Human Factors Guidelines for Interactive 3D and Games-Based ...

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1.0 Introduction The 1980s and 1990s were marked by a series of important events in the evolution of interactive digital technologies. In particular, rapid developments in computer graphics hardware and software prompted the launch of a number of “movements” throughout the globe, including computer-generated imagery (CGI) and animation (e.g. for the film and TV industries), scientific visualisation, Virtual Reality (VR) and wearable computing. Whilst these groups did much to bring a range of previously expensive, unique and (superficially) impressive technologies to the attention of a much wider global audience than ever before, they were also responsible for creating a culture of myth, hype and false promise. This was particularly the case for VR (e.g. Figure 1). From the perspective of potential adopters in domains such as engineering, defence, medicine and so on, VR provided a roller coaster ride of achievement and 6 Figure 1: Early British Virtuality Visette head-mounted display and glove. Source: www.babeledunnit.org failure throughout the 1990s. To use the terminology used to describe Gartner Hype Cycles 1 , VR was already well past its “peak of inflated expectations” by 1995 and on course to hit the bottom of the “trough of disillusionment” (Figure 2), where it is still struggling today to make a comeback. Figure 2: Gartner Hype Cycle for emerging technologies, 1995. Source: Gartner Inc. 4 One of the most important, if not the most important lesson to be learned from the Virtual Reality / Virtual Environments / Synthetic Environments (VR/VE/SE) era of the 1990s is that input from HF specialists must be given credible recognition throughout the entire design process underpinning a whole- or part-task training simulation based on interactive 3D (i3D; including applications based on gaming technologies, often referred to as “serious games”). For example, task analysis, concept demonstrations/presentations, the definition of learning outcomes and metrics, pedagogy 2; 3 , Virtual 1 The first (1995) Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies can be seen in: Fenn, J. & Linden, A. (2005), “Gartner’s Hype Cycle Special Report for 2005”; Gartner Inc. Report ID Number: G00130115, 05 August 2005. 2 Pedagogy: the science, theory and practice of teaching – based on contents of Clark, D. (2006), “Pedagogy and e-Learning”; Epic White Paper; www.epic.co.uk. 3 Pedagogical issues associated with serious games and simulations are also contained within a Web-based Style Guide for Serious Games and Simulations: http://clarkaldrich.blogspot.com/.
Environment content and usability design, interactive technology assessment and evaluation – all demand a solid understanding of human-centred design issues. Unfortunately, the VR and games-based learning communities – even the HF community – have not yet produced evidence and data of sufficient quality and quantity to warrant the publication of a comprehensive, science-based handbook of generic value to multidisciplinary i3D design teams 4 . The speed with which i3D hardware and software technologies have evolved over the past two to three decades, with “serious games” representing the latest stage of evolution, has, unfortunately, not been matched by the timely delivery of appropriate HF knowledge from the academic sector. What might have been usable and relevant data from studies at the time they were conducted – and the technology on which they were based – are often no longer of generic applicability when the study is finally published. Criticism of the authors of these studies is in no way implied here, as the publication schedules of the (few and far between) journals in this field are such that, by the time a paper is published, many of the technology-specific HF issues are no longer relevant. In the author’s opinion, conferences such as the US Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC), Europe’s International Training and Education Conference (ITEC), Laval Virtual in France, the annual Virtual Systems and Multi-Media (VSMM), Medicine Meets VR (MMVR) and Human Computer Interaction (HCI) International Conferences, and so on, have been useful to a limited extent in that some of the studies presented have shown some evidence of an HF input. However, as with relevant journals, such studies are also too few and too far between. Many are highly technology-focused and good HF practice and data relevant to this field are only rarely reported in a format that supports the generation of usable guidelines. The early serious games events in the UK and US have, at the time of writing, yielded very little of HF substance that would be suitable for inclusion in a guidelines document of this sort. The VR era, then, demonstrated that, no matter how “good” the pedagogy, the capability of a simulation-based system to educate and train can be completely destroyed if content, fidelity and interactive technologies are implemented inappropriately and without a sound Human Factors underpinning. Consequently, the present document focuses primarily on an area that is, at the time of writing, reasonably well understood (from an experiential perspective, at least), namely the application of fundamental Human Factors knowledge to the design of i3D and games-based simulations. These issues include physical and psychological fidelity (topics considered in a little more detail later in the document), the appropriate use of interactive technologies, and the importance of capturing relevant end user behaviours during early task analyses based on observations in the field. An important point relating to the contents of this document should be stressed here. Many of the comments and recommendations presented throughout these guidelines are based on over 20 years of involvement in the i3D community. A significant amount of “evidence” underlying the recommendations comes not from academic investigation, but from the results and real-life experiences of applying i3D technologies to a range of domains, from defence part-task training to surgery and from aerospace, automotive and petrochemical engineering to cultural heritage. Nevertheless, the high-level goal of this document is: To expose Human Factors, games development and end user communities to basic issues relating to human-centred design in games-based training (and other forms of media based on interactive 3D) to help avoid the mistakes of the Virtual Reality “era” of the 1990s by ensuring that “human pull” prevails over “technology push”. 4 Whilst of general interest to the VR developer and user communities, the only serious attempt to produce such a document resulted in a collection of stand-alone chapters (papers) published under a rather misleading “handbook” title: Stanney, K.M. (Ed., 2002), “Handbook of Virtual Environments: Design, Implementation and Applications”, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc. (Human Factors & Ergonomics Series). 7
Page 1 and 2: Human Factors Guidelines for Intera
Page 3 and 4: Contents Preface 5 1.0 Introduction
Page 5: defence Preface When considering in
Page 9 and 10: Section 6 - Context Fidelity - conc
Page 11 and 12: Impressive entertainment products s
Page 13 and 14: 2.2 Why Guidelines for Games-Based
Page 15 and 16: From a serious games perspective, o
Page 17 and 18: The early studies described within
Page 19 and 20: 3.0 Real-World Examples In many ins
Page 21 and 22: was the first VR surgical training
Page 23 and 24: of assets, including logistics supp
Page 25 and 26: Minimally Invasive Surgical Trainer
Page 27 and 28: 3.1 Real-World Observations & Relev
Page 29 and 30: Section 3.0 Real-World Examples Key
Page 31 and 32: abstracted virtual tasks (i.e. low
Page 33 and 34: A MIST-like low-physical fidelity s
Page 35 and 36: effects are no longer seen as a nov
Page 37 and 38: 4.3 Task Reference Frames Does the
Page 39 and 40: upper left of the end user’s view
Page 41 and 42: Looking Up Looking Left Looking Rig
Page 43 and 44: monitoring, even though their prima
Page 45 and 46: Although Human Factors specialists
Page 47 and 48: 4.5 Other Task Coupling Examples Fi
Page 49 and 50: Section 4.0 Task Design Issues & Ta
Page 51 and 52: Earlier, whilst focusing on the top
Page 53 and 54: 4. The interaction device shows pot
Page 55 and 56: Even in cases where the sceptical e
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function cues appear, as shown in t
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adopted for a serious application o
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keyboard input at all on the part o
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Section 5.0 Interactive Fidelity Ke
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close attention to issues such as b
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an image of an actual tent interior
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Other context effects employed by i
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Figure 62: Potentially distracting
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Artificial Intelligence (AI) depend
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Figure 67: Screenshot from Call of
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contingent was visible around 400-5
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Figure 72: Extracts From a short vi
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7.0 Concluding Comments If one actu
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Abbreviations 2D Two Dimensions (or
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Bibliography Anon. (2007), “A Gen
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