A Heuristic Framework for Evaluating User Experience in Games

Abstract

This book chapter describes an approach of evaluating user experience in video games by using heuristics. We provide a short overview of video games and explain the concept of user-centred design for games. Furthermore we describe the history of heuristics for video games and the role of user experience of games in general. Based on our previous work and experience we propose a revised framework consisting of two sets of heuristics (game play/game story, virtual interface) to detect the most critical issues in games. To assess its applicability to measure user experience factors we compare the results of expert evaluations of six current games with the user experience-based ratings of various game reviews. Our findings indicate a correlation between the extent to which our framework is satisfied and the game's average rating.

On Metrics for Location-Aware Games

“…Hochleitner et al [33] "are interpretable measures of something, whereas telemetry is the raw data", and "represent telemetry data that have been transformed somehow".…”

“…Table 1 shows a mixture of interpretations of what a metric is. In game user research and games telemetry [21,[31][32][33][34], a metric is termed both as "data used in" and as "data collected for evaluating" an aspect of the game. As such, the term metric is equated to data collected or data obtained, suggesting that metric (as a function) and (input or output) metrical data are used interchangeably.…”

Method for Game Development Driven by User-eXperience: a Study of Rework, Productivity and Complexity of Use

“…Hochleitner et al [18] propose a framework of heuristics (design guidelines for aesthetics and mechanics in a game genre) categorized in game play/story, and virtual interface to asses UX.…”

Engineering Requirements for Social Sustainability

“…Yet, the problem of software impact on its user communities has been faced, primarily within the organisational context, for a long time [32] [58] [57] [49] [39] and has, to some degree, been addressed via such techniques as value-based design [36] [29] [42], participatory design [23] [54] [60], user experience evaluation [44] [75] [22], and even iterative agile development [65]. Essentially, all these techniques allow for explicit [29] or implicit [65] [23] incorporation of user values into the intended software systems.…”