Fri Oct 4 (City Center Campus, B1096): Games and Usability
Links for video streaming and recording
Please note: The recording of the session is provided with a couple of day’s delay.
Elina Koskinen: Player Experiences in Pokémon GO
In July of 2016 the whole world as well as Finland was captivated by an unseen game craze. Pokémon GO rose quickly to the top of the most downloaded and most profitable mobile applications. Players were populating the streets and parks to hunt Pokémon creatures. Cross-generational enthusiasm filled everyone from children to grandparents. Pokémon GO was the first location-based augmented reality game to reach mainstream popularity. We gathered a survey data (n=2611) focusing on the Pokémon GO players’ memorable experiences from the time when the game’s popularity was at its peak and the experiences were fresh in players’ minds. This research provides insights to understand Pokémon GO as a unique social phenomenon as well as a location-based augmented reality game more broadly. In addition to shedding more light on the Pokémon GO experiences and considering the potential for location-based games to engage players within the physical and social context around them, the findings capture what players found most memorable about a massive phenomenon at its peak.
Lobna Hassan: User Experience in Gamification
Gamification is an exponentially growing trend of the past few years. It is about designing systems, products, services and processes to afford positive experiences similar to those afforded by engaging games. But what is the user experience in gamification actually like? This talk presents a few research studies on positive user experiences in gamification as well as the positive impact gamification might have on users. The talk also presents a few examples where gamification implementations did not exactly go as expected, cautioning a need to give in-depth thought to gamification design.
Thomas Apperley: Unusable Games
(Abstract to be added soon.)