In April ‘07, the Student Chapter held elections to replace the outgoing Executive Council members. Meet your new executive Council:
Matt Mainini - President
Greg Sarkisian - Vice President
Gary Yuen - Secretary/Treasurer
Hillary Houston - Events Coordinator
Congratulations to our new Executive Council, and a special thanks to all the highly qualified candidates who ran for office this year!
We’re happy to see this new crew assembled, and expect many great things to come for the following year. If you weren’t elected as an officer or you’ve been sitting on the sidelines, don’t fret. There are ample opportunities to be involved in the chapter at many different levels. Thanks to everyone who voted, and another special thanks to D’Anne, our current VP, for running the election. It’s been great serving you. We all plan to stay involved and hope see you all again soon!
Peace,
Dave Law
D’Anne Harp
Steve Hays
Kirsten Peters
May 18th, 2007
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by Hillary Houston
Your Human Factors Horoscope for this issue:
Aries (March 21 - April 20)
There will be a change at work that will require you to use the worst interface of all time to enter your hours. The company will not be able to fathom why since the implementation of this “cost saving” measure they are now even further in the red. Your warnings will go unheeded.
Taurus (April 21 - May 21)
Pain will affect you in a usual place for the usual reasons. However an added twist of irony aligns this pain with a quiz on workplace injuries.
Gemini (May 22 - June 21)
Rather than be forgiving of a bad interface, you yell at it out loud, in public. It eats you.
Cancer (June 22 - July 22)
Lack of transparency will cause you to ruin not one, but two meals.
Leo (July 23 -August 21)
Soon you will meet the interface of your dreams.
Virgo (August 22 - September 23)
Poor feedback will lead to confusion. Confusion will lead to poor feedforward. Poor audio quality will lead to someone thinking you said “feet for Ward.” Ward will get a surprise delivery in the mail.
Libra (September 24 - October 23)
The road signs of your life are poorly lit, improperly spaced, and are not in alignment with reality.
Scorpio (October 24 - November 22)
A poorly placed button will lead to your ultimate demise.
Sagittarius (November 23 - December 22)
After much deliberation, you decide that the proper colors for a bar graph mango and lime sherbet. While giving a presentation, three people try to lick the screen, confirming not only your wisdom, but the wisdom of the people who named those colors.
Capricorn (December 23 - January 20)
Error 34VXK>65#J27960vlj”fi4f192938495083404049302. Please Try Again Later.
Aquarius (January 21 - February 19)
You will get three fortunes in your fortune cookie. Two will say the same thing. One of them will be more like a saying than a fortune.
Pisces (February 20- March 20)
You will make a commitment to only buying products labeled with Sans Serif fonts. This will bring both troubles and blessings to your life.
May 18th, 2007
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by Jon Hull
Dear Jon,
Do you think the wii controller is really a better way of interacting with a game, or is it just a gimmick?
Gamer in Grad School
Dear Gamer,
While there are many games out there which use the controller as a gimmick, it allows many types of interaction which are simply not possible on other systems. A push button is basically capable of communicating a grunt. The length and timing of the push are useful for “do this” types of commands (e.g. “shoot the gun” or “open the door”).
Analog joysticks are useful for “this way” types of commands (e.g. “go this way”). They do not work as well for selection tasks however (e.g. “go here”). There are many usability tests from the 80’s and early 90’s which show that joysticks make a poor mouse replacement.
The pointing ability of the wii-mote (as the controller is called) allows for quick selection. In addition to the obvious “shoot here” commands used in games like Zelda, games like Wario-Ware use this ability for level selection. Things like quick level or item selection may not seem like a big deal when compared with the more gimmicky abilities of the wii, but small frustrations add up over time. Being able to select an item (or target an enemy) quickly allows the player to focus on the game, without having to worry about the interface.
The motion sensing ability of the wii-mote is by far the most revolutionary part of the wii. It is also the place where the most gimmicks can be found. Motion sensing allows the player to communicate entire motor programs to the game. This is a lot more information than the simple grunt of the button.
In the best cases, players are actually acquiring new motor skills as they advance through the game. Wii bowling is an excellent example of this because players must learn to twist the wii-mote correctly to put the right spin on the ball.
But, yes… there are many games out there which use the wii-mote as a gimmick. One actually requires the player to aim the controller at a door knob, then twist and push to open a door. This gets annoying really fast, as there are a lot of doors which must be opened in rapid succession. Ironically, this is a case where the simple grunt of a button (”open the door”) would be a better fit.
In fact, this is a common theme amongst the gimmicky games. Even though they use complex motor programs (e.g. twisting a door knob and pushing to open a door), the amount of information being transmitted is very small. Games like Zelda (probably the best game on the system at the moment) have a much larger amount of information being transmitted. This allows the player to do complex things in the game by making complex movements with the controller.
In short, the wii is not just a gimmick. It is opening up a whole new realm of interactions. There are some games which treat it like a gimmick, but those will quickly die off to make room for games which are fun. It is just a matter of picking the right tool for the job. If all that is needed is a grunt, then the designer should use one of the wii’s buttons instead of forcing the user to execute a complex motor program. It is when the wrong tool is chosen that a gimmick results.
Thanks,
Jon
Do you have something you want to ask Jon? Just email him at jhull (at) gbis.com
May 18th, 2007
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by Roger Santos
I picked up the wireless mouse I had just purchased at Office Max and thought about how I would open it. Do I use scissors for this one or can I use brute force…hmm? The notebook mouse was packaged in a plastic casing that reminded me of a large clear oyster shell, and it appeared impossible to open. Memories of similar situations - which usually involved attacking one of these things with a box cutter or knife and ended with me using at least a band-aid or two to cover up the damage to myself – left me with only one solution, so I took a deep breath and went to the kitchen drawer to grab the scissors.
I’m sure everyone reading this article has faced a similar situation. If it isn’t plastic packaging then maybe it was a child proof aspirin bottle that made you think “you” were the child. There have been many times when my wife has yelled through the apartment asking for help in opening some type of bottle. Luckily I haven’t come across something I couldn’t open, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t broken what was in the package or that the pills in the bottle didn’t go running across the floor.
A while back my wife bought a coat from a local retail shop and she got a surprise when she arrived home. When she tried it on again she realized that while they deactivated the security tag they forgot to take it off. There she was with a great looking coat that had an ugly plastic tag on the arm. Later that day when I got home she asked if I could take it off. I should have said no, but my ego got the best of me. “Sure”, I said.
The tag was this little pin that was held from the back by another little piece of plastic. I grabbed a safety pin and a pair of pliers and went to work. The good thing was that I did get the tag off, but the bad thing was that it was an ink tag. Put two and two together and you can imagine the wrath I faced. Luckily, when we went back to the store the manager sympathized for us and gave us store credit. I couldn’t thank that manager enough; she saved me from a night on the couch.
But why do companies do this to us? Why are their some of their products so hard to sometimes open? Well, as with a lot of things, it goes back to money.
Companies create these plastic armors to discourage thieves from stealing their merchandise, and we consumers get stuck with the lacerations and scratches that come with opening them. One customer service representative that works for a company making this packaging admitted that for every dollar they spend on those impenetrable things they save hundreds of dollars in theft. Here we have the core of most horrible packaging (i.e. bad interfaces) – security measures. The stores save money and that’s enough to justify these designs. I can understand. If I owned something I would try to protect it from theft too. However, as a graduate student in human factors, I also acknowledge that is no excuse for these designs that are practically bear traps.
So companies, if you’re reading this article, please hire a human factors person to redesign these death packages; and as a husband I beg you.
May 18th, 2007
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by Dave Law
Last August I went with my family to visit relatives in Japan. I got to meet my 8 year old cousin “Taka-chan”, who I hadn’t seen since he was two. Here he is in action:
For your reference; he is stealing his parent’s phones to call himself and listen to the echo, dipping a meatball kabob into his ice water, emptying my sister’s purse to put it on his head, and taking lots of pictures of me while I’m eating (news flash: pictures of you shoveling food into your mouth are seldom flattering). As you can see, he’s quite a handful. From what I gather, he’s a pretty smart kid who loves kid things like Playstation and Dragonball, but he’s also a naughty little guy. But hey, so was I at that age, so I felt a sort of instant kinship with him (of course, being my cousin, he actually is my kin).
While we were there my aunt and her family said they wanted to take a road trip to visit one of the many hot springs that they have in the mountains of Japan. They rented a minivan with a fancy new GPS system installed. Taka-chan insisted on sitting in the front seat because he gets car sick. I sympathized, because I always got carsick too when I was a kid. So I crammed into the back seat with my sister for what should have been a three hour drive through the scenic mountain back roads of Japan… and so began my nightmare.
My aunt announced proudly to the car that Taka-chan was very good with things like maps and navigation, and that he was programming the GPS to take us to the hot springs. His excitement notwithstanding, I had plenty of reservations about putting an 8 year old in charge of our destiny, but I figured they wouldn’t do it unless they really trusted him. For the record, I can speak Japanese but not read it, so he could have programmed the GPS to drive us into the mouth of a volcano and I would have had no idea until there was lava coming through the AC vents (maybe I could have figured it out before then).
About a half hour into the drive, I observed Taka-chan merrily paging through the different views on the nav system. He would go from the overhead view to the in-car view and back, and continually be checking what appeared to be mileage stats and nearby gas stations. No problems there… then I saw the little green arrow indicating where we were heading suddenly blip to a new road on the completely opposite side of the screen.
I protested, but none of the other Japanese reading adults had any idea how to navigate the GPS interface and couldn’t verify my claims. My aunt refused to believe that her little angel would do such a thing. Since I can’t read Japanese and therefore couldn’t demonstrate to them that he had really just changed our destination, they opted to trust that Taka-chan was leading us in the right direction. I would frantically point to the screen every time he touched it, but by the time they looked, the screen would have changed. It reminded me of that episode of the Twilight Zone where William Shatner is on a plane and sees a gremlin on the wing, tearing out wires from the engine, but whenever someone else looks, the gremlin is gone. (The episode ends with Shatner shooting the gremlin with a stolen gun; luckily, firearms are hard to come by in Japan.)
My sister and I sat helpless in the back seat watching him mash his fingers randomly on the touch screen. The whimsical green arrow led us turn by turn into oblivion, and we grew more agitated, cramped, and hungry with every minute. Eventually they caught on that we should have been there long ago, but they still refused to take away Taka-chan’s toy; they instead relied on a mix of both a printed map and the verbal directions coming from the GPS, which at this point was trying to drive us to Mexico. This led to the driver second guessing his own directions and getting us even more lost. Whenever they realized that they were lost, they would explode into a chorus of curses directed at the GPS system, and bemoan the fact that this new-fangled technology was leading us astray. To make a long story short, NINE HOURS after we had left for a three hour drive, we pulled into the driveway of the hotel.
The conversation at dinner that night turned to the day’s mayhem with the GPS system, and technology in general. They thought it was so great that I’m doing human factors because they agreed that technology should make our lives easier, not more complicated, and that the day’s events were the perfect example of that. What struck me was how willing they were to place full blame on the technology, and zero blame on the real culprit; their bad, bad, naughty little user. We’re used to users blaming themselves, but they’re just as likely to blame technology when it suits them. It was hard to avoid blurting out something like “Human Factors will never be able to solve the problem of undisciplined little twerps who have no idea what they are doing pressing random buttons on a device that we’re all depending on”. Thankfully, the subject was changed by Taka-chan knocking my beer all over the table, and I was able to avoid such awkwardness.
May 18th, 2007
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by Dave Law
On March 2nd 2007, students and friends gathered in ENG 486 to dine on pizza and get a taste of the Nintendo Wii.
Wii is currently the hottest selling gaming system in the world, despite its lackluster graphics and non-existant online gaming capability. What sets the Wii apart is its usability; users who have never played games before are picking up the Wii’s intuitive motion sensitive controller and becoming instantly addicted to its easy to learn game play.
The games themselves are nothing new; every game on the Wii has been done before in some other format. Usability seems to have won the day, at least for now. “I’m glad there’s finally a gaming system that’s so easy to use that I can beat the crap out of my boyfriend” said my girlfriend, right before I dumped her. (just kidding)
For the party, two projectors and two Wiis were set up side by side. Participants could play games such as Wii Sports, Wario Smooth Moves, Monkey Ball, and Rayman Raving Rabbids. Attendees generally reported good experiences with the Wii, and an eagerness to go find one for themselves.
Not all were satisfied with the experience, however. Vice President D’Anne Harp was initially lured in by the apparent ease of use of the system, but after some exposure to the kludgy boxing controls, she stated “I demand responsiveness; it didn’t really keep up with me”. Others have pointed out various rookie usability flaws in the Wii’s interface, such as the lack of cross pollination for user settings and the ridiculously complex “Friend Code” system.
While it’s apparent that the Wii’s interface and control system could use some tweaking to make it more robust, it’s success is a true victory for those of us who believe that usability is a key factor in making a great product. Gaming has traditionally relied on graphics as a key ingredient for success; by that measure, Wii should be a total failure. Nintendo opted to invest in developing a more usable controller, rather than participate in the graphics processing arms race. Wii’s success comes from the ease of use afforded by its innovative controller, and the concomitant ability to open up gaming to non-gamer audiences. As AARP spokeswoman Amber McCollam said, “This is the first gaming system that isn’t targeted exclusively towards grandchildren; it’s so easy to use that grandma can enjoy it”.
May 18th, 2007
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by Hillary Houston and Kirsten Peters
Hilary and Kirsten recently spent some time playing Wii Sports and WarioWare on the Nintendo Wii. Here they report on different human factors aspects of the Wii.
What is a Wii?
The Nintendo Wii, a seventh generation video game console, was launched to the U.S. market in November of 2006. This new system has gained much interest because of its input device and snazzy new features.
The Wii actually has (so far) 3 different controller options. The Wii Remote or “Wii-mote” is used in every game. This handheld controller with sophisticated motion sensing technology combines accelerometers and Bluetooth for wireless control. The wand-like device looks similar to a television remote that gamers wave around in the air (like they just don’t care) like a sword, gun, steering wheel, tennis racket, or whatever a particular game calls for to control their actions in game.
By attaching the Nunchuck controller players get a two handed experience that is particularly handy in games like The Legend of Zelda and Wii Sports Boxing. By adding the Classic controller, players can play downloaded vintage games from older systems like SNES, N64, and even the Sega Genesis. Regardless, the Wii gaming experience is completely wireless. Just make sure that you wear your wrist strap at all times so you don’t accidentally throw your Wii-mote across the room during a heated baseball game or miniboss duel.
So what makes the Wii console so great? As mentioned before, you can download vintage games from older systems but there are actually several things you can do on the Wii besides play games. By hooking your Wii up to your wireless internet connection, you can check worldwide weather and news information. The best part about this is getting to spin the globe and finding weather information for some random city across the world. You can actually surf the internet via your Wii remote, but text entry and browsing can become time consuming and even with the fastest connections, the load time isn’t worth the wait.
Wiiface: Some thoughts from Hillary
“Sure I want to bowl square!”
Good icons can aid a user in making the right choices quickly. Bad icons will do just the opposite, hindering users from making good choices quickly. Some of the icons on the Wii interface are fine. I am personally a big fan of the home button on the remote with the little picture of the house on it. That icon is tried and true. When I push that little home button (accidently or on purpose—more on this later) I know what it is going to do.
Some of the icons are less fine. One that amused me was the “Training Mode” on Wii Sports. It’s particularly amusing because now that I know what it does it actually seems fairly representative. (Read: I actually understand what was going through game-makers Wii heads when they made this.) However, when I had not used it before (and everyone has not used it before at least once) I was very curious what the bowl square game would be like.
What is this?
How am I supposed to know what that means? Well the Wii Sports makers think that I am supposed to know what that means because they have the name of the game appear in a not so big font in the lower right hand corner of the screen as you hover over the somewhat ambiguous icon. Listen, Wii makers, if I am hovering over and diligently trying to discover the meaning of the bowl square icon in the middle of the screen, I am certainly not looking at the lower right hand corner of the screen. Not helpful.
I like to imagine my dad using this interface. My dad is a jolly man who very much resembles Santa Claus. To my knowledge, my dad (unlike Santa Claus) has never played the Wii. But if my dad were to play the Wii, he would never remember what the bowl square (or any other non-obvious icon) meant. I imagine he and I taking turns to avoid fatigue (as we do when we play DDR) and his turn comes up. He decides that he thinks one of the activities that I have just done (“bowl square” in this case) looks “neat,” and he would like to try it. He asks me where to find this activity and I direct him to “Training Mode” by telling him to click on the green dumbbell. Even though he has just seen me play bowl square and perhaps even played it himself another day, the icons mean nothing to him. He either chooses them by trial and error until he finds the right one, asks me which icon to choose, or somehow locates the written descriptions in the bottom corner, mumbles the descriptions under his breath as he accidently moves the pointer to other icons, and then asks me which icon to click on. What I am trying to say is that experience can make up for mediocre icons in some cases, but not in all cases.
What do I do?
So, you might be facetiously asking if I would rather have ambiguous icons or a huge description of the activity filling the entire screen. But you can just take your sarcasm and tuck it away for later because I was going to tell you that while I do not particularly like all of the icons used, I would much rather have some slightly ambiguous icon than a lengthy page of written directions. Unfortunately, some of the Wii games have these lengthy text directions as well.
Now, we all know that no one actually reads those directions. If you don’t believe me, just ask Kirsten, who flailed about randomly at the start of each game that gave text directions. It is situations like this in which those icons can be put to good use. The Wii interface makes a good attempt, often using graphics to show what you will be doing (holding the control and using a wrist strap no doubt) and using visual representations of the keypad to show the user what to do (See the directions to Madden07 below for an example of excellent directions). But all the directions could be like this! I will not settle for this interface that still expects lazy gamers to read.
Yea for Feedback!
If you don’t want to read and you don’t like the icons at least you won’t be completely in the dark. The Wii conveniently gives you information not only on the screen, but via that cute little remote that you hold in your hand. The remote can vibrate and make sound! I don’t know the exact circumstances under which the Wii remote makes these sounds and movements, but I will consider that a good thing. If I was getting this auditory and tactile feedback at all the wrong times, I would certainly be aware of it. The auditory and tactile feedback is certainly a great addition to the feedback on the screen.
My experience with the game WarioWare makes me want to mention that the auditory and tactile feedback alone is not enough. In Warioware you play lots of really short games really fast. It is not always clear at the conclusion of each game whether or not it has been successfully completed. The burning wick of dynamite representing the time allowed to complete each game continues burning upon successful completion of the task, which enforces the confusion. Most people I have observed using this game deal with this by continuing to repeat the motions of the game until the round has clearly been exited. What I am looking for, Warioware makers, is a big green checkmark or a big red x in the middle of the screen. Would that be so hard? I didn’t think so.
Wiigonomics: Some thoughts from Kirsten
Each of the controllers all have a uni-hand design – they can be used by both right and left handed people. All the buttons are located along the center line of the top side. This is good for a diverse user population but can sometimes create problems. Small handed users may not be able to easily reach all the buttons without effort and large handed users may accidentally hit unwanted buttons while playing. Hillary (who, we can safely say, does not have large hands) hit the home button numerous times while playing both Wii Sports and WarioWare. And while this frustrated her to no end, she did comment that, in general, the remote did feel comfortable in her hand.
The designers of the remote said they wanted to make something that would make people want to pick it up and try using it but also that was comfortable for everyone. Unfortunately, neither myself or Hilary have hands outside of the 95th percentile size range. Therefore, more data is needed to see if the size of the remote is acceptable for all hand sizes and shapes.
The wireless aspect controller gives players can play freely in a variety of body positions. This is important since many of the games require players to simulate large movements. This means that if your butt or arms get numb after playing laying down for awhile you can get up and play standing or leaning on one side or upside down if you choose.
Watch Out!
While the wireless Wii-mote is great in some instances, it also has become a bit of a hazard for some gamers. Imagine you’re in the zone, fighting some megaboss at the end of PaperMario. You’re swing your arms back and forth up and down as you battle this big bad mean dude. All of a sudden you feel a release, a crack, and a howl. You’re wrist strap (which you forgot to replace) has broken, the Wii-mote has been launched across the room and in its path was your very fine Ikea lamp and your very fuzzy but now very upset labradoodle (to be fair, Nintendo vigorously warns players to avoid playing the Wii near labradoodles - they just can’t be trusted).
The site Wiihaveaproblem.com illustrates that the above scenario has not been uncommon among Wii owners. In the Nintendo Wii’s (very detailed) safety precautions, players are told to wear the wrist strap tight while playing and to have at least 15 ft of room to play.
I need a break….
Wii Sports includes the every-popular-yet-highly-disputed break reminder feature. After playing for some time, a window appears on the screen suggesting to players to take a break. Taking frequent breaks is a commonly suggested practice for many activities (both static and dynamic). However, because the text of this screen is long with limited icons or animations and players can exit this screen simply by pressing one button once, many players may not even realize this suggestion is given.
After doing a little digging, I discovered that no available game other than the Wii Sports includes the break reminders. And after doing some thinking about it, I would think that the Wii Sports game would be one of the last games that needs this break reminder. Assume the Wii Sports game is designed to be played with at least two players. When you play with more than one player, you need to take turns in every game except boxing (which can be extremely exhausting so you naturally take breaks). Taking turns = taking breaks, naturally. However, if you are playing a RPG-style game like Zelda, you are most likely playing alone. Anyone who has ever played any sort of RPG game knows how easy it is to get sucked in and loose track of time. These types of games would be a much better candidate for a break reminder. Unfortunately, I have found no evidence that they have one.
Ouch!!!
The break reminder may be one way players can reduce their chances of the infamous ‘Wii Elbow.’ A week after the game system was launched, the Wall Street Journal published an article that dubbed the term “Wii Elbow.” The article reported that players (mostly children) all over the country were complaining of aches and pains in their elbows, shoulders and backs. Many of these players played every day since they bought their system the movements players used during a Wii game were different and most likely new. Most games require movements of the whole arm including the shoulder and elbow and most players have never played video games in this way (potentially with greater force, magnitude and repetition than players are used to).
All of these things combined, the change or increase in movement is a potential cause for these pains. It is also possible that gamers, who are immersed in playing the game, are unknowingly repetitively moving their bodies in certain positions that are considered unsafe. After playing 3 intense rounds of Wii Sports Boxing recently, even I experienced sore shoulders and upper back pain.
The Verdict
Sure we complain, but we love the Wii! Aches and pains, frustrations and confusions aside, playing the Wii is, well, a lot of fun. And if you are tired of Wii Sports (or tired from Wii Sports), there are lots of fun new games coming out soon. These games are really something to look forward to because as designers learn the capabilities of the system, and create new ways to interface with the wireless Wii-mote, playing the Wii will be better than ever.
May 18th, 2007
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by Jon Hull
Welcome to a special Wii themed issue. The newsletter team has been hard at work (and at play) to bring you several articles about Nintendo’s revolutionary new console. We even have a cartoon featuring the wii created by the very talented Steve Hays.
In addition to all of the wii based wonder, we have several interesting articles. Our esteemed president Dave Law has written about times when the user really is wrong. Roger Santos has given us an amusing story about interfaces which are “Husband Proof”. We also see the return of the Human Factors horoscope thanks to Hillary Houston.
Enjoy 
May 18th, 2007
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