User Experience Feedback

A few months back, you might remember a post here about my participation in helping run a Student Game Expo (SGX). Since then, the monthly expo has grown exponentially and pulls in a good crowd every month. Though not actively running the SGX anymore, this month I did contribute by developing a way to get feedback from SGX attendees. One of the most valuable tools at a dev's disposal is the player. Understanding who your target audience is and what they think of your game could dramatically guide the direction of development. Thus I saw the SGX as an opportunity to gather feedback directly from the player, that I could then turn around and disseminate back to the teams.

With a thorough background in user experience, flow state, and video game heuristics, I set out to develop a feedback form that would provide the developers with valuable information. To this end, I pulled upon previous research I had conducted and used The Play Experience Scale: Development and Validation of a Measure of Play by Pavlas, Jentsch, Salas, Fiore, and Sims as a starting foundation. I also used Game Usability Heuristics for Evaluating and Designer Better Games by Heather Desurvire and Charlotte Wiberg to determine a sustainable formula for measuring heuristics.

Next, I developed the feedback form online using Google Forms and set it up for the SGX. I was there facilitating the feedback station to help the SGX attendees provide their thoughts. I also had a section on the form that would allow players to provide their own feedback directly to the developers. After the event, I consolidated the raw data collected and started charting and graphing the results. My ultimate goal was not to just dump the raw data to the team, as they might not have the same experience and understanding of video game UX. The information should be easy to read and understand by the teams, to ensure they can get the most out of it. After I was done, all that was left was providing the data to the teams. Below is a sample of how I presented the feedback to a team.

Automaton assault from Alexander Rybak

User-generated feedback should always play a part in informing the developers what people want from their product. Even just making the team aware of things they might have overlooked can be extremely helpful for teams that inadvertently suffer from tunnel-vision after months of working on a project. Got questions about obtaining UX feedback for your game? Comment below and I'll be glad to help!

Flow State in Video Games

Mastery Journal Article Analysis: Flow State

Identification of Topic

     For my Mastery Program research assignment, I have chosen to investigate the area of game design. There are many facets to game design that present themselves as possible areas of research, but this paper will investigate flow state. Specifically, it aims to build upon the major influences of flow state: Seung-A Annie Jin, Marin Klasen, Rene Weber, and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

Video Games and Choice Culture

Video Games and Choice Culture (Topic #3)

As culture is influenced by the “post-modern condition” the need for choice becomes more and more prevalent (Wilkinson & Clark, 2014). Rigid rules and predictability are mundane and often not tolerated by today’s youth. Video games offer a truly unique and exceptional experience compared to its heavily scripted counterparts in the media realm. Video games are reliant on choice, so I wanted to explore the correlation between choice theory and video games.

a. DIGITAL CHOICES AND FULFILLMENT OF CHOICE THEORY'S FOUR BASIC PSYCHOLOGICAL NEEDS

i. In this article I learned about the four basic psychological needs (love, power, freedom, and fun) and how video game players were able to achieve at least one of these needs through the choices presented in gameplay (Alexander, Rainey, & Page, 2016). This shows that, through choice theory, we can allow audience members to potentially meet all four of their basic psychological needs.

ii. I can easily see how this information should be applied to the video game industry. Being able to meet the needs of a player’s psychological needs should be a top priority of any game designer. Understanding that meeting these needs will lead to other benefits such as increased immersion and character identification will have an untold positive influence on the audience’s experience.

iii. During the Game Expo project this month, I will implement by knowledge of choices and psychological need fulfillment to provide the best possible experience for those involved possible.

b PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN: THE REJECTION OF ARTIFICE AND THE CULTURE OF CHOICE

i. This article did well to instruct me much on American society has shifted towards utilizing less-rigid, more ambiguous systems. More choices are available in nearly every corner of our daily experiences, and stagnation isn’t accepted by younger generations anymore. This allows video games, and other “user-controlled” forms of media, to give players a form of choice control needed by their culture.

ii. Understanding how the culture and its demands has shifted is important to anyone working within the video game industry. Being able to adapt to the needs of the consumer, in this case a multitude of assortments to pick from, will give one an advantage in the field. Additionally, I would strive to further explore the choice culture and how it relates to the decisions available to us throughout the overarching narrative of a game.

iii. Part of my project this month, coordinating the Game Expo, will potentially require me to deal with feedback. I will apply my knowledge of the choice culture to better understand the needs of the players.


                                                               

Topic #3 References

Alexander, J., Rainey, S., & Page, B. (2016). DIGITAL CHOICES AND FULFILLMENT OF         CHOICE THEORY'S FOUR BASIC PSYCHOLOGICAL NEEDS. International Journal Of             Choice Theory & Reality Therapy, XXXV(2), 25-35. Retrieved from                                                   http://search.ebscohost.com.oclc.fullsail.edu:81/login.aspx?                           direct=true&db=a9h&AN=115876649&site=ehost-live

Wilkinson, M. & Clark, P. (2014). PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE MAN BEHIND THE                   CURTAIN: THE REJECTION OF ARTIFICE AND THE CULTURE OF CHOICE. ASBBSEjournal, 10(1), 132-141. Retrieved from                                                                     http://search.ebscohost.com.oclc.fullsail.edu:81/login.aspx?                                                               direct=true&db=bth&AN=102984642&site=ehost-live

Flow Theory in Video Games

In the week of August 28th, 2016, in Project and Team Management class, I was prompted to find four topics to research in the video game industry. After picking 4 subjects that I was passionate about, I found two peer-reviewed, scholarly resources for each one. Below I will list the areas I have chosen to investigate, the scholarly resources used, how I would apply the information once in the industry, and how the data can be utilized in my Month 3 project.

Flow Theory in Video Games (Topic #1) 

Flow Theory was first thought up and named by Mihaly Csikszentmihayi’s in 1975 (Snyder & Lopez, 2009). So when you’re in a state of flow, you are intrinsically motivated by the activity for its own sake, according to Csikszentmihayi’s work in the field. In this state, you will perform at your ABSOLUTE BEST and become engrossed in the activity and be flooded with positive emotions (Snyder & Lopez, 2009). Klasen, Weber, Kircher, Mathiak, & Mathiak state that there is a general understanding that flow effects video game players and their enjoyment too (2011, p. 486).

This means there is a neurological response in your body when you become immersed in a video game for hours at a time, often putting off food or sleep. That response allows you to act and think at a subconscious level, where button combos become reflexes. You’re no longer consciously thinking about the fact that you are pressing buttons on a controller. By using flow theory, we can research what those underlying neural connections are, thus understanding how the process works (Klasen, Weber, Kircher, Mathiak, & Mathiak, 2011).

a. Neural contributions to flow experience during video game playing

i.I learned that there is conclusive evidence of neural activity correlating to flow state via brain scans, as seen in the figure below.

ii.                           (via Klasen, Weber, Kircher, Mathiak, & Mathiak, 2011)

iii. The information in this study will be vital in my approach to the video game industry. Understanding the involuntary, instantaneous reactions that players undergo will allow me to influence the experience being shared with the audience.

iv. For my project this month, I will be working with a group to plan a Game Expo for the Game Development undergraduate degrees at an off-campus location. The teams will present games to the public for testing to get feedback. I will be involved in coordinating the event with the off-site location, vendors, merchants, and students. Advertising, budgeting, and strategizing an effective marketing campaign are some of my roles. By understanding these primal, neural reactions, I can then market the event in such a way to trigger positive responses. Additionally, understanding what elements trigger which corresponding synapse will be vital in understanding the feedback given.

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v.                                  (via Associated Press, photo ID #040821015084)

 b.Measuring Video Game Engagement Through the Cognitive and Affective Dimensions

i.This report detailed research conducted on the flow state of video game players and laid a solid, validated foundation for further research to be conducted in this field (Sharek & Wiebe, 2014). The main achievement of the project was the production of an enhanced, methodological measurement tool to access the many different facets of the flow state. This tool was a game-clock device used during load screens and intermission periods to calculate the player’s motivation for reengagement. This tool, coupled with the NASA-TLX cognitive load questionnaire, provided a validated overview of Cognitive-Affective Outcomes (Sharek & Wiebe, 2014).

ii.Here’s a great table showing the correlation between cognitive load and motivation for reengagement. Understanding these different relationships will be vital tools in the video game industry, especially during the game design process, allowing designers to share the best experience possible with the audience.

(via Sharek & Wiebe, 2014)

iii. I can also utilize the conclusions formed in this paper for my Game Expo project I discussed above. By understanding what factors can trigger boredom, flow, and frustration in a game, I can help understand feedback that relates to these areas of study. Before we move on to the next topic, here are the references for topic #1. The references in blue are peer-reviewed, scholarly journals selected via EBSCOhost.


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Topic #1 References

Favre, J. (2004, August 21). Image ID 040821015084 [Photograph]. Retrieved from Associated Press        Images

Klasen, M., Weber, R., Kircher, T., Mathiak, K., & Mathiak, K. (2011). Neural contributions to flow         experience during video game playing. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci, 7(4), 485-495.                                 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsr021

Sharek, D. & Wiebe, E. (2014). Measuring Video Game Engagement Through the Cognitive and               Affective Dimensions. Simulation & Gaming, 45(4-5), 569-592.                                                             http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1046878114554176

Snyder, C. & Lopez, S. (2009). Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology (2nd ed., pp. 195-198).            Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.