Usability of Games
Jeff Offutt
http://www.cs.gmu.edu/~offutt/
SWE 632
User Interface Design and Development
Sources:
• Gaming Usability 101, Blake Snow, October 2007,
http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/oct2007/id20071012_041625.htm
• Game Usability: Advancing the Player Experience, Isbister and Schaffer, 2008
• List of articles at: http://www.stcsig.org/usability/topics/games.html
Don’t Make Me Think!
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A great book by Steve Krug
New Riders Publishing
2006 (2nd edition)
Users are happy to think about their tasks
But not about how to use your UI !
UIs should be
– Self-evident
– Obvious
– Self-explanatory
• When users think “what is this?” the UI has failed
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Always Save Games
• Never ask players if they want to save their games
• Of course they do!
• No pop-ups or dialogue boxes are needed
– Just display “saving …” on screen
– Don’t overwrite level data … keep tabs on their progress and
give them access to previously visited areas
• Remember: Games have “players,” not “users”
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Starting Games
• Always say “press any button” to start a game
• If you say “press start,” the player will have to think …
“where is the start button?”
– And is already intimidated
• Players want to think about game strategy, not the UI
– Semantic knowledge, not syntax
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Customize Controller Buttons
• Always let players remap controller buttons to suit their
preferences
• Some players like the mouse on the left, not the right
• Some like to use the buttons in a particular way, similar to
another game they play
• Make button customization visible … for example, in the
pause menu
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Always Let Players Skip Stories
• Some players love the story aspect of the game
• Some find it annoying barriers between them and real
interactive aspects
– Just like some students hate lectures but enjoy projects
• And nobody wants to go through a 5 minute story the
10th time they play the game …
– Encourage repeat customers !
• Make it easy to skip or speed up story scenes, tutorials,
and credits
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Use Only Needed Controller
Buttons
• Some game systems have lots of controller buttons
• Players can remember … about 7 !
• If you use all buttons, players will constantly have to think
“which button?”
• Use the buttons you need, and ignore the rest
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Players Need to Control
Accessibility
• Subtitles can be great … if the players have trouble
understanding English
• But they are annoying if the player’s English is good
• Let the players turn off the subtitles and other accessibility
options
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No “Kobayashi Marus”!
• The Kobayashi Maru is a test in Star Trek that had no
solution
• That is, a no-win solution
• Game attacks where the players cannot escape are unfair
and frustrating
• They will often be the last scenario many players ever see
because they quit the game and do not come back
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Make Tutorials and Help Available
in Game
• Where else can newbies start?
• Inexperienced players need help
– What do to next ?
– How to find something ?
– What medium-range goals should I set ?
• A “click here if you’re not sure what to do” option is very
comforting
• But make sure these do not interfere with experienced
players
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Let Players Quit at Anytime
• and save when they do!!!
• Players need to stop and start at anytime
• Only letting them save at pre-defined checkpoints forces
them to think :
– “should I lose my current progress or be late to my date?”
• Also, if they die, give them an option to continue
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Summary
• All the principles we have learned through the semester
can be “instantiated” for games
• Most of this list follows directly from these principles
• Learning is part of the fun of games … but learning
strategy, not syntax
– Consider why Go and Chess are so incredibly popular
This is just a beginning,
not all there is to know
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