An Evaluation of Game Usability in Shared Mixed and Virtual Environments


Book Description

Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies are increasingly becoming more pervasive and important in the information technology area. Thanks to the technological improvements, desktop interfaces are being replaced by immersive VR devices that offer a more compelling game experience. AR games have started to draw attention of researchers and companies for their ability to exploit both the real and virtual environments. New fascinating challenges are generated by the possibility of designing hybrid games that allow several users to access shared environments exploiting the features of both AR and VR devices. However, the user experience and usability can be affected by several parameters, such as the field of view (FoV) of the employed devices or the realism of the scene. The work presented in this chapter aims to assess the impact of the FoV on the usability of the interfaces in a first-person shooter game. Two players, interacting with AR (first player) and VR (second player) devices, can fight each other in a large game environment. Although we cannot ascertain that different FoVs have affected the game usability, users considered the narrow FoV interfaces to be less usable, even though they could freely move around the real environment.




Game Design and Intelligent Interaction


Book Description

The book presents a collection of chapters that focus on the design, use, and evaluation of games and the application of gamification processes in serious learning scenarios. This is clearly the way of the future, as those technologies are currently being used to change the way we explore, learn, and share our knowledge with others. The field will evolve in the near future with the use of new delivery platforms, while various technologies will merge into more concrete media, including wearable multipurpose devices. This book presents a series of design and evaluation case studies enabling the reader to appreciate the complexity of the task in hand, sample different case studies, and appreciate how different requirements can be met using game design and evaluation theory, analysis, and implementation.




Games User Research


Book Description

"Fundamentally, making games is designing with others, everyone contributing from different angles towards the best possible product. Conclusively, Garcia-Ruiz has chosen a collection of chapters that demonstrates several different aspects of working in gaming and working with others that stands to raise the level of expertise in the field." —Veronica Zammitto, Senior Lead Games User Research, Electronic Arts, Inc., from the Foreword Usability is about making a product easy to use while meeting the requirements of target users. Applied to video games, this means making the game accessible and enjoyable to the player. Video games with high usability are generally played efficiently and frequently while enjoying higher sales volumes. The case studies in this book present the latest interdisciplinary research and applications of games user research in determining and developing usability to improve the video game user experience at the human–computer interface level. Some of the areas examined include practical and ethical concerns in conducting usability testing with children, audio experiences in games, tangible and graphical game interfaces, controller testing, and business models in mobile gaming. Games User Research: A Case Study Approach provides a highly useful resource for researchers, practitioners, lecturers, and students in developing and applying methods for testing player usability as well as for conducting games user research. It gives the necessary theoretical and practical background for designing and conducting a test for usability with an eye toward modifying software interfaces to improve human–computer interaction between the player and the game.




Interdisciplinary Advancements in Gaming, Simulations and Virtual Environments: Emerging Trends


Book Description

Gaming has long been a means for humans to share knowledge, learn new concepts, and escape the constraints of reality. Interdisciplinary Advancements in Gaming, Simulations and Virtual Environments: Emerging Trends investigates the role of games and computer-mediated simulations in a variety of environments, including education, government, and business. Exploring psychological, social, and cultural implications of games and simulations, as well as policies related to their design and development, this reference aims to support the work of researchers in this growing field, as well as bridge the gap between theory and practice in the application of electronic games to everyday situations.




Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality: Design and Development


Book Description

This two-volume set LNCS 13317 and 13318 constitutes the thoroughly refereed proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality, VAMR 2022, held virtually as part of the 24rd HCI International Conference, HCII 2022, in June/July 2022.The total of 1276 papers and 241 posters included in the 39 HCII 2021 proceedings volumes was carefully reviewed and selected from 5222 submissions. The 56 papers included in this 2-volume set were organized in topical sections as follows: Developing VAMR Environments; Evaluating VAMR environments; Gesture-based, haptic and multimodal interaction in VAMR; Social, emotional, psychological and persuasive aspects in VAMR; VAMR in learning, education and culture; VAMR in aviation; Industrial applications of VAMR. The first volume focuses on topics related to developing and evaluating VAMR environments, gesture-based, haptic and multimodal interaction in VAMR, as well as social, emotional, psychological and persuasive aspects in VAMR, while the second focusses on topics related to VAMR in learning, education and culture, VAMR in aviation, and industrial applications of VAMR.




Encyclopedia of Computer Graphics and Games


Book Description

Encyclopedia of Computer Graphics and Games (ECGG) is a unique reference resource tailored to meet the needs of research and applications for industry professionals and academic communities worldwide. The ECGG covers the history, technologies, and trends of computer graphics and games. Editor Newton Lee, Institute for Education, Research, and Scholarships, Los Angeles, CA, USA Academic Co-Chairs Shlomo Dubnov, Department of Music and Computer Science and Engineering, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA Patrick C. K. Hung, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Oshawa, ON, Canada Jaci Lee Lederman, Vincennes University, Vincennes, IN, USA Industry Co-Chairs Shuichi Kurabayashi, Cygames, Inc. & Keio University, Kanagawa, Japan Xiaomao Wu, Gritworld GmbH, Frankfurt am Main, Hessen, Germany Editorial Board Members Leigh Achterbosch, School of Science, Engineering, IT and Physical Sciences, Federation University Australia Mt Helen, Ballarat, VIC, Australia Ramazan S. Aygun, Department of Computer Science, Kennesaw State University, Marietta, GA, USA Barbaros Bostan, BUG Game Lab, Bahçeşehir University (BAU), Istanbul, Turkey Anthony L. Brooks, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark Guven Catak, BUG Game Lab, Bahçeşehir University (BAU), Istanbul, Turkey Alvin Kok Chuen Chan, Cambridge Corporate University, Lucerne, Switzerland Anirban Chowdhury, Department of User Experience and Interaction Design, School of Design (SoD), University of Petroleum and Energy Studies (UPES), Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India Saverio Debernardis, Dipartimento di Meccanica, Matematica e Management, Politecnico di Bari, Bari, Italy Abdennour El Rhalibi, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK Stefano Ferretti, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy Han Hu, School of Information and Electronics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China Ms. Susan Johnston, Select Services Films Inc., Los Angeles, CA, USA Chris Joslin, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada Sicilia Ferreira Judice, Department of Computer Science, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada Hoshang Kolivand, Department Computer Science, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK Dario Maggiorini, Department of Computer Science, University of Milan, Milan, Italy Tim McGraw, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA George Papagiannakis, ORamaVR S.A., Heraklion, Greece; FORTH-ICS, Heraklion Greece University of Crete, Heraklion, Greece Florian Richoux, Nantes Atlantic Computer Science Laboratory (LINA), Université de Nantes, Nantes, France Andrea Sanna, Dipartimento di Automatica e Informatica, Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy Yann Savoye, Institut fur Informatik, Innsbruck University, Innsbruck, Austria Sercan Şengün, Wonsook Kim School of Art, Illinois State University, Normal, IL, USA Ruck Thawonmas, Ritsumeikan University, Shiga, Japan Vinesh Thiruchelvam, Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Rojin Vishkaie, Amazon, Seattle, WA, USA Duncan A. H. Williams, Digital Creativity Labs, Department of Computer Science, University of York, York, UK Sai-Keung Wong, National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan Editorial Board Intern Sam Romershausen, Vincennes University, Vincennes, IN, USA




Advances in Usability Evaluation


Book Description

Successful interaction with products, tools and technologies depends on usable designs, accommodating the needs of potential users and does not require costly training. In this context, this book is concerned about emerging concepts, theories and applications of human factors knowledge focusing on the discovery and understanding of human interaction with products and systems for their improvement. The book is organized into four sections that focus on the following subject matters: • Usability Methods and Tools • Theoretical Issues in Usability • Usability in Web Environment • Miscellaneous In the section Usability Methods and Tools, studies related with new and improved methods and tools for the advancement in the efficiency of the usability studies is reported. In this context, this book provides studies, which cover everything from checklists and heuristics development to kaizen and biometrics measurement techniques. Also, the use of tools, like eye tracker, virtual reality and augmented reality is discussed. The section Theoretical Issues in Usability concentrates on theorical approaches of usability that allow justifying the impact of usability in our lives. Review studies about the importance of usability and connections between ergonomics and virtual reality were reported. General approaches raised the concepts of modeling and simulation to explain changes in human performance and accidents. The section Usability in Web Environment concentrates on studies associated with the use of the Internet environment and mainly discusses the development of new services and creates social communities. The section Miscellaneous shows various studies that focus on aesthetic, affective and emotional design, corporate and inclusive design.




Virtual and Mixed Reality


Book Description

The 13th International Conference on Human–Computer Interaction, HCI Inter- tional 2009, was held in San Diego, California, USA, July 19–24, 2009, jointly with the Symposium on Human Interface (Japan) 2009, the 8th International Conference on Engineering Psychology and Cognitive Ergonomics, the 5th International Conference on Universal Access in Human–Computer Interaction, the Third International Conf- ence on Virtual and Mixed Reality, the Third International Conference on Internati- alization, Design and Global Development, the Third International Conference on Online Communities and Social Computing, the 5th International Conference on Augmented Cognition, the Second International Conference on Digital Human Mod- ing, and the First International Conference on Human Centered Design. A total of 4,348 individuals from academia, research institutes, industry and gove- mental agencies from 73 countries submitted contributions, and 1,397 papers that were judged to be of high scientific quality were included in the program. These papers - dress the latest research and development efforts and highlight the human aspects of the design and use of computing systems. The papers accepted for presentation thoroughly cover the entire field of human–computer interaction, addressing major advances in knowledge and effective use of computers in a variety of application areas.




Advances in Usability, User Experience, Wearable and Assistive Technology


Book Description

This book addresses emerging issues in usability, interface design, human–computer interaction, user experience and assistive technology. It highlights research aimed at understanding human interactions with products, services and systems and focuses on finding effective approaches for improving the user experience. It also discusses key issues in designing and providing assistive devices and services for individuals with disabilities or impairment, offering them support with mobility, communication, positioning, environmental control and daily living. The book covers modeling as well as innovative design concepts, with a special emphasis on user-centered design, and design for specific populations, particularly the elderly. Further topics include virtual reality, digital environments, gaming, heuristic evaluation and forms of device interface feedback (e.g. visual and haptic). Based on the AHFE 2020 Virtual Conference on Usability and User Experience, the AHFE 2020 Virtual Conference on Human Factors and Assistive Technology, the AHFE Virtual Conference on Human Factors and Wearable Technologies, and the AHFE 2020 Virtual Conference on Virtual Environments and Game Design, held on July 16–20, 2020, it provides academics and professionals with an extensive source of information and a timely guide to tools, applications and future challenges in these fields.