Researching Spore: A New Approach to Player Testing

RESEARCHING A NEW APPROACH TO PLAYER TESTING

• “Impact of digital technology on society” at UCSD • Co-founded B|P in 2001 • 7 people. UX research and Design • San Francisco • 2,272 Participants. 188 Research Studies. photo by andy price visualpause.com

Why we care about games

2007 was like this shit.

Who cares?

We started the spore research with one question.

Why are video games designed in this environment…

but researched here?

no idea.

“Focus groups were invented to focus the research, not be the research” - Marty Neumeier | “The Brand Gap”

So what can we do different?

“Guys... I put my pants on just like the rest of you - one leg at a time. Except, once my pants are on, I make gold records.”

#1 native environment is critical… But timing is everything

One year. 59 Participants 393 Hours of Gameplay. 3 Hour Sessions with 2 Nights Each

who cares about fun?

who doesn’t.

DISCUSSION

here arefive things we changed.

1. simulated native environment. 2. multi-user voice chat (AKA “talking” and Think Aloud Protocol) 3. touch screens. 4. metrics (PENS model) 5. delivery

Simulated Native Environment

Live observation room

Multi-user Voice Chat

Gamers love TeamSpeak and keyboard shortcuts, researchers can too.

Talking to six people is crazy

3 1 5 6 4 2 7

#3. Touch screens Game Screen (w/ webcam) Survey Touchscreen

#4. The PENS Model Player Experience of Need Satisfaction

Intrinsic motivational needs? Doing things for their inherent satisfactions (e.g. games, sports). Play through punishment and boredom.

PENS measures three specific motivational needs:

what sucked

•Bordering on chaos at first •Restricted by game genre •Lots of technical problems •Maintaining think aloud protocol •Difficult to respond to questions •Recordings take weeks to render

welcome, now play like

(according to our precise time limits) Event Time Welcome / Consent 4:30pm Stage 1 start 4:45pm Survey 1 5:15pm Survey 2 5:45 pm Dinner 6:00 pm Stage 2 start 6:15 pm Survey 3 6:45 pm Survey 4 7:15 pm Review 7:20 pm 3 Hours

We Learned… Not Much

But then, something changed.

No more timing structure. Game Level Test Phase Time Action NDA check, equipment check, Paul intro, think Welcome / Consent At 0:0 aloud Stage X Begin Phase At :5 Smiley Survey 1 At :15 Smiley Survey 2 At 1:00 Announce: Mouse over + Press A to go End&Survey At 1:30 to Stage Y Stage Y At 1:40 Smiley Survey 1 At 1:50 Smiley Survey 2 At 2:25 End&Survey At 2:45 Review Survey At 2:55 3 Hours

…fun went way up Stage Y

#5. Delivery

Technology •Video Recording •ZDSoft Game Recorder •Live Observation •Six Webcams using VNC •Long VGA cables •Audio •Teamspeak (free) •ELO Systems Touch Screens

Summary 1. Native environment is critical, but timing is everything 2. You can do this for dirt cheap 3. Touch screens are fancy 4. The Dow Jones is scary

the future is remote game research

Nov 7th, in San Francisco userresearchfriday.com

Questions 1. You can do this for dirt cheap 2. Go to San Francisco for URF boltpeters.com nate@boltpeters.com

Researching Spore: A New Approach to Player Testing

by bolt peters on Oct 14, 2008

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Researching Spore: A New Approach to Player Testing — Presentation Transcript