on the kind of experience that people will have and expect to have. The pace, types of thought processes and challenges that will take place, the scale of the game and time that might need to be invested are all implied in the genre alone. 5.2.1.3 Delivery The method in which the game is delivered to its audience also needs to be considered. How will users get their content, will it be downloadable or on a disc bought from stores? Will there be periodic updates, or does it remain unchanged after release? Can users create content and if so how and where do they do this? Each of these decisions will impact cost, user expectations and their experience of the product. The platform, genre, and delivery method are only the beginning of the decisionmaking process that will shape the game. Sometimes there is little choice in the direction the game will take. If a game is designed for Sony, then it will most likely be a PlayStation product to be played on Sony platforms. The platform the game will be played on impacts the audience the game will attract and the experience that can be created. 5.2.2 The People It is not just the technology and its structures that make up this industry. The most important element is the people who work in this landscape. The games industry is notoriously male-dominated, especially on the development side. About 11% of people in the games industry are female (IGDA 2005). The reasons and impact of this on the kinds of experiences created have been debated from all angles. These debates will not be expanded upon here, but it is clearly something we should be aware of. Depending on your position on how software is influenced by those that create it, it may be of integral importance to the kind of experiences we create. The average age of a game developer is 31, with approximately 5 years industry experience and most likely to have a university education and to be heterosexual and white (IGDA 2005).
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Human-Computer Interaction Series E
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Regina Bernhaupt Editor Evaluating
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For Philippe
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viii Foreword Chapter 3, Presence I
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x Foreword personality which evolve
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Contents Part I Introduction to Eva
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Contributors Regina Bernhaupt IRIT,
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Contributors xvii Manfred Tscheligi
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xx About the Authors Emily Brown is
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xxiv About the Authors Christina Ko
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xxvi About the Authors MIT Media La
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Chapter 1 User Experience Evaluatio
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Chapter 2 Enabling Social Play: A F
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Index A Advanced interaction games,
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