HCI Design in Games

HCI Design in Games

Cindy Song

Fall ‘06

Agenda

IntroFour Concepts

Effortless CommunityLearning by WatchingDeep CustomizabilityFluid System-Human Interaction

Hands-OnConclusion

GoalLearn novel

design concepts from games

IntroFour ConceptsHands-OnConclusion

GoalQuestions to Keep In Mind

Questions to Keep In MindHow do they apply to general apps?Differences b/t games & general apps?

Multi-user vs. single-user mindsets?3D vs. 2D?One app open vs. multiple windows?Motivation: life/death vs. finishing 5-min early?


GoalQuestions to Keep In Mind

Effortless Community Motivation

Communities Serve as Valuable resources Comment on content Resolve problems Provide collaboration

Challenges Critical mass Access to the Internet Ability to find or form the right subgroups

Games make it easy Participation in communities Group forming in communities


Motivation & ChallengesGames: Easy to ConnectGames: Easy to Identify and Form GroupsComparison with General Apps


Connect to Community Integration

Game and community Easy to access

Host Servers Dedicated & reliable game servers Enable gamers to host communities on their own game servers Takes a few clicks from within the game itself

Benefits Attract critical mass of users Participate in the same location Available for collaboration

Nature of Games Multi-player: community is a requirement




Identify and Form Groups Requirements for Collaborator is Situational

General questions (i.e. workaround) Wide group or anyone nearby

Specific tasks Compatible personalities Similar levels of expertise Common interests

Games provide Meeting places In-game grouping




Meeting Places

Discuss Strategy

Solve Problems

Customize games

Match-Making Stats Profiles




In-Game Grouping Situation

Massive multiplayer games Thousands of people Same game world No defined end to the game

Gamer has identity within the world Location (i.e. secret cow level) Conversation channels (i.e. network lag) Friend lists Visual identity (i.e. skills, loyalties, expertise) Explicit teams (i.e. private communication, tracking mechanisms) Guilds (66% of WoW characters, 90% if > level 43)




In-Game Grouping (cont.)Explicit Team

Restricted conversations

Locate allies




Guilds Social

PressureFacilitates

group forming43% more

often to be in a group

CHI ‘06




Social Aspects of WoW In WoW

Being surrounded by others Café Analogy

Interacting with an audience Identity – “it is not ‘the people that are addictive’ but rather,

‘it’s the image of myself I get from other people’.” CHI ’06 Laughing at and with others

Other players are a spectacle – adds entertainment i.e. Impromptu dance performance by a group of characters

waiting for a boat i.e. Gnome wearing a deep-dive helmet in an auction house “/silly” command




Community for General Apps General Applications

Graphics Designers who use Photoshop Java Programmers who use JBuilder Architects who use AutoCAD

Channels Newsgroups Websites

Size Comp.graphics.apps.photoshop contains >140,000

discussion threads.




Weaknesses Conventional apps

Users are disconnected Unaware of others

When communities do exist Participation occurs outside of the application Interaction is asynchronous (i.e. newsgroup)

Disadvantages Requires third party tools Extra effort Out of the application context




Games vs. General Apps Similarities

Need to build expertise Have questions answered Discuss approaches Solicit Feedback Aim for productivity and efficiency

Discussion Could we apply community concepts to general apps?

Integrated community Meeting place In-app grouping (topic-specific chats, friend list, explicit teams)

What are some differences b/t games and general apps that make it difficult to share HCI concepts?




Learning by Watching Motivation

Learn from more experienced users Observational Learning

Challenges Users are distributed, not face-to-face Requires embodiment and workspace awareness Requires understanding of detailed actions

Games make it possible Real-time awareness Embodiment information




Awareness & EmbodimentConvey embodiment, awareness, and task

based infoAllows easy interpretation of fine-grained

actionsi.e. 3D Avatar in GhostRecon - Crouch,

crawl, jump, run, open doors, and pick up items

i.e. Strategy for fighting lightening demons in Diablo II

Shared views of workspace and awareness Explored in groupware Not much in single-user applications

i.e. VNC OS-level & App-level Provides awareness (mouse, dropdown menu

selection) Not adequate task information (key sequences)


Benefit from observational learning

Discussion Could we apply learning-by-watching concepts to

general apps? Real-time awareness (i.e. mouse loc, dropdown selection) Task-based information (i.e. present sequence of actions) Visual presentation (i.e. player’s status)


Deep Customizability Motivation

“There is no single configuration best for all tasks.” Increase efficiency & usability

Challenges Usually takes effort to customize

Games innovate Anything-goes UI malleability Natural extensibility Portable customizations

Anything-Goes UI Malleability

UI element locations

New command container

Remap controls

Natural ExtensibilityMacros

Everquest: 2 mouse clicksMS Word: 7 actions before starting, 5 more to

place onto a toolbar to useSimplicity

Use macro even for a few minutes’ worth of activity

Portable CustomizationsSave, move, and share modifications and

extensionsXML files for configurations “Mod kits” for simplifying creation, editing, and

installation of extensions, layouts, and skinsGamers with no experience can use these

interfacesControversy: How much control to give the

users?


Goal: performance and productivity

Discussion Could we apply customizability concepts to general

apps? Anything-Goes UI Malleability (palettes of tools, remap func) Natural Extensibility (i.e. macro) Portable Customizations (i.e. XML)


Fluid System-Human InteractionMotivation

Minimize disruptions to work flowLess user attention Less user effort

Games use novel approachesCalm messagingAttention-aware interface elementsContext-aware view behaviors

Calm MessagingAudio

Recorded voice notificationsSpatialized environmental sound

Transient TextGradually fadesAutomatically-scrolled message area

AnimationMatch level of visibility with importance Indicate direction, location, and priority

Warcraft III Red

concentric circles and arrows

Voice: type of event

Other Fluid UIAttention-aware

Transparency levels reflect user attention (mouse-over)

Context-awareZoom, pan, and rotate viewsNeverwinter Nights: 3 camera behaviorsEasy to toggle using key shortcuts

Everquest


Goal: no disruption to workflow

Discussion Could we apply customizability concepts to general

apps? Calm Messaging (i.e. audio, transient text, animation) Attention-aware (Transparent out-of-focused windows) Context-aware (i.e. zoom, pan, & rotate views)


Hands-On: Diablo IICollaborate with others to complete tasks Identify examples for today’s concepts



Effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction Same challenges User demographics (40% PC game players > 36 yo;

38% are female)

Challenges Effortless Community – distraction, privacy, security Learning by Watching – privacy, visibility Deep Customizability – adoption, applicability Fluid UI – Office env, miss msgs, applicability

Documents

HCI Design in Games