Evaluation of UI

In this post, i shall be examining the case of Role-Playing games, which generally places heavy emphasis on statistics and numbers. But before that, let us zoom into the question of whether we can make use of usability heuristics as a means of evaluating such a game interface. Let us first look at Nielsen's 10 Usability Heuristics -

• Visibility of system status
• Match between system and the real world
• User control and freedom
• Consistency and standards
• Error prevention
• Recognition rather than recall
• Flexibility and efficiency of use
• Aesthetic and minimalist design
• Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors
• Help and documentation

These are golden rules that can be applied for any task-driven application. By fulfilling them, user can expect a software that is satisfying and easy to use. In other words, they are rules for evaluating usability. However, what is lacking in this heuristics is the task itself. It should be fairly obvious that a less tech-savvy person would be less motivated to use a software meant for compiling java codes than someone who is, regardless of how usable the program is. For a task-driven software, the goal is to make it easy and intuitive to use. In contrast, the goal of a game interface is to attract people to use it, and it does so with a key element missing in these heuristic - fun.

In fact, fun and usability may not be as inter-dependent as we thought they would be. An application that is simple to use may be rated highly when evaluated using Nielsen's heuristics, but may not be fun to use at all. Before we go any further, let us look at GameFlow Heuristics (Sweetser & Wyeth, 2005).

• Concentration: Games should require concentration and the player should be able to concentrate on the game.
• Challenge: Games should be sufficiently challenging and match the player’s skill level.
• Player Skills: Games must support player skill development and mastery.
• Control: Players should feel a sense of control over their actions in the game.
• Clear Goals: Games should provide the player with clear goals at appropriate times.
• Feedback: Players must receive appropriate feedback at appropriate times.
• Immersion: Players should experience deep but effortless involvement in the game.
• Social Interaction: Games should support and create opportunities for social interaction. 

In particular, let us consider the second heuristics which is 'Challenge'. An interface that is easy to use would probably not be challenging to use. In contrast, an interface with multiple layers of complexity may give users the satisfaction of mastering the game as they move deeper and discover more for themselves. For instance, take the RPG game 'Diablo'. A new player who plays the game for the first time would probably be overwhelmed by the amount of text that they need to read, most of which probably would not make much sense. However, as they play and experiment with the game, they start to learn more about what they mean and get a greater sense of control and mastery of the system, both of which contributes to what makes the game fun.

Malone's Heuristics for Designing Enjoyable User Interface (Malone, 1982) also supports the element of challenge in game interfaces.

1. Challenge

• Goal. Is there a clear goal in the activity? Does the interface provide performance feedback about how close the user is to achieving the goal?
• Uncertain outcome. Is the outcome of reaching the goal uncertain?
• Does the activity have a variable difficulty levels. For example, does the interface have successive layers of complexity?
• Does the activity have multiple level goals? For example, does the interface include scorekeeping?

2. Fantasy

• Does the interface embody emotionally appealing fantasies?
• Does the interface embody metaphors with physical or other systems that the user already understands?

3. Curiosity

• Does the activity provide an optimal level of informational complexity?
• Does the interface use audio and visual effects: (a) as decoration, (b) to enhance fantasy, and (c) as a representation system?
• Does the interface use randomness in a way that adds variety without making tools unreliable?
• Does the interface use humor appropriately?
• Does the interface capitalize on the users' desire to have "well-formed" knowledge structures?
• Does it introduce new information when users see that their existing knowledge is: (1) incomplete, (2) inconsistent, or (2) unparsimonious?

Malone brought up an additional point, and that is the use of randomness to generate fun. If we look at Nielsen's Heuristics, the functions of the system should be visible to the users which can help in lowering the gulf of execution. Having an element of randomness in a task-driven software would probably be counter-intuitive. Clicking on a search button twice should produce the same result sorted by relevance, rather than a random mess of results. In a game interface of a RPG, randomising the statistics of a character can increase variety, and repeated clicking on the 'randomise' button to get a player's desired statistics and ultimately getting them can be satisfying.

For a more concrete example on the use of Malone's Heuristics to evaluate game interface, let us now look at the game interface of Torchlight, an action role-playing game which is fairly similar Diablo. The gameplay heavily emphasises on the collecting of loots (or resources dropped by monsters as they are vanquished) to build the characters the player play and thus, some sort of system has to be in place to help players manage all them. As the game is highly complex with a lot of statistics in play, we will only focus on the interface as presented in this screenshot here.

The game will keep track of all of your progress in terms of your level, the skills you have and so on. As your pointers hover over any of the 'class skills' on the right, a popup will appear showing you the current rank of the skill and the level needed to improve it. This gives gamers motivation to level up in order to improve their character. At the left side of the screen, it shows you your current XP (or experience points) and a bar that shows how close you are to leveling up.

While it may seem that the screen is cluttered with too much information at all, a great amount of them are needed when the player is trying to customise his character. For instance, while the player is trying to pick a skill, he might want to see what his existing skills are or what his statistics are in order to pick the best choice. While the player is not doing that, he can close both of the pop-outs at the side, and resume his game. The only HUD that is present will be the lower bar, which is an essential tool for gameplay as it shows when a skill is ready to be used, what key to activate it and how much of consumables are left.

In conclusion, the game interface as presented in the screenshot shows just a good amount of information without being overly cluttered. Most of the information are hidden in the form of pop-outs that will only appear when the player hover over it. It uses mostly icons to represent skills over the use of words. For a new player, none of the icons would probably be familiar and could be overwhelming. However, this could result in greater fun as the player tries to overcome the system and gain mastery over it.

References - http://beccascollan.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/emotionhci.pdf
Screenshots - http://www.torchlight-2.de/bestes-action-rpg-der-letzten-jahre.t3242.html