What is User Experience

User Experience
Course in User Experience
Bachelor Degree in Video Game Design and Production
Computer Engineering for Information System Management
Second term, January 2019 Dr. Marc Miquel Ribé

Introduction
To raise some awareness on what User Experience is.

Overview of the Introduction Session
1. Self-introduction
2. What is User Experience?
3. What are UX problems?
Identify UX problems in video games reviews.
Share the game UX problems you experienced. Create an Affinity diagram.
4. Is there intuitive design?
Read the article: Intuitive Design. https://www.interaction-
design.org/literature/topics/intuitive-design
5. Try Cuphead Tutorial.
6. Elaborate the course important questions.

• Self-introduction
User Experience Researcher

• Self-introduction
User Experience Researcher & Lecturer

• What is User Experience?
There is no agreed definition upon User Experience. You cannot see it.
There is no single path to become a UX Practitioner.

You need to be sensitive. Not necessarily emotionally sensitive, though.

• How common are UX issues in games?
Please, check game reviews and postmortems.
This is Evolve. Evolve was a commercial success, although the player base significantly
dwindled shortly after release. The game had briefly transitioned to become a free-to-play
title known as Evolve Stage 2 before 2K Games shut down the game's dedicated servers in
September 2018.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=ojyncMthoY0]

In Evolve’s Post-mortem, designers admit they wanted to believe the game was more fun
than it really was.
It was fun in the same room but it was not fun online.
Many projects aren’t fun and designers 1) copy other fun (Mario clones) and 2) think
players will “find their way to the fun”.
You need to understand what causes the emotions.
Test players in different rooms.
How common are UX issues? What are the UX issues?

• What are UX problems? Affinity diagram
Share the game UX problems you experienced.
Identify UX problems in video games reviews.
Affinity diagrams can be used to collaboratively clarify fuzzy ideas. They can also be
called KJ-Technique (in honor to Jiro Kawakita).
Step 1: Focus Question; Step 2: Organize the group; Step 3: Put Opinions (or Data) onto
Sticky Notes); Step 4: Put Sticky Notes on the Wall; Step 5: Group Similar items; Step 6:
Naming each Group; Step 7: Voting the most important group, etc.
[https://articles.uie.com/kj_technique/]
[https://medium.com/learning-ux/affinity-diagrams-tips-and-tricks-6225e8c1f0df#.itvq1ot7b]

How common are UX issues? What are the UX issues?
Check “Jurassic World Evolution”. There is a disparity of opinions.
[https://vandal.elespanol.com/analisis/ps4/jurassic-world-evolution/51525]

In a review, you can classify
issues as:
• Technical
• Usability
• Game Components
• User Expectations
• User Emotions
This in orange
relate to UX.

• Is there such thing as intuitive design?

• Is there intuitive design?
A UI may be called intuitive when users understand its behavior and effect
without use of reason, experimentation, assistance, or special training.
Is there intuitive design as an absolute? A design that works with everyone?
No. Intuitive design means very little. It depends on the user.
If we want to know whether a product provokes good user experience, we need
to know more about the user.

In early 2016 Fiat Chrysler automobiles recall over 1 million vehicles due to a new
shifter design, called the Rocker Switch Gearshift.
A user should press the button on it and then move back and forth (ratchets
through the park, reverse, neutral) for shift through the gears in that way. But
then the shifts are always returned back to the center position.
[https://uxdesign.cc/mental-models-in-ux-design-in-examples-f75b083cd487]

Why did it go wrong?
Because people are used to positional feedback: that is their mental model for
a gearshift. If you do not respect it, you are not going to make design that
responds as the user expects.
[https://uxdesign.cc/mental-models-in-ux-design-in-examples-f75b083cd487]

Users will transfer expectations they have built around one familiar product to
another that appears similar.
“swiping is how every box-like object should respond”
Ever tried to touch a non-touch screen?

“The recently redesigned Skype UI confuses users and slows them down due to
its use of non-standard dialogs where options don't look like dialog buttons.”
Why in vertical? Check “OK” “Cancel” dialog windows.

Culture affects design understanding
Dutch people are used to nicknames and shortened versions of their name.
They were not introducing their name right.
The expanded bold text reads: “Make sure your name matches the one in your
passport. Married women must fill in their maiden name. An incorrect name on
the ticket leads to refusal at the gate.”
Customers stopped making the mistake.
[https://blog.prototypr.io/ux-design-across-different-cultures-part-1-1caa12a504c0]

This pattern is also supported by the psychology of loss aversion, which infers
penalizing unwanted behavior is more effective than rewarding wanted behavior.
Customers stopped making the mistake.

People avoid losses and optimize for sure wins because the pain of losing is
greater than the satisfaction of an equivalent gain.

During a client project in the Philippines, the local PM corrected me of the phrase
I used on this marketing graphic (left). I learned from her that in the Philippines,
the phrase is “buy one take one”. The right image is the final design which aligns
with how Filipinos understand the same promotion.
[https://uxplanet.org/ux-design-across-different-cultures-part-2-761c911e875]

Physical resemblance affects design understanding
Experience with the physical environment is something that can be helpful. When we use
our hands to manipulate objects directly on interfaces, we rely on our experience with how
objects behave in the physical environment.
Tactile interfaces allow us to interact with digital objects as if they were “paper” objects.
Most of the gestures we do with a tactile screen are very similar to what we can do with
papers.
Reading the article: Intuitive Design. https://www.interaction-
design.org/literature/topics/intuitive-design

• Is there intuitive design?
No, but we can take into consideration many aspects that affects most of the
users. There is design that respects:
1. Previous experiences with similar products (mental models)
2. Cultural aspects and meanings
3. Experiences with the physical world
4. User’s psychological limitations (we will see them next week)
And it is better design. It works! It seems ‘intuitive’ for a group of users.

• Try Cuphead Tutorial.
Example provided by Graham McAllister from Player Research

Is it really Takahashi’s fault?
Journalist
struggles with
Cuphead tutorial

Journalist: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hC4F6ctEO4g]
Entire Tutorial: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVOEjUqATrc]
Entire Tutorial (commented in Spanish): [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v16pmvPFGAA]

Language fails to
describe what the action
will precisely do – How
high is high?
Why not have objects of
two different heights to
visually demonstrate?

Dash – quick evade
what? When should I use
this?
Dash – what does this
even mean? Assumed
familiarity.

Cont…
No expectation of using
previous items.
Chaining – one item in
the chain is an unfamiliar
term!
Jump – already been told
to hold jump for a ‘high’
jump, doing exactly what
he was told.

Nullify?
Nullify OR interaction?
How to tell which?
Do all pink objects look
like this one?
Where is my Super
Meter?
How big does the Super
Meter get?
What does it do?

Summary of UX issues
• Language fails to describe what the action will precisely do (‘high’).
• No opportunity to practice (higher jump)
• Assumed knowledge (dash)
• Chaining of instructions, one of which is potentially unknown.
• Visual design sets expectation (jumping high)
• Bad example of dash – we’re not evading in this example, same for parry.
• Tutorial environment out of context – this is not the world you’re playing in.
• Memory overload – long sequence to remember, in combination with all the
above issues. You cannot repeat/try out different sequences!

If the game taught you well, and you failed, then yeah, you’re bad at the
game.
If the game did a terrible job at teaching you, and you fail, who’s at fault?
The designers failed.
Maybe they didn’t care.

First reaction – the player is an idiot.
Why wasn’t the first reaction – ‘How did the design fail?’

Introduction to…
User Experience

Unit 1: What is User Experience?

Goal of the Unit
Discuss the value and usefulness of the concept User
Experience.

Overview of the Lesson
1.1 History Roots
1.2 What is UX?
1.3 In Software/Web and in Games
1.4 You cannot design UX
1.5 Practitioner role (UX professional)
1.6 Not a creative field, science!
1.7 Common misconceptions

• User Experience (and Human-Computer Interaction) has its roots in the
ancient science of ergonomics (ἔργον, meaning “work”, and νόμος, meaning
“natural laws”)—which was trying to establish set of principles that were making
work and war more convenient and efficient (e.g. Hippocrates provided a
description of an optimal surgeon’s workplace.).
1.1 History roots
UX is the last chapter in the history of designing with the user in mind.

[https://medium.com/@marcintreder/the-history-of-user-experience-design-5d87d1f81f5a]
Modern design with the user in mind starts with the industrial revolution
• The connection between ergonomics and labor survived into the present times. In
1900 Winslow Taylor pioneered the modern optimization of work, basing on his
research of the interaction between workers and their tools (probably the first
example of a systematic UX research in the history).
• Toyota followed in 1940's with their famous Human-Centered-Production system,
which aimed at improvement of the efficiency through formation of the
convenient and respectful environment for the workers. In a way Toyota
put user into design.

• In 1955, industrial designer, Henry Dreyfuss, wrote famous “Designing for people”, in
which he stressed the connection between people, their experience and successful
design of a product.
• His design philosophy was based on applied common sense and scientific principles
and resulted in significant contributions to human-factor analysis and consumer
research.
Then…studying the Human Factors met the Computer revolution!
• The great progress on the product side of the future user experience design was
made in the early 1940's, when Alan Turing formed first theoretical computer. The
Theory of Computation opened the gates to the ever-growing field of computer
science. I doubt you’d have your shiny smartphones in the pocket if not for the work
of the legendary mathematician.

• In the 70's the era of personal computers started to emerge. Design was present
right from the beginning. Xerox Parc— famous R&D lab from Silicon Valley was
responsible for e.g. concept of GUI and a computer mouse. Psychologists and
engineers worked arm in arm to provide stunning experience.
• Both, Apple and Microsoft, used work of Xerox Parc (which caused many
controversies, especially around Microsoft’s usage of Xerox inventions) to build their
amazing computing systems. They were researching how to design good interfaces.
At that time (late 80’s and early 90’s) these were common questions:
Can we know the ’Human Factors’ to design better computers?
Can computers help us in our jobs and lives?

This was the beginning of a research discipline called Human-Computer Interaction.
Human-Computer Interaction is the academic discipline that it was later called User
Experience in the industry. Because people researching HCI do not necessarily get
involved in product creation.
But in the late 80’s, people in the computing industry realized that HCI was useful in
order to make better products. Some new concepts appeared: usability, information
architecture, interaction design, among others.

My name is Jakob Nielsen and I was an IBM
engineer who realized there was place for a
new concept: usability.

• In mid 90’s, Jakob Nielsen, IBM researcher, established some of the most important
principles in Usability. This term was applied to websites and many other software
products. For Nielsen, Usability was the ‘ease of use’.
• Finally in 1995, famous cognitive psychologist and designer — Don Norman,
coined the term User Experience to describe the broad set of activities that his team
was engaged in at Apple Computers.
My name is Don Norman and I think emotions matter. I am
an industrial designer and I care about the User Experience.

[http://www.uxbooth.com/articles/where-ux-comes-from/]

Soon the term started to get career on its own and today is extremely well recognized.
No wonder. Ideas contained in the term “User Experience” are well funded in the
centuries of exceptional work.
User Experience comprises many more aspects than the original ergonomics, human
factors and usability. It is a richer concept.
In UX, we are not interested ONLY on how efficient people are using something, in
other words, how easy something is to use. When thinking about UX, we are
interested in the user hedonism, how she feels, and how she acts with the product.
User Experience as a discipline and a concept appears to help the industry
professionals make better products, so people like them and increase their revenue.

1.2 What is UX?
Now it is your turn. Let’s do it again.
What is User Experience?
Perhaps it is a bit easier to ask: what does someone studying UX pay attention to?
Please, write down a list of things.
…

Some of the many UX definitions:
"UX are all aspects of the user’s experience when interacting with the product,
service, environment or facility. [...] It includes all aspects of usability and
desirability of a product, system or service from the user’s perspective”
ISO CD 9241-210
“UX is a momentary, primarily evaluative feeling (good-bad) while interacting with
a product or service”
Hassenzahl (2008)
“The user experience is the totality of end-users’ perceptions as they interact with
a product or service. These perceptions include effectiveness (how good is the
result?), efficiency (how fast or cheap is it?), emotional satisfaction (how good
does it feel?), and the quality of the relationship with the entity that created the
product or service (what expectations does it create for subsequent
interactions?).”
Kuniavsky (2010)

User Experience is a consequence of a user’s internal state (predispositions,
expectations, needs, motivation, mood, etc.), the characteristics of the designed
system (e.g. complexity, purpose, usability, functionality, etc.) and the context (or
the environment) within which the interaction occurs (e.g. organisational/social
setting, meaningfulness of the activity, voluntariness of use, etc.).
Hassenzahl & Tractinsky (2006)
Users’ judgement of product quality arising from their experience of interaction,
and the product qualities which engender effective use and pleasure.
Sutcliffe (2010)
[Hassenzahl, M. (2008). User experience (UX): towards an experiential perspective on product quality.
Ihm, 11–15. http://doi.org/10.1145/1512714.1512717]
[http://www.allaboutux.org/ux-definitions]

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BdtGjoIN4E]
“User Experience encompasses all aspects of the end-user’s interaction with
the company, its services, and its products.” (Norman and Nielsen, 2011)

And in video games!
“The game User Experience comprises the whole
experience players have with a game (or video
game): hearing about it, watching trailers, going
to the game site, downloading or installing the
game, interacting with the game from menus to
gameplayer, installing updates, contacting
customer service, interacting in forums, telling
friends about it, and so on. Everything is
important to consider to improve the game UX.”
Hodent (2017)
Nonetheless, in this course we will mostly study
the user experience players have when they
interact with the videogame itself.

More deeply (other concepts):
In video games we have been using other terms too. Just to make things a bit
more complicated:
• Usability. How easy it is to control the interface. Perceived usability: how easy
the user feels to control an interface.
• Playability. A measure of either the ease with which a video game may be
played, or of the overall quality of its gameplay.
• Game Feel. The sensation of being connected to the game. It is the intangible,
tactile sensation experienced when interacting with video games.
Studying UX implies studying each of these aspects of the player-videogame
interaction.
Again, a Video game User Experience is everything related to the player’s
interaction with the video game: emotions, beliefs, opinions, discussions,
perceptions, understanding, etcetera.
Software UX is exactly the same. There are differences, we’ll see them later.

QUESTION: Is video games UX different than software or web UX?
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_sEj5h7lR4]

QUESTION: Is video games UX different than software or web UX?

In Software, when we study the UX we might just have enough with having more
usable products. Most of the times there is no need for seduction, joy, fun, among
others. The user wants shortcuts, that’s it.

1.3 In Software and in Games
Games vs. Productivity
Applications (Software, Web,…)
Examples
Process vs. results
The purpose of gaming is usually in the process of playing, not in
the final result.
Defining goals vs. importing goals
Games (or gamers) usually define their own goals, or how to
reach a game’s goal. However, in productivity applications, the
goals are usually defined by external factors.
Few alternatives vs. many
alternatives
Games are encouraged to support alternative choices to reach
the overall goal, whereas choices are usually limited in
productivity applications.
Being consistent vs. generating
variety
Games are designed to provide a variety of experiences. However
productivity applications are meant to be consistent in the user
experience.
Imposing constraints vs. removing
or structuring constraints
Game designers intentionally embed constraints into the game
loop, but productivity applications aim to minimize constraints.
Table. Differences between games and productivity applications (based on Pagulayan et al in “User-centered
Design in Games” (Handbook for Human-Computer Interaction in Interactive Systems, 2003).

Games vs. Productivity
Applications
Examples
Function vs. mood
Productivity applications are built around functionality, but
games set out to create mood (for example, using sound or music
to set a tone).
View of outcome vs. view of
world
Gamers usually play a role in a game world such as race car
driver, soldier, warrior, etc. Productivity applications rarely have a
point of view.
Organization as buyer vs.
individual as buyer
Individuals usually buy games, but productivity applications are
often bought by organizations.
Innovation vs. Safety
Gamers tend to welcome innovation while users of productivity
applications tend to be cautious about adopting innovation.
Standard input devices vs. novel
input devices
Games usually explore possibilities to use novel input methods,
such as motion capture or biofeedback, in addition to standard
input devices. Productivity applications mostly rely on a mouse
and keyboard.
Is video games UX different than software or web UX?
A lot! Software and web exist for many purposes. Video games only exist to create a
experience to the player.
Mainstream UX and Games UX. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxZeFJpqlDY]

A good User Experience is tightly related to the object’s success whichever purpose
it serves.
OS/Software/App:
• Facilitate work and content creation (Word processor)
• Provide information (Weather app)
• Etcetera.
Web:
• Inform (News site)
• Entertain and socialize (Instagram and Facebook)
• Facilitate work and content creation (Wordpress and Wikipedia)
• Educate (Duolingo)
• Convince (Political party site)
• Sells (Amazon)
Whichever the purpose, a better User Experience means more revenue.

Video games *only* exist to create a experience to the player. Video games
purpose is the User Experience.
Wait a second… if UX was coined (or first discussed) in late 90’s, what happens
with video games created before then?
When was the term UX first used in video games? Well, in 2008! Why so late?
Because someone else has been taking care of video games User Experience… and
it has been mostly the game designer, graphical artist, sound creator, etcetera.
So, does not this mean we may not need the UX professional?
Who designs the experience?

Google Trends data for Web Designer and UX Designer. Y axis not to scale.
The term UX design is misused because it seems ’better design’. It sells more.
But you cannot design the experience.
Experiences happen inside the person having the experience.
We just design the product.
[https://www.wearesigma.com/news/ux-design-is-a-convenient-shorthand-or-why-no-one-can-design-an-experience/]
Not in games, not in software.

• How different is what we call video games today than what they called them in the
seventies and eighties?
In the seventies, a video game was 99% mechanics. Today, a video game is unlikely 99%
mechanics. It is much more than that.

• Monument Valley! Converting the art of M.C. Escher into a video game
Designing Monument Valley: Less Game, More Experience.
In this talk given at GDC Europe 2014, Monument Valley lead designer Ken Wong talks about how the
impossible art of M.C. Escher and being embedded in a UX studio led ustwo games to create a chart-
topping game in which every screen was a piece of art.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO22-O4WGaw]
https://ustwo.com/what-we-do/monument-valley
http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1020878/Designing-Monument-Valley-Less-Game
You cannot create this game
without knowledge on Art
history and architecture!

Again…
To create the great video games of the future, you need to play less and have other
experiences to learn from. In this case, aesthetics, art and architecture are fundamental to
create Monument Valley.

What does matter to create a video game with a great UX?
We can learn it from other non-digital experiences: poetry, theatre plays,
architecture, board (or any physical) games, cinema, dancing, etcetera.

• Gappo's Legacy is a science fiction project in development to be distributed in television,
comic, and Virtual Reality game.
“Han sido casi 4 años en concebir el universo” nos comenta Demian Sabini, “en un principio lo
primero a salir iba a ser la serie, pero viendo las posibilidades que ofrece la Realidad Virtual y
su inmersión nos decantamos a hacer el videojuego”. Demian Sabini, creator
Feasible? We’ll see.
[http://www.ccma.cat/catradio/alacarta/generacio-digital/gappos-legacy-un-projecte-catala-que-es-comic-i-
videojoc-i-que-sera-serie/audio/949678/]
Nació en Barcelona en 1980 y estudió guitarra, jazz y música
contemporánea en Los Ángeles y Boston. Tras licenciarse en
2005 se mudó a Nueva York para comenzar a trabajar como
actor, guionista y director de forma autodidacta.
Demian has
background in many
creative disciplines.

Different kind of experiences…

My list of categories or broad disciplines that matter to a Video Game UX:
a. Goals, Actions and Balance (Mechanics)
b. Meaning and Narrative
c. Graphic communication
d. Art, colour and Beauty
e. Movement and Audiovisual
f. Physical objects
g. Environment and Architecture
h. Interface
i. Monetization
j. Marketing
ü Video games are becoming more complex products and sometimes near reality experiences: we
need to master the different components of each experience.
ü Pay more attention to those “components” with which interaction is directly related (a, b, f, g).
ü Appreciate and know ‘enough’ of the other languages, so you can detect who is good at it (if not
you, an architect, artist, etc.) and what are the ‘usual problems’.
• Cinema is a combination of narrative and meaning, audiovisual and art and beauty.
• TV Contests are a combination of audiovisuals, goals, actions and balance.
• Novels or poetry are only made of narrative and meaning.
Especially covered by the
degree you are taking.
Frequently in charge of Game Designers
Sometimes in charge of Game Designers

In video games, certain small things matter a lot to UX:
No bugs, saving times (autosave), skip videos, retake some notes,…
The UX cannot be designed, but many things can be done to improve it.

1.5 Practitioner role
The news are: the UX practitioner is *generally* not a designer. He knows about
psychology and research.
The UX professional and the producer are the only ones with a big picture idea on what
would be the user experience (motivation, emotions, attention, etc.).
[http://www.gameschoolprep.com/who-exactly-makes-games-anyway/]
The typical roles in a game studio. The UX researcher or UI designer are not included.
They would be next to the producer, game tester...

The UX professional is a researcher, but can help every other team member to work
‘with the user in mind’.
The UX professional and the producer can demand to any team member to change
the narrative, the aesthetics,… the concept. The UX professional needs to learn
about the different kinds of experiences that can enrich the video game to deal with
any other member from the game development team.
In short, the game designers are responsible of most the player’s experience with
the game. But we need a UX professional:
• Because someone has to remind of who is ’the target user’ (for instance, using a
technique called Personas).
• Because someone has to evaluate (or design) the UI and sometimes is the same
UX professional.
• Because it is necessary to evaluate the how the game is played to improve it.
• Because games are no longer just mechanics and the game designer may fail. (!)
Let’s see job offers…

• UI is not UX. But sometimes the UI designer is asked to do UX.
• The UX part of the job offers is that they will test, test and test.

• Plan and conduct research
• Measuring engagement
• Identify opportunities
• Partner across different disciplines

• Wireframes, storyboards, etc.
• Iterating (testing) existing experiences
• Expert in research methods

As you see, sometimes, there are mixed roles that mention UX. You will see:
• User Experience Designer
• User Interface & User Experience
• Front-end developer & UX (in software)
• UX Producer
• Etcetera
Why do these roles use the term UX?
Because adding UX makes the term more ‘sexy’. It sells more.
Because UX is a set of theories, principles and methodologies (research), but they
can be used by any other team member. Any project should practice UX.
The best way is to have a dedicated person, a UX researcher.
Recommended video: The 6 game UX roles. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mq2sePF_sM]
UX is like the olive oil in Mediterranean
cuisine. It complements every role.

How To Hire A Great UX Designer: UX Designer Interview Questions:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mdmr4semUc4]
And a long list of attributes…
self-learner, skeptical, humanist, etc.
Humility: to learn from/help everyone
Empathy: to understand users
Curiosity: to take initiative
• What are the most important human values you should have as User Experience
professional?
• What can I teach you to be a UX professional?
The most important thing: how to look at video games. To have a good overview is
the most important thing to start. This course will give you an overview of concepts
and methods.

1.6 Not a creative field, science! (in business environment)
In User Experience, we hardly ever create, we question and verify every aspect of the
game elements (mechanics, light, camera, controls, etc.) to improve it.
• Observation/Experience
• Define a problem
• Hypothesis
• Gather evidence
• Retain or reject the hypothesis
• Implement a change in the game
This is essentially the Scientific Method.
Budget or time are usually constraints on what methodology or setting is used.
Methods?
Playtesting, interviews, polls, data analytics, among others.
[https://www.nngroup.com/articles/which-ux-research-methods/]

In User Experience, we hardly ever create, we question and verify every aspect of the
game elements (mechanics, light, camera, controls, etc.) to improve it.
• Observation/Experience
• Define a problem
• Hypothesis
• Gather evidence
• Retain or reject the hypothesis
• Implement a change in the game
This is essentially the Scientific Method.
Budget or time are usually constraints on what methodology or setting is used.
Methods?
Playtesting, interviews, polls, data analytics, among others.
[https://www.nngroup.com/articles/which-ux-research-methods/]

How is the UX research in a game project?
• Prevent some design mistakes without testing.
• Test specific design aspects to find problems.
• Test specific design aspects to improve them.
• Involve the entire team in the process.
UX acts mainly here,
but it is in the whole process
User-Centered Design (UCD) is a multi-stage problem-solving process that not only
requires designers to analyze and foresee how users are likely to use a product, but also
test the validity of their assumptions.
design, test, design, test.

Since ‘UX professionals’ are relatively new, they generate a certain apprehension and
suspicion from veteran professionals. A UX professional can be confronted with some
wrong ideas.
General software UX misconceptions and myths:
[https://www.toptal.com/designers/ux/ux-design-misconceptions-and-myths]

[http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/CeliaHodent/20150406/240476/5_Misconceptions_about_UX_User_Experie
nce_in_Video_Games.php]
The UX expert will discuss this "flag" with the designers and together they will define if it is an issue
to address or not, depending on the experience intended.
1. UX will distort the design intents and make the game easier
“The players open a closet and a zombie surprisingly pops out of it to attack them. Most
players observed try to move backwards but a table left by a vicious level designer is
blocking their escape, so they panic trying to move around it.”

2. UX will Restrict the Creativity of the Team
Since ‘UX professionals’ are relatively new, they generate a certain apprehension and
suspicion from veteran professionals. A UX professional can be confronted with some
wrong ideas.
A video game is an interactive experience. You can play with human limitations such as
perception. UX practitioners should help reveal the human constraints (i.e. human
mind). It’s up to the designer what to do.
UX testing is an important tool in avoiding what can often become the echo box of an
often insulated creative and executive team. UX feedback can be tough, but necessary.

3. UX is Yet Another Opinion
UX practitioners do not give opinions. They provide an analysis based on their expertise
and on data (when available).
If done correctly, any method provides feedback on how the player experiences the
game. When UX practitioners have a clear understanding on the project and business
goals, they can provide the most objective feedback that can help other team members
reach them.

4. UX is Just Common Sense
Some principles known by UX practitioners are already known as “universal” design
principles. We will see that in the next Lesson (for instance, Gestalt laws). Many other
human brain aspects are not known yet.
Furthermore, the UX can provide a rigorous use of the methodologies like no other.

5. There is not enough time or money to consider UX
Many professionals are working 60 hours per week. However, shipping a game with
critical UX issues could end up being extremely damaging to your game, especially given
that your audience can choose to spend their time and money on many other games.
It is very important to schedule time for researching the user’s and verifying the game
aspects. It is best to do less but in the right moment.
Certain mechanics can be tested on prototype and will be cheap to change when the art
is not implemented yet.
A truth in time can save you a lot of trouble.

Overview of the Lesson
1.1 History Roots
1.2 What is UX?
1.3 In Software and in Games
1.5 Practitioner role (UX professional)
1.6 Not a creative field, science!

1.8 How to study UX and this course
Interdisciplinary knowledge
UX knowledge is fragmented, non-hierarchical, changing and can be contradictory.
• We cannot go from level 1 to 10 like in programming.
• It is not modular like Maths or Physics.
• It is not chronological or memory-based like history or geography.
UX knowledge is science and practice: it implies understanding the ‘big picture’ and
knowing how to implement methods.
We can learn: a) psychology, b) human-computer interaction concepts, c) methods,
when and how to use them, d) case studies.
Teaching UX in a class can be incomplete (it would be better to be in a project). But
you will learn the ‘theory’. And, still, we can learn from examples and case studies.
Overlaps!

Do not study ‘everything by heart’ – there are more than 500 slides (!).
Memory is necessary but is not your best ally: this is not history. I want you to
prioritize and think by yourself.
Why is important you learn about UX?
• You will need to learn some UX, no matter what position you’ll be in the
game development process. If the team is big, you will have to work with a
UX professional. Deal with it. ;)
• Once you know more about UX you will not look at ’objects’ in the same
way. Its learnings are long-lasting.
You can start thinking about your final project. UX research is the closest
activity to a research project.

Learn to learn
• I value a lot your personal motivation and interest in any of the areas of the
UX field.
• I value a lot that you explore all the connections of UX with the industry,
academia, social media, etcetera.
• I value a lot that you work with the same or more dedication than you did in
other courses, even though you will do some things for the first time.

• Elaborate the course important questions.
Go to menti.com and use the code 19 78 73.

Some of them could be:
1. What is User Experience?
2. How can I improve the usability of a UI?
3. Is there a single type of usability?
4. Does a good usability make a good UX? Is it the same?
5. How can I measure the usability of a controller?
6. What are the characteristics of a good tutorial?
7. What is the most important part of the game for its UX?
8. What are the most common mistakes done in a playtesting session?
9. How do I analyze an interview on UX?
10. What are the steps for conducting a User Experience research?
11. …
• Elaborate the course important questions.

Course Contents:
Block 1: Theory
Unit 1: What Is User Experience?
Unit 2: Psychology Concepts
Unit 3: UX, Usability and Accessibility
Unit 4: Usable User Interfaces
Block 2: Methods and Context
Unit 5: User-Centered Design and User Research
Unit 6: Qualitative Methods
Unit 7: Quantitative Methods
Unit 8: Business, ethics and more
- 8 Lessons of 2 hours (16 hours of theory). 4.5h approx. at home each week.
- 5 Sessions of extra discussions and applied cases (10 hours). 4.5h approx. at home each week.
- One portfolio of ‘guided activities’ (with three deliveries for each). 1.5 h at home each week.
Total: 100 hours (40 class + 60 home)
It is perhaps the most difficult subject (conceptually) of the degree.
Evaluation: 60% ‘guided activities’, 20% mid-term exam, 20% final exam.

Practical Lessons Contents: Creating a UX Portfolio
The value of a UX professional is the value of his or her portfolio.
The practical lessons encompass three deliveries.
Each delivery has a ‘main exercise’:
1. User Experience analysis: design components and psychology concepts
2. Heuristic Evaluation and Accessibility Analysis
3. Playtesting an ’Onboarding Plan’ / Usability Testing ‘E-commerce checkout process’
[https://uxmastery.com/10-inspiring-ux-portfolios/]

What will I get from this course?
With the practical exercises:
• You will learn the necessary psychology and usability concepts to analyze all
the factors that exist in the relationship between a user and a video game.
• You will learn to elaborate reports at an advance level with intellectual rigor,
clear writing and good referencing.
• You will learn to study a user experience related problem with the right
methods to understand its causes and solutions.
UX connects with psychology, marketing, game design, visual design, among
others. There are many concepts, but I want to you to get ‘the approach’.
This is a scientific subject and you will learn from concepts and case studies.

Key Questions and Concepts (TakeAways)
• User Experience is rooted in Ergonomics, Human Factors and Usability
tradition. All take the user into account in order to design more
effectively. Today, in games UX helps in understanding what to do to
design to make the producer/game designers vision come true.
• You cannot design the UX. UX is the consequence of every detail. You can
take care of details understanding better the user. Everything matters.
Game mechanics, music, narrativity, colours. Be analytical!
• The UX professional is an ally to the team in order to help them create a
better video game. She will point at the target player. She will question
every aspect that may stop them from getting there. Most importantly,
she will use the scientific method in order to verify the utility of every
game aspect.

References and Bibliography
• All the references provided in the Powerpoint are valuable.
• Hodent, C. (2017). The Gamer's Brain: How Neuroscience and UX Can Impact Video Game
Design. CRC Press.
• “Why UX May be the Two Most Important Letters in Gaming”
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=146p_gJJtyc&t=5s]
• Designing the User Experience of Game Develompent Tools. David Lightbown. CRC Press.
Taylor & Francis Group. 2015. [http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1019273/The-User-
Experience-of-Game] Video about the book.
• The Art of Game Design: A Book Of Lenses. Jesse Schell. Carnegie Mellon University. 2008.
• Intro to UX Design - User Experience and You - Extra Credits
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPD5dUBFsps]
All images used in these slides belong to the cited sources.

If you want to read some classic and good books on software UX
• Norman, D. (2013). The design of everyday things: Revised and expanded edition.
Constellation.
• Krug, S. (2014). Don’t make me think revisited: A common sense approach to web and
mobile usability . Berkeley.
• Gothelf, J. (2013). Lean UX: Applying lean principles to improve user experience. " O'Reilly
Media, Inc.".
• Mullet, K., & Sano, D. (1995). Designing visual interfaces: Communication oriented
techniques (Vol. 2550). Englewood Cliffs (NJ): SunSoft Press.
• Unger, R., & Chandler, C. (2012). A Project Guide to UX Design: For user experience
designers in the field or in the making. New Riders.
• Garrett, J. J. (2010). Elements of user experience, the: user-centered design for the web
and beyond. Pearson Education.
• Kuniavsky, M. (2003). Observing the user experience: a practitioner's guide to user
research. Elsevier.
• Rubin, J., & Chisnell, D. (2008). Handbook of usability testing: how to plan, design and
conduct effective tests. John Wiley & Sons.
All images used in these slides belong to the cited sources.

If you want to read some classic and good books on UX
Software UX
• Norman, D. (2013). The design of everyday things: Revised and expanded edition.
Constellation.
• Krug, S. (2014). Don’t make me think revisited: A common sense approach to web and
mobile usability . Berkeley.
• Gothelf, J. (2013). Lean UX: Applying lean principles to improve user experience. " O'Reilly
Media, Inc.".
• Mullet, K., & Sano, D. (1995). Designing visual interfaces: Communication oriented
techniques (Vol. 2550). Englewood Cliffs (NJ): SunSoft Press.
Start your library! Buy second hand books!

What is User Experience

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