1. Interface Scale & Performance Environment: Jennifer Gee Douglas Wilson CS 376 December 12, 2006 Teasing Out the Dimensions of Arcade Gameplay

2. Research Questions How does scale of input interface affect enjoyment and engagement in game play? How do public vs. private environments affect enjoyment and engagement in game play? (Can we tease the two apart?)

3. Main Hypotheses 1.Larger-scale interfaces are both more enjoyable and more engaging - Increased physicality - Research suggests larger display increases immersion - Our own experience designing games for smart walls 2. Public play less engaging than private play - People are distracting

4. The Experiment Four Groups: Touchscreen Wall Tablet PC PrivatePublic 4 Subjects N = 16

5. The Experiment Squares Attack! 2 minute practice, 7 minute trial

6. The Experiment Evaluation Metrics: 1. Galvanic skin reponse (GSR) -Measures skin conductivity (eccrine sweat glands) -Reflects emotional responses as well as cognitive activity -Accepted physiological measure of “fun” (Mandryk, Ravaja) -Players wore two velcro rings on non-dominant hand

7. The Experiment Evaluation Metrics: 2. Distractor Test - How many of the 5 watermarked letters could they remember? - The more attention they pay to the visuals, the less engaged they are 3. Self Report - Likert scale (1 – 5) 4. Telemetry - Score, total distance moved, etc.

8. Results Wall users enjoyed the experience more 3.4 vs. 3.9 (average) on Likert scale p-value = 0.092 (significant) … despite the fact they scored fewer points and rated themselves as less skilled

9. Results Tablet users remembered more letters -1.75 vs. 0.5 (average) letters p-value = 0.037 (significant) -Larger interface more engaging?

10. Results Wall users exhibited higher GSR percentile scores 57.5% vs. 43.6% (average, normalized) p-value = 0.050 (significant) In essence, emotional arousal more sustained Corroborates self-report, distractor test findings

11. Results Most differences between public and private conditions were not statistically significant Private condition participants scored better (p-value = 0.060) Private condition participants used larger % of screen (p-value = 0.029)

12. Game Design Lessons Wall users complained about tired arms - Only a seven minute game, but constant dragging is a lot of work On the tablets, player forearm blocks a much larger portion of the screen - Maybe squares should only enter from two or three directions?

13. Future Direction…? Corroborate results with different game genres Corroborate results with different input types, modalities More granular examination of the gradient between private and public

14. Thank You to… Bjoern Lilly Irani Scott and Dave