researching spore: a new approach to player testing
DESCRIPTION
This is from Nate's Meaningful Play presentation on the B|P player experience research on Spore for EA. More info here: http://boltpeters.com/blog/?p=95TRANSCRIPT
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A NEW APPROACH TOPLAYER TESTING
RESEARCHING
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• “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
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Why we care about games
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2007 was like this
shit.
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Who cares?
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We started the spore research with
one question.
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Why are video games designed in this environment…
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but researched here?
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no idea.
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“Focus groups were invented to focus the research, not be the research”
- Marty Neumeier | “The Brand Gap”
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So what can we do different?
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“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.”
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#1 native environment is critical…
But timing is everything
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One year. 59 Participants
393 Hours of Gameplay.3 Hour Sessions with 2 Nights Each
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who cares about fun?
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who doesn’t.
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DISCUSSION
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here are five things we changed.
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1. simulated native environment.
2. multi-user voice chat(AKA “talking” and Think Aloud Protocol)
3. touch screens.
4. metrics(PENS model)
5. delivery
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Simulated Native Environment
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Live observation room
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Multi-user Voice Chat
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Gamers love TeamSpeak and keyboard shortcuts,
researchers can too.
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Talking to six people is crazy
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1
2
3
4 6
7
5
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#3. Touch screens
Survey Touchscreen
Game Screen(w/ webcam)
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#4. The PENS ModelPlayer Experience of Need Satisfaction
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Intrinsic motivational needs?
Doing things for their inherent satisfactions (e.g. games, sports). Play through punishment and boredom.
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PENS measures three specific motivational needs:
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what sucked
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•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
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welcome, now play like
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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
(according to our precise time limits)
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We Learned… Not Much
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But then, something changed.
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No more timing structure.
Game Level Test Phase Time Action
Welcome / Consent At 0:0
NDA check, equipment check, Paul intro, think aloud
Stage X Begin Phase At :5
Smiley Survey 1 At :15
Smiley Survey 2 At 1:00
End&Survey At 1:30
Announce: Mouse over + Press A to go 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
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…fun went way up
Stage Y
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#5. Delivery
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Technology
•Video Recording•ZDSoft Game Recorder
•Live Observation•Six Webcams using VNC •Long VGA cables
•Audio •Teamspeak (free)
•ELO Systems Touch Screens
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$79
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free
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$39
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free
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Summary
1. Native environment is critical, but timing is everything
2. You can do this for dirt cheap3. Touch screens are fancy4. The Dow Jones is scary
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the future is remote game research
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Nov 7th, in San Francisco
userresearchfriday.com
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Questions
1. You can do this for dirt cheap
2. Go to San Francisco for URF
boltpeters.com [email protected]
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