%0 Journal Article
%T Usability Testing for Serious Games: Making Informed Design Decisions with User Data
%A Pablo Moreno-Ger
%A Javier Torrente
%A Yichuan Grace Hsieh
%A William T. Lester
%J Advances in Human-Computer Interaction
%D 2012
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2012/369637
%X Usability testing is a key step in the successful design of new technologies and tools, ensuring that heterogeneous populations will be able to interact easily with innovative applications. While usability testing methods of productivity tools (e.g., text editors, spreadsheets, or management tools) are varied, widely available, and valuable, analyzing the usability of games, especially educational ¡°serious¡± games, presents unique usability challenges. Because games are fundamentally different than general productivity tools, ¡°traditional¡± usability instruments valid for productivity applications may fall short when used for serious games. In this work we present a methodology especially designed to facilitate usability testing for serious games, taking into account the specific needs of such applications and resulting in a systematically produced list of suggested improvements from large amounts of recorded gameplay data. This methodology was applied to a case study for a medical educational game, MasterMed, intended to improve patients¡¯ medication knowledge. We present the results from this methodology applied to MasterMed and a summary of the central lessons learned that are likely useful for researchers who aim to tune and improve their own serious games before releasing them for the general public. 1. Introduction As the complexity of new technologies increases, affecting wider portions of the population, usability testing is gaining even more relevance in the fields of human-computer interaction (HCI) and user interface (UI) design. Brilliant products run this risk of failing completely if end users cannot fully engage because of user interface failures. Consequently, product designers are increasingly focusing on usability testing during the prototype phase to identify design or implementation issues that might prevent users from successfully interacting with a final product. Prototype usability testing is especially important when the system is to be used by a heterogeneous population or if this population includes individuals who are not accustomed to interacting with new technologies. In this sense, the field of serious games provides a good example where there should be special attention paid to usability issues. Because educational serious games aim to engage players across meaningful learning activities, it is important to evaluate the dimensions of learning effectiveness, engagement, and the appropriateness of the design for a specific context and target audience [1]. Yet because serious games target broad audiences who may not play games
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ahci/2012/369637/