

One of the crucial critiques of the current state of game development is the apparent lack of originality in design solutions: games are designed to appeal to a rather narrow, already existing player demographic.

Involving players more in the design processes of games is also important for the future of the games industry and for the diversity of game cultures in general. Because there are connections between the two, the design of utility applications can benefit from lessons derived from game design (see Malone, 1984) – and vice versa. However, the player cannot be seen just as a user of the game: playability is not the same as usability (cf. These concepts do not diverge very far from the concepts of usability design. Also, integrating action and outcome into the larger context of the game is crucial (Salen & Zimmerman 2004, 34-36). Discernability requires letting players know what happens when they take action. According to Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman (2004), this requires making the game discernable and integrated. Instead of requiring low mental capacity, games should be challenging and entertaining and the goal of the design should be to create meaningful play.

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The game design process can be related to the design of entertainment experiences, such as amusement park rides, some aspects of movie scriptwriting or storytelling techniques, as well as to issues native to interaction design.
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It is not just about minimizing the cognitive load of the user and making the software as simple as possible, as is usually the case in user interface design and evaluation (cf. However, game design is, arguably, a much different task than designing utility applications. There is considerable research and literature in the area of user-centred design (see for example Laurel, 1990 Norman, 1988 Raskin, 2000) and traditional user-centred design offers several beneficial viewpoints that could be used in any kind of design processes. Introduction: Players’ Role in Game Design This paper describes and evaluates the experiences gathered while using a scenario-based player study to inform pervasive mobile game design. Thus, we argue that players should be more involved in game design and development than is currently typical. A player-centred game design approach like this can be laborious and has its challenges, but it also provided useful information and inspiration for design. After analysis, the key findings were summarized into design requirements that were then adopted as goals for the game design. The player study used gameplay scenarios that were presented to the informants in a comic strip format. Rather than starting from the research team’s own game preferences or by analyzing or imitating existing games, the team decided to commence the game design process by researching different “real players” and their preferences. In order to investigate the future of pervasive game playing on mobile devices the University of Tampere Hypermedia Laboratory’s research project Wireless Gaming Solutions for the Future (MOGAME) has developed a prototype of a persistent multiplayer game. There is a need for systematic, research-based and tested game design methodologies that take the needs and preferences of different players into better consideration than the current industry practices. He is also the President of the international Digital Games Research Association, DiGRA.Ĭontact information Laura Ermi & Frans MäyräĮxperiences in Using Scenario Study to Inform Mobile Game Design He has studied the relationship of culture and technology from the early nineties, particularly advocating academic study of games. Frans Mäyrä, PhD, is a research director at the Hypermedia Laboratory at the University of Tampere, Finland. She is doing research on players’ experiences, currently especially on game play practices of children and game play experience evaluation of pervasive and lottery games. Laura Ermi’s background is in the field of psychology and she is working as a researcher at the Hypermedia Laboratory of the University of Tampere, Finland. International journal of computer game research Game Studies 0501: Player-Centred Game Design: Experiences in Using Scenario Study to Inform Mobile Game Design by Laura Ermi and Frans Mäyrä
