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Usability heuristics for networked multiplayer games

Published: 10 May 2009 Publication History

Abstract

Networked multiplayer games must support a much wider variety of interactions than single-player games because networked games involve communication and coordination between players. This means that designers must consider additional usability issues that relate to group play - but there are currently no usability engineering methods that are specifically oriented towards the needs of multiplayer games. To address this problem, we developed a new set of usability heuristics, called Networked Game Heuristics (NGH), which can be used in the design and evaluation of networked multiplayer games. The new heuristics were identified by analyzing problem reports from 382 reviews of networked PC games, covering six main genres. We aggregated problem reports into ten problem categories (covering issues from session management to cheating to training for novice players) and developed heuristics that describe how these usability problems can be avoided. We tested the new heuristics by having evaluators use them and an existing set to assess the usability of two networked games. Evaluators found more usability problems with NGH, and stated that the new heuristics were better for evaluating multiplayer game usability. Our research is the first to present networked game heuristics that are derived from real problem reports, and the first to evaluate the heuristics' effectiveness in a realistic usability test.

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    cover image ACM Conferences
    GROUP '09: Proceedings of the 2009 ACM International Conference on Supporting Group Work
    May 2009
    412 pages
    ISBN:9781605585000
    DOI:10.1145/1531674
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    Published: 10 May 2009

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    Author Tags

    1. NGH
    2. game usability
    3. heuristic evaluation
    4. multiplayer games
    5. networked game heuristics
    6. networked games
    7. usability

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    GROUP09: ACM 2009 International Conference on Supporting Group Work
    May 10 - 13, 2009
    Florida, Sanibel Island, USA

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    • (2023)A Scoping Review of Heuristics in Videos Games Research: Definitions, Development, Application, and OperationalisationProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36110357:CHI PLAY(402-424)Online publication date: 4-Oct-2023
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