Usability in Virtual Worlds (Metaverse08)

Slideshow Transcript

1. Slide 1: MAKING SENSE OF BUSINESS IN VIRTUAL WORLDS Usability in virtual worlds Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Karlsruhe, May 27th, 2008
2. Slide 2: About us ... © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 2
3. Slide 3: The Otherland Group Making Sense Of Business in Virtual Worlds We are offering consulting and professional services for companies wishing to enter the Metaverse. All of our projects, products and services are developed in a context of integrated brand communication, with a clear focus on return-on-investment and have to have measurable performance indicators. “Lets do it! The competition is doing it, too.” ... That’s so 2007! © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 3
4. Slide 4: Full-Service for the Web3D Our Portfolio includes all services necessary for a longterm engagement in virtual worlds, that makes business sense and operates with of measurable key performance indicators. Our business is structured into three divisions which supplement each other but which deliver results independently from each other. Consulting Development Services ^ Consulting for (and Implementation of Services and before) using virtual projects in/with virtual products in the realm worlds in real worlds; customers of virtual worlds; B2C business projects and our own und B2B © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 4
5. Slide 5: Inworld Advertising Network Since 2007 we are maintaining an advertising network for virtual worlds and conducted some high profile campaigns for companies like Deutsche Post, Funny Frisch, Axel Springer Verlag, EnBW, Gothaer Versicherungen or Festo AG. Together with nugg.ad AG we developed the first solution for “behavioral targeting“ in virtual worlds. © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 5
6. Slide 6: Otherland Real Estate The real estate division of Otherland is the third-largest real estate developer in Second Life  Pure premium / luxury segment  8 Mio. virtual sqm in stock  400 customers plus project business Additional services  Procurement and development  Facility management  User support  Security © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 6
7. Slide 7: The Otherland Archipelago © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 7
8. Slide 8: © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 8
9. Slide 9: Analytics Tools for measuring and controlling the performance of projects in virtual worlds  simple log analysis (counter)  premium analysis package  behavioral analysis  vCRM Suite © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 9
10. Slide 10: Plus project-driven business © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 10
11. Slide 11: But now ... Usability in Virtual Worlds © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 11
12. Slide 12: Usability? Usability is a term used to denote the ease with which people can employ a particular tool or other human-made object in order to achieve a particular goal [efficiently, effectively w/ user satisfaction] > Ergonomics Ergonomics is the scientific discipline concerned with designing according to the human needs, and the profession that applies theory, principles, data and methods to design in order to optimize human well-being and overall system performance. > Human Factors Engineering © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 12
13. Slide 13: But ... usability in virtual worlds? Isn't this for software and machines, only? © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 13
14. Slide 14: No! © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 14
15. Slide 15: Every system intended to fulfill a certain function or help users reach a certain goal ... ... should be designed with a maximum of usability © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 15
16. Slide 16: Examples for functions  Sell stuff  Teach visitors something  Keep people in my building  Present a brand favorably to visitors  Change their attitude etc. ... © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 16
17. Slide 17: Examples for (users) goals  Buy a pair of (virtual) high heels  Learn how to ...  Have a good time  Meet other people etc. ... © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 17
18. Slide 18: That‘s why this should be “usable“ © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 18
19. Slide 19: ... and this should be “usable“, too © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 19
20. Slide 20: ... and this © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 20
21. Slide 21: What is the purpose here? © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 21
22. Slide 22: Impress with ‘Sweden‘ © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 22
23. Slide 23: The situation today, though: Cool Design rulez! (like on the web in the late 90s) © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 23
24. Slide 24: This will (has to) change ... ... as soon as the focus is on business ROI © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 24
25. Slide 25: Is this all about Second Life? No! Everything said is valid for all worlds. Including physical reality, of course ... © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 25
26. Slide 26: Zur Anzeige wird der QuickTimeﾪ ￒ Dekompressor ￣ benﾚtigt. © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 26
27. Slide 27: Zur Anzeige wird der QuickTimeﾪ Dekompressor ￣ￒ benﾚtigt. © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 27
28. Slide 28: Zur Anzeige wird der QuickTimeﾪ Dekompressor ￣ￒ benﾚtigt. © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 28
29. Slide 29: Problems in Second Life are similar wide-spread (1) User Generated Content - like in RL (2) Second Life itself is already a usability nightmare © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 29
30. Slide 30: Let‘s have a look at the state of the art! © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 30
31. Slide 31: Whoopsie © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 31
32. Slide 32: Disclaimer I have no intention of dissing the competition. But I can’t avoid some examples of other guys works:  It is hard to talk about usability without examples  We can’t make all the mistakes ourselves That said ... besides the small mistakes I am showing here, all those guys are doing a great job and actually build some of the coolest projects in Metaverse. © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 32
33. Slide 33: Where am I? What can I do here? © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 33
34. Slide 34: What do I need a flight assistant for? © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 34
35. Slide 35: Cool Architecture! © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 35
36. Slide 36: Where to? © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 36
37. Slide 37: What will a newbie find here? © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 37
38. Slide 38: Is this what I am looking for? © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 38
39. Slide 39: That‘s what the newbie sees on his screen © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 39
40. Slide 40: Design scaled for a human © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 40
41. Slide 41: Design for avatars Not for humans! © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 41
42. Slide 42: Let‘s go party! © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 42
43. Slide 43: The road to nowhere © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 43
44. Slide 44: Where am I? © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 44
45. Slide 45: This looks dangerous © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 45
46. Slide 46: Whaaaaahhhhh © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 46
47. Slide 47: Design for avatars And mind your target audience! © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 47
48. Slide 48: Where am I? What am I supposed to do? © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 48
49. Slide 49: Hmmmmm ? © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 49
50. Slide 50: Great, an overview! © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 50
51. Slide 51: Let‘s try ‘orientation‘ ... © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 51
52. Slide 52: Ooops. Where is the Back button? © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 52
53. Slide 53: But ... unquestionably cool design © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 53
54. Slide 54: Some usability rules of thumb Always make clear:  Where am I?  What can I do here?  Where can I go from here?  Where have I been? (How do I get back?) © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 54
55. Slide 55: Usability is not only about orientation © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 55
56. Slide 56: What do these people want from me? © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 56
57. Slide 57: Aaahh, a panel! © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 57
58. Slide 58: Why don‘t they talk with me? © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 58
59. Slide 59: Why should I do this? © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 59
60. Slide 60: Fulfill users expectations Something that looks like an avatar ... ... should behave like an avatar Something that looks like a car ... You get the idea? And please don’t overdo “creativity”  Make it simple  Tell your users, what you want  Tell your users, what they can expect © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 60
61. Slide 61: Even successful projects can have issues © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 61
62. Slide 62: Where to? © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 62
63. Slide 63: Where is the stuff I am looking for? © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 63
64. Slide 64: Sometimes the old ideas are the best © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 64
65. Slide 65: Why not hand out a map? © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 65
66. Slide 66: And, while we are at it ... why not quote prices, too? :=) © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 66
67. Slide 67: There is always room for more usability! © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 67
68. Slide 68: So, Usability in SL has ... „room for improvement“ How to improve it? © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 68
69. Slide 69: Two Ways to Approach Usability ¡ Ask the experts ¡ Ask the users © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 69
70. Slide 70: Ask the experts? Much better than letting designers or software developers anticipate users needs, expectations, thoughts ... © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 70
71. Slide 71: It doesn‘t make the process any easier, though © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 71
72. Slide 72: Usability experts are from Mars, Designers are from Venus ... and software devs are from Jupiter © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 72
73. Slide 73: Ask the Experts? Experts are people, too. So many websites suck today because of the hippo - as in the \"highest paid person's opinion.\" Avinash Kaushik, Analytics Evangelist Google, Inc. © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 73
74. Slide 74: Ask the Users! A much, much better idea! © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 74
75. Slide 75: Enter User Centered Design © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 75
76. Slide 76: User Centered Design. „You are not the Audience“ Put the (future) users into the focus. Work open-endedly. Don’t have an expert design ready before you start and plan for one big test at the end. © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 76
77. Slide 77: Basics UCD | ISO 13407 “Human centered design processes for interactive systems” Principles:  Actively involve the users in the design and development  Iterative Evaluation of designs with the end users  Multi-disciplinary staffed development teams Major goals:  More effective, more efficient use of the system  Improved working conditions  More “Joy of Use” / Flow © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 77
78. Slide 78: Process model UCD (simplified) User interviews (8 - 12) Mental Model Personas / Scenarios Paper models / wire frames User Testing Prototype User Testing Final Version © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 78
79. Slide 79: Step 1: User interviews Developers and experts can never have the same attitude towards the end product as the real user. So ... Let us find out what the user thinks! We start with a series of intense user interviews. © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 79
80. Slide 80: What we want to find out  Needs What are the user’s needs (information, services, performance, features, ...)  Desires What does the user want (rarely identical with the needs)?  Abilities What can we expect about the user’s abilities and knowledge? In which situations / contexts are the using our systems?  Methods How do users solve similar challenges today (without our system)? (steps, order of steps, breaks, phases ...) © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 80
81. Slide 81: Resulting in a “mental model” © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 81
82. Slide 82: Personas Mental models describe user’s thoughts, ideas and prerequisites on an abstract level. To really envision our users, we need something else one or more persona(s) Personas describe a ‘real’ (fictive) person from the systems target group. © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 82
83. Slide 83: Personas Personas have  A name  A particular PC  An age  A specific reason for  A gender using the system  A goal  A picture  A private situation  Individual needs/wants  Individual fears  A job Stereotypes are good! (“Nerd“, “Yuppie“, “old miser”). Political correctness is NOT the goal. Personas should help the development team, to understand the user maybe even impersonate him/her. © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 83
84. Slide 84: An example: Holger This is Holger. age: 38 situation: married, one son small house, near Munich occupation: team leader development with a big electronics company web: spends > 3h/day on the web (job related) spends > 1h/day on the web (private) windows based notebook, 1GHz, 2GB income: 2.500 EUR etc. etc. © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 84
85. Slide 85: Scenarios Little stories about the personas (no use cases), – How and with what goals, – in which perticular situation they use our system. Important: – Something might go wrong – Other people might join/get involved Typically 3 - 4 Scenarios per Persona. © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 85
86. Slide 86: Testing with paper models VERY useful for web design ... not really relevant for virtual worlds today © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 86
87. Slide 87: User tests All tests have to be run in a controlled environment - but not necessarily in a lab. Stay pragmatic. More important:  Test often  Document tests properly  Analyze tests immediately © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 87
88. Slide 88: Testing setup Raum 1 - Testdurchführung Raum 2 - Beobachtung Moderator Beobachter 1 Der „Rechner“ Proband Beobachter 2 Video © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 88
89. Slide 89: Tight iteration cycles  Test early  Test often (weekly)  Many tests (small groups) instead of few big ones Short cycles guarantee, that the project can’t run into the wrong direction for too long. © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 89
90. Slide 90: Mental models, personas, scenarios. They are - besides the iterative approach - central for the growing success of UCD. The goal is a deep understanding for the real user.  What do they want?  What do they need?  In what terms/concepts do they think about “the system”?  What knowledge and abilities do they have?  What knowledge and abilities are missing?  In which situation/context are they using “the system”? etc. ... © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 90
91. Slide 91: That is the state of the art ... for achieving better usability © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 91
92. Slide 92: Yes, you can do all of this in virtual worlds! It doesn’t hurt It doesn’t cost you and arm and a leg It is actually helpful © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 92
93. Slide 93: Principles  You are Not the Audience!  Test  Test often  Use real users for your tests  Recruit them from your target audience  Believe your test results © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 93
94. Slide 94: Testing is not “prohibitively expensive“  Small tests are helpful  8 - 12 user tests usually find all the usability issues in a small system, usually “No testing” is expensive!  Unusable projects waste your money  Fixing issues gets more and more expensive in later project stages © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 94
95. Slide 95: Rules of Thumb Design for the Avatar, not for a human! Do walk-throughs often! Do fly-throughs, too! Always make clear:  Where am I?  What can I do here?  Where can I go from here?  Where have I been? Billboards are not necessarily evil © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 95
96. Slide 96: Will this still lead to cool projects? You bet! © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 96
97. Slide 97: Discuss ... © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 97
98. Slide 98: The Fine Print The ideas and concepts presented herein have been created by and are the property of The Otherland Group GmbH. They are protected by Copyright laws in Europe, the USA and other countries. The reproduction of this document and/or distribution to third parties - as a whole or in part - is strictly prohibited. Kontakt: Markus Breuer markus.breuer@otherland-group.com +49 [ 170] 807 23 56 http://www.otherland-group.com http://otherland.blogs.com The Otherland Group Köpenicker Str. 48/49 (DAZ) 10179 Berlin-Mitte, Germany © 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds Seite 98