Wii Gaming for Older Players: From Motivation to Appropriation, and Usability to User Experience [Abstracts]


White Gareth Harley Dave Axelrod Lesley Fitzpatrick Geraldine
2009 DiGRA '09 - Proceedings of the 2009 DiGRA International Conference: Breaking New Ground: Innovation in Games, Play, Practice and Theory

With populations ageing across the developed world attention has recently turned to ways of maintaining a good quality of life for those experiencing an extended old age in those countries particularly those living in supported accommodation. Multiplayer embodied video games have the potential to encourage health and wellbeing, and to improve social connectedness. However the older population (and particularly the old elderly) have not so far been quick to adopt new technologies. There are many factors that might explain this, including personal interests and preferences, ergonomic issues, financial barriers, a tendency in older people to crystalised rather than fluid knowledge that makes learning new interactions more difficult, and lack of suitable training. The Nintendo Wii is emerging as an exception to this, and in particular Wii Sports Bowling has quickly become popular with leagues across the USA and UK with many anecdotal and mainstream media reports of benefits of the game for older players. Benefits from regular exercise and increased social contact could be significant, but there is also anecdotal evidence of some risks associated with playing. In this study we focus on the use of embodied gaming using the Nintendo Wii as part of an Age Concern sheltered housing initiative in Brighton, UK. Using interview with residents and scheme organisers, and examining video footage of game sessions we show the evolution of play over a period of 4 months. During this period we document the rationale behind the scheme organisers' concept and intention, residents' preconceptions about and relationships with technology and play, through to their first contact with the game Wii Sports, regular weekly bowling sessions, and finally culminating in a high-profile, inter-housing scheme competition and conference which were also attended by researchers and local council officials.

 

Understanding the Contribution of Biometrics to Games User Research


Mirza-babaei Pejman Long Sebastian Foley Emma
2011 DiGRA '11 - Proceedings of the 2011 DiGRA International Conference: Think Design Play

Utilising biometric data has become an increasingly active area in the video games user research community, and a number of academic papers have been published introducing various biometric based analysis techniques in video games research. This paper aims to quantify the value of biometric methods as an addition to traditional observation-based user research methodologies, and their respective contributions to the production of formative feedback during the development of video games. Our results show that observation-based techniques can expose the majority of issues relating to usability, however the biometrics-based approach enabled researchers to discover latent issues in related to players’ feelings, immersion and gameplay experience and, in certain categories of issue, reveal up to 63% more issues than observation alone.

 

Understanding Player Experience using Sequential Analysis


Soppitt Michael Mcallister Graham
2011 DiGRA '11 - Proceedings of the 2011 DiGRA International Conference: Think Design Play

Video game user researchers use many methods to help understand the player experience. Most of these methods involve asking the player to describe how they felt either during gameplay (causing interruption), or after the session (biased by self-report). Such methods are not ideal as they required the player to (1) have been aware of the experience, (2) recall it accurately, and (3) communicate these feelings to the moderator. This paper presents a new method which aims to better understand the player experience by using Sequential Analysis. The advantages of using this technique are that it uses unconscious natural behaviour (player’s facial state) as an indicator of internal player experience, and importantly, it shows how the player’s state changes over time.