There was some helpful feedback from the user testing. We provided two tests: one from the perspective of the spectator sending messages,
and one from the perspective of the gamer receiving messages.
Perhaps the most unexpected response was the notion that these text messages could be used to provide helpful hints. However, even with providing hints, the messages could be seen as either helpful or annoying, depending on whether or not the gamer wanted to receive those hints. Similarly, a spectator could provide a "false" hint, which could subvert the gaming experience in a different way.
The testers also noted the following
the audio that played in sync with the appearance of the text message windows was easy to ignore, so we may want to consider removing the audio entirely
displaying who the message is from may increase the likelihood that gamer might take the time to read the message, especially for messages that appear to the side of the action
fullscreen messages are the most destructive
consider having the windows disappear after a few seconds of time so that they don't completely end the game
instructions for texting and sending a message to a window are clear and simple to follow
a quick tutorial might be helpful for first-time users, especially if they fall outside our target audience of heavy texters
a consensus that receiving messages is disruptive to the gaming experience - all testers said that they would try to get back at the person who disrupted their game
To simulate the text messaging, we created a series of messages on post-it notes that could be quickly placed on the screen. The game we played was Switcheroo because it is a multi-player game. In addition, we recorded audio for the messages that could be triggered of a laptop.
We want the user to have the ability to place the message window in different locations on the screen. In this example, the message appears directly in the middle of the screen, obstructing the gamer's view.
Multiple text messages could be sent to the screen at one time to further subvert the gamer's concentration.
Persona Sarah is a 17-year old senior in Thomas Jefferson High School in Brooklyn. She has just started learning how to play Tekken 5, but is not very good. She doesn’t drink alcohol, so she likes to go to the arcade in Chinatown on Friday and Saturday nights to hang out with her friends. Sometimes she is self-conscious about playing the game at the arcade because most of the gamers are boys and they are better than she is. As a result, she doesn’t get as much playing time, which makes it harder for her to improve her skills. Like many high school students in the city, she is dependent on her cell phone to keep in touch with her friends and stay in the know. Sarah uses it for calling her buddies, text messaging, and instant messenger. During the week, she also likes to socialize over online games. Every now and then she logs into www.ijji.com to play Switcheroo and to chat with her friends and other players. Sometimes, she even gets to talk some trash.
Scenario It’s Friday evening, and the school week is over. Sarah had a tough week with midterms, but she’s made plans with her friends to meet up at the arcade in Chinatown around 8 p.m. The arcade usually gets pretty crowded on the weekend evenings, so Sarah decides to go early to get some practice on her new favorite game, Tekken 5. She’s only been playing the game for a couple of weeks, so she gets nervous whenever someone challenges her.
Just then, a young male in his late 20s puts a quarter on the machine.
“Here we go, “ Sarah thinks to herself. “Time to get beat up.”
Sarah quickly loses to a quick combo attack. Another player steps in and she calmly places a quarter on the screen.
The new challenger loses just as quickly, and Sarah gets another shot. “Block and sweep,” she thinks to herself.
After loosing the first round, Sarah notices that the arcade is filling up. There is now a crowd of six or seven spectators watching her play. The second round starts. She scores a few blows, but then quickly succumbs to a vicious onslaught.
Head down, she is quickly enveloped by the crowd. From the back row, she can see a sliver of the screen between two large shoulders.
“It sucks back here. I’m never going to get to play now,” she mutters.
“Sarah! What’s up?!!” exclaim Mary and Trevor.
“Just in time,” says Sarah, “I just got booted off, so it’s great to have my peeps here. Now I’ve got some backup.”
Sarah pulls her phone out and drafts the text message “1: afraid 2 fight a girl?” She sends the message to F-E-E-L M-Y P-A-I-N. The message appears in the upper left-hand corner of the game screen. The two gamers laugh out loud and continue playing.
Mary whispers to Sarah, “Write something better. Put it in the middle of the screen. Write ‘you suck’.”
Sarah types “12,13,14: u sux. That was close”. The message appears in the middle of screen, blocking the view of the challenger.
“Raaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!” screams the champion as he delivers a final blow to the challenger.
“Damn!” screams the challenger, as he throws his arms up into the air. “I couldn’t see anything under that stupid message. I’m gonna text the @#$#@, #@$@#, *#(J@#$@ out of whoever’s next!” he exclaimed as he fights his way into the crowd.
“You can’t beat the people’s choice!” shouts the champ. “Go get the champ some water. I’m thirsty for more!”
Sarah steps up and puts her quarter from the screen into the machine. She rehearses her favorite combo in her head.
As the game starts, the screen is replaced in full by a window with text that reads, “Ur quarter’s no good here! Hope u brought your piggy bank.” The speakers start blaring “Oink! Oink! Oink!”
Sarah and the champ turn their heads toward the crowd to see the loser of the last game laughing with his friends.
Mapping out Social Dynamics Between Gamers and Spectators
In the typical arcade environment, the interaction between spectators and gamers is passive. The spectators appear to be hypnotized by the action on the screen that the gamers are actively playing.
As seen in the diagram, one could draw a barrier that separates the active engagement of the gamers from the passive viewing of the spectators. Perhaps the spectators may chat from time to time, but for the most part, they remain fixated on the game while the game is being played.
With our interface, we wish to change this observed pattern of behavior. We wish to make the spectators more involved with the gaming experience.
Not only would we like the spectators to engage with each other, but we would also like to increase their presence within the gameplay of the gamers. Perhaps the level of activity would not be the same as the gamers, themselves, but the gamers should palpably feel the presence of the spectators in a manner that goes beyond the sensation of being watched.
Here are some sample images of what we are trying to achieve. The two images shown are from the video game Tekken 5. They show what it would be like if spectators had the ability to send comments to the screen realtime while players play, or send voice messages.
PRECEDENTS
AMERICAN IDOL
Contestants sing there heart out on stage and are commented on by the judges, but the real judges are the audience. They determine whether a contestant will be the next idol or the next flop.
THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW
The Rocky Horror Picutre Show is a science fiction-comedy-horror musical film. The film was based on O'Brien's long-running stage production The Rocky Horror Show. The movie is a cult hit, that continues to play weekly at many theaters,usually at midnight. Fans often attend dressed as characters from the film, they shout responses to the characters statements on the screen. These mostly include melodramatic abuse of the characters or actors, vulgar sex jokes, puns, or pop culture references. Other audience participation includes dancing the Time Warp, throwing toast, water, toilet paper, hot dogs, underwear, and rice at the appropriate points in the movie. More Info here.
AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION GAMES
I found a site which has a host of audience participation games. Some I found interesting where called No P and Day in the life.
No P
Players play a scene (perhaps based on an audience suggestion) but they cannot use the letter 'P' (or any other letter). When a player uses a 'P', the audience screams 'Die' and the player is replaced by another on. The scene continues, and the new player needs to take over the character of the player he replaces.
Day in the life
The MC picks a member of the audience and interviews this person about their average (work) day. Questions asked may include 'What is your job?", "Where do you live, with who?", "What are your hobbies?", "How do you get to work?", "Who are your colleagues?", and more. The players then improvise a day in the life of this audience member, based on the elements provided by the interview.
Design Goal Design an interface that increases the interactivity between the players and the spectators and between the spectators and other spectators.
Design Question How can we experience interactivity between the players and the spectators?
Design Criteria
How can we create interactivity between different spectators?
How can we make players more aware of spectators outside of their game?
How can spectators subvert the gaming experience of the player or players?
Context We plan to focus on a public environment where spectators are passively watching players engaged in a video game.
Target Audience We intend our interface to be used by younger gamers, ages 16-30, that are comfortable with cellphones and text messaging.
For our initial research, we visited the video arcade on Mott Street in Chinatown on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon. We noted several differences between the two times in terms of the type of people who came as well as the interactions they had.
Friday Night In general, the people who came on Friday were more hardcore gamers. The arcade was fairly crowded and different groups tended to congregate around different game genres.
These pictures shows a group of young males gathering around two Tekken 5 machines. Many of them had brought their own PS2 controllers.
This video shows the game in action.
These two players discussed strategy between games. The player on the right had just lost in Marvel vs. Capcom 2.
The other big genre that drew a lot of people was the Dance Dance Revolution (DDR) crowd. There were many players and specatators.
Saturday Afternoon The feel of the arcade was much different on Saturday afternoon. There were many more young children, some with chaperons and some without, as well as a few more older people.
Some of the games, such as Time Crisis 4 and Super GT, that were not played at all on Friday night were played on Saturday. Some of the children who played Super GT were suprivised by their chaperone.
General Thoughts
Friday night tended to have more group dynamics around the machines but also away from the machines
inside, groups talked about games and strategy, as well as what was going on in their lives
outside, people smoked and talked about a variety of topics as well as horsed-around
rivalries, such a group labeling themselves "Asian Killers"
Your skill level determines where you can and cannot play (Marvel vs Capcom 2, has two machines but the good players play on the big screen one, the not so good players on a smaller screen machine off in a corner.
placing a quarter on the edge of a screen is a simple mechanic to show who has the next game
in the "fighting" games, where the winner stays to take on the next challenger, different dynamics occur at the end of the game, depending on the crowd and personality of the players
quiet congratualations or "good game"
embarassment and shame where the loser walks away in silence
trash-talking, often accompanied by reenactment of the finishing move
mutual respect where some strategy may be exchanged
related to social hierachy and pecking order based on ability
people bump you or stand in front of you while you are watching a game if they do not know you.
players bring their psp or ds lites (handheld systems) and play each other online or play by themselves.
the older gamers tending to stick to classic games, like Centipede and Ms. Pacman
on Saturday, one older player on Tekken 5 could not draw any challengers as all the kids played on the other machine and challenged each other while he played by himself
players with mastery and skill would draw crowds and comments from spectators (ddr)
feeling of desperation when a player is out of quarters often causes them to ask strangers and friends for money, "got a dollar?"
Design Brief – Social Interface for a Video Arcade
Overview
It could be argued that the atmosphere of gaming in the Unites States has shifted from it’s beginning as a form of social interaction in public arcades to online interaction in virtual spaces. We wish to return to the idea of physical interaction related to gaming by observing the behavior of gamers in a public arcade in Chinatown. We believe that there will be different interactions between gamers and spectators, and that the physical space will have a large impact on those interactions.
Context
We plan to observe the behavior of visitors to the arcade on Mott Street in Chinatown. One area of focus will be the differences in the environment from Friday night, which is a peak time, and Saturday afternoon, which is a down time. We also wish to example how interactions in the physical space may be related or unrelated to interactions with virtual environments or video games.
Research and Analysis
Although we plan to make our observations without influencing normal behavior, we do have the following questions in mind:
How do rivalries, cliques, and cooperative groups change and emerge?
Is there a difference between players and spectators?
What is the relationship between people and the physical space?
How do interactions change between the inside and the outside of the arcade?
What types of dynamics exist between friends and strangers?
What tendencies to participants of different age groups have in this environment?
Planning
The studies that are made from these initial observations will help guide the direction of the creation of a new interface. Once we have presented our findings to the class, we will move forward with how we plan to augment, subvert, or disrupt the social behaviors in the arcade.
