Evaluating Fun Factor of Entertainment Software Using Different Modes of Input Christin Hamilton Katie Nobles Brandi Smith Jamey White

Introduction  Metrics exist to determine quantitative and qualitative aspects of software usability.  There is currently no accepted model of measuring player enjoyment in games [1].

Introduction  One heuristic evaluation of “fun- factor” [2] Log player’s actions, comments, failures, missteps. Code each as a positive or negative player experience  Positive – anything that increases pleasure, immersion and the challenge of the game  Negative – any situation where the player was bored, frustrated or wanted to quit

Introduction  The goal of the project was to measure the fun factor of an Entertainment Software using different modes of input

Introduction  The environment in which we inspected fun factor was Konami’s Dance Dance Revolution Extreme 2 [3] on the Sony Playstation 2 [4].

Introduction  Players use their feet to step on combinations of arrows that match patterns being played with a song

Introduction  This version also supports play using the Sony EyeToy camera.  Gesture recognition tracks player movements.

Introduction  Players are still responsible for stepping on the arrows in rhythm, but the EyeToy requires them to include their hands.

Intro (cont)  We focused on measuring the fun factor to determine the fun factor of different combinations which would have better a effect on the game for players to have fun.  Combinations Included: Dance Pad w/USB camera (Universal Serious Bus) Collaborative Play  Player w/Partner

Introduction  Additional DDR screenshots

Background  Past studies on collaborative play showed that there was no difference in boredom, based on the game outcome when DDR is played with a friend  Also, post questionnaires determined that it was better for the players to play with a friend instead of a computer.

Method

Experiment Procedure  Demographics and Backgrounds Each participant was asked a series of questions regarding demographic information and experience with videogames  Age, gender  Music/rhythm background  Experience with videogames, DDR, and EyeToy

Experiment Procedure  Participants were then asked to perform the experiment in three different phases, each altering the game environment or interaction Phase 1: DDR single player with dance pads Phase 2: DDR with partner and dance pads Phase 3: DDR singe player with EyeToy

Experiment Procedure  Phase 1 Participant was allowed to choose any song on any difficulty setting and played alone

Experiment Procedure  Phase 2 Participant was allowed to choose any song on any difficulty setting and played with a partner

Experiment Procedure  Phase 3 Participant was allowed to choose any song on any difficulty setting and played alone with the EyeToy

Experiment Procedure  Participants completed a follow-up survey to evaluate their experience with the different modes of play.  Participants were asked to rank the three phases based on the amount of enjoyment experienced.

Experiment Procedure  For each phase, participants were then asked to rate the phases based on their experience Embarrassing Boring Easy Confusing Unhealthy Inaccurate Sad Dissatisfied Comfortable Exciting Challenging Simple Healthy Accurate Happy Satisfied

Experiment Procedure  Participants were then asked a series of yes/no questions to measure their lasting experience Would you play DDR again alone with the dance pad? Would you play DDR again alone with the EyeToy? Would you play DDR again with a partner? Do you feel better after playing DDR compared to how you felt before you played? If you feel better, do you think that this is attributed to fun? Do you think that physically engaging video games such as DDR are more entertaining than traditional controller-based video games?

Experiment Procedure  Finally, participants were given room to discuss any problems that they may have encountered that could affect their experience.

Results

Pre-Survey (Demographics)  18 participants 13 males 5 females Average age: 24  Overall, participants consider themselves to have an average amount of rhythm  Play video games approximately 4.22 times a month

Pre-Survey (DDR Experience)  Ten had previous experience with DDR 7 played with dance pads 6 typically played alone Most played DDR 0-2 times per month 9 had an enjoyable experience last time they played Averagely, consider themselves an intermediate player  Five had previous experience with gesture recognition in a game 0 played DDR with Eye Toy 3 found their last experience with gesture recognition enjoyable

Post-Survey  Eight: playing alone was most enjoyable and the Eye Toy least enjoyable.  Five: playing alone was the 2nd most enjoyable 4/5: Eye Toy was the least enjoyable  Four: playing alone was the least enjoyable 3/4 found Eye Toy to be the 2nd worst.  12 found Eye Toy to be the least enjoyable  Only 1 person thought playing with a partner was the least enjoyable.

What gave the most fun…?

Emotional Conclusions  Single player without Eye Toy more comfortable than average and felt healthier  Single players with eye toy more comfortable, much more excited, more challenged, slightly simpler, healthier, more accurate, and happier  Partnered players felt that they were more confused and happier

Further Conclusions…  16 would play DDR again alone without the Eye Toy or a partner  Only 10 would use the eye toy again.  Only 2 people felt they were a worse player afterwards  11 felt that games like DDR were more entertaining than traditional video games all the time and 7 felt they were more entertaining sometimes. No one said they were never more entertaining.  Problems 11 felt they had problems with the game that affected their enjoyment 7 said that any problems they had did not affect their enjoyment

Gender Conclusions  Women mostly found dance with eye toy more confusing. found it more inaccurate Always found solo neither exciting nor boring found solo happier on average were more satisfied With a partner, satisfaction and happiness were always scored the same

Demo

“Live” Demo  IGN Gameplay Demo [5] IGN Gameplay Demo  Fun Factor – The Music Video (on CD) [6]

Questions?

References  [1] Sweetser, Penelope, Wyeth, Peta. Game Flow: A Model for Evaluating Player Enjoyment in Games. ACM Computers in Entertainment, Vol. 3, No. 3, ACM(2005).  [2] Desurvire, Heather, Caplan, Martin, Toth, Jozsef. Late breaking result papers: Using heuristics to evaluate the playability of games. CHI ’04 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems, ACM Press (2004).  [3] Konami Digital Entertainment.  [4] Sony Computer Entertainment of America. Sony Playstation 2.  [5] IGN.  [6] Music in Video from Lord of the Rings: Return of the King commercial