Fun Meters for Games

1. Fun Meters for Games Nicole Lazzaro, President XEODesign® Larry Mellon, System Architect Emergent Game Technologies AGC Oct 28, 2005

2. Measure Fun

3. Pulled Pork Sandwiches: Yum! (But Why?) Structured observations of the people - Smiling? Savoring? - Structured questionnaires ? Insertion of probes into the sandwich - Temperature? Sauce balance? - Sandwich mods?

4. Fun meter requirements • Multiple data sources • Repeatable & validity • Game & player variance What could you use it for? • Pre-ship evaluation • Early evaluation of game play

5. Larry Mellon Nicole Lazzaro • CTO: Emergent Game Technologies • 20+ years of tools and engines for distributed systems & supercomputers • Jade, EA, DARPA, … • Parallel simulation & virtual worlds • Automated testing & metrics in games • Recent Play: Go • President and Founder XEODesign • 15 years of design and research player experiences • Sony, EA, LeapFrog, Sega, Ubisoft, PlayFirst • Cognitive Psychology Stanford • Recent Play: Tombstone Hold ‘em

6. Next-gen: I get the graphics, but where’s the game? Computational power Visual effects Innovative game play

7. Blocking IssueIn next-gen games, how much innovation will be fundable? Cost & Risk Innovation

8. Next Gen Games • Increased Complexity • Increased Complexity of Analysis

10. Next Gen Games

11. Mobile Off-Computer Play

12. Next-gen gambling: roll dem bones! Success Failure

13. Blocking IssueBig games are hard to change at the last minute! Project Start Gold

14. 2. Fun Meters Today • We can measure aspects that contribute to fun today

15. Probes showed us how players interacted with each other: socialization more important to players than dancing

16. The house categories mini-game just wasn’t rewarding enough to players: a game “dead spot” ………………. House Categories (Beta Test)

17. Fun Meter • "Where is the fun in that?" – Bruce Shelly

18. Knowing in Time

19. 4 Flavors of Fun The 4 Keys “The Ride” Easy Fun: Filling Attention Hard Fun: Challenge & Mastery Altered States: Change Internal Sensations The People Factor: Social Mechanism www.xeodesign.com/whyweplaygames

20. 4 Flavors of Fun The 4 Keys “The Ride” Easy Fun: Filling Attention Surprise & Curiosity Hard Fun: Challenge & Mastery Frustration & Fiero Altered States: Change Internal Sensations Excite & Relax The People Factor: Social Mechanism Shadenfreude & Naches www.xeodesign.com/whyweplaygames

21. Hard Fun - Fiero • Personal Triumph Over Adversity

22. My Fun Meter Read Out

23. Some Players

24. Other Players

25. LeapFrog’s FLY Pentop Player Prototypes and Field Studies

26. Fun Meter • "Pace is everything.  User attention is the game." – Mark Terrano

27. 3. Fun Meter Challenge More than 20 aspects to measure fun Larry & Nicole have a bet • Left and Right sides compete • Winner gets a duck! • List posted w/slides 260 ideas/hour = 4.3/min (21.5 / 5 mins)

28. What to Measure • Pace • Exploits • Rewards • Power Ups • Score Jumps

29. Fun Meter Challenge Take Away • Lots of Aspects Effect Fun • Each Needs a Meter

30. 4. Sources of Data • Every Meter Needs a Data Source • Data Relates to the Question

31. Section 4. Data extraction is always tricky… Indirect (asking players) Direct (observing players)

32. Fun Meters • “Are people around the company  (e.g. non-testers) playing?” – Steve Meretzky

33. Gathering Opinions Co-Worker Focus Group Survey Beta/QA Testing Lots of noise Cheap to implement Requires player to interpret events Indirect Measures

34. Internal Indirect Measures

35. Internal Indirect Measures

36. Strengths Many People Playing Game Bugs and Exploits Easy to Set Up Forgive Artifacts Fill in What’s Missing Rapid Iteration Limits Professional TestersBug Focus vs. Fun Player Filters Data Not Target Market Seen Earlier Versions Group Think Beta/QA Testing

37. The Vocal Minority • Type of play they expect? Silent Majority Love It! Hate It! • On Line Surveys • Post Play Surveys • Beta/QA Testing • Forums/Chat • Focus Groups

38. Strengths Brainstorming Packaging Generating Ideas Limits Ø Behavior Group Think Opinion Leader Fibbing Post Play Watch not Play Focus Group

39. Meta Critic • Automated • Opinions of Play Limits • Reviews “Weighted” • Comes too Late

40. Strengths 35K/5yrs How Many Play w/Their Partner? Limits Ø Behavior Fibbing Question Bias Online Surveys Daedalus Project, Nick Yee

41. Strengths Nifty Charts Measure Existing Ideas with Accuracy Automated Low Cost per Respondent Limits Self Select Ø Behavior Fibbing Mostly Quantitative Find What Ask For Bias in Questions On Line Surveys

42. Fun Meter • “We didn't have the techniques then that you are creating now to measure where the person was, and instead looked at progress vs. time or survey results after playing to try to determine where the person was at.” – Jeff Pobst

43. Observation Data Probes Behavior Based Data Requires Expert Interpreter Tell us things that the user can’t tell us. Direct Measures

44. Observe Player • XEOAnalysis • Usability • Un-fun • Player Experiences • Emotions & Drivers • 4 Flavors of Fun

45. SWG Fun Btn Usability: Remove Un-Fun (51UI)

46. Frustration w/o Fiero • [Fiero flowchart w/hard and easy fun]

47. Strengths Behavior Data Directly Observe Player, Game, Context What and Why Explore New Ideas Less Up-Front Bias Paper or Electronic Limits More Effort to Collect Data and Analyze Time Automation Trained Observer Observe Player Experience

48. Context - Last Call Poker

49. Observe Players Early Paper Fun Meters • New Roles for NPCs • Wire Frame UIs • Paper Prototype • Play Test the Fun • Automate Data Collection w/ Consumables or Tokens

50. Fun Meter • “There's a core rule, a way to interact, and then tuning, an adjustment to see if it is ‘gripping and attractive’ or is it a ‘drag on the experience’?” - Hal Barwood