usability heuristics for online virtual worlds€¦ · eu fp7 ict virtuallife about virtual worlds...

Usability heuristics for online virtual

worlds

Viktorija Butkutė, Kristina Lapin

Vilnius University

Content

EU FP7 ICT VirtualLife project

About virtual worlds

Motivation for usability heuristics

User needs research

Heuristics for 3D virtual worlds

Conclusions

2 IT 2010, 22 April 2010, Kaunas

EU FP7 ICT VirtualLife



User needs research


Conclusions

Objective

to create a safe, democratic and legally

ruled 3D collaborative environment

Novelty

Issues of security and trust

In-world legal framework

Supreme Constitution, a Constitution of

Virtual Nation, a set of contracts

Dispute resolution and voting mechanisms

hybrid peer-to-peer infrastructure

3 IT 2010, 22 April 2010, Kaunas

Usability heuristics

for online virtual

worlds

Vertical application

Virtual University

Extention of Web 2.0

information as a content

asynchronous communication

synchronous communication

interaction as a content

4




Research of user needs

Heuristics for 3D virtual world

Conclusions


for online virtual

worlds

Learning materials

Static

searchable for learner’s queries

in 2D environment

Interactive objects in 3D environment

5




User needs research


Conclusions


for online virtual

worlds

Learning motivation

Learning environment

constantly gratifying

encouraging social interaction

providing playful experiences

6



Motivation for Usability heuristics

Research of User needs

Heuristics for 3D Virtual world

Conclusions


for online virtual

worlds

Two types of virtual worlds

IT 2010, 22 April 2010, Kaunas7

fully immersive

virtual reality

environment

non-immersive

desktop web-based

virtual environments






Conclusions


for online virtual

worlds

Usability evaluations of VW


Formative usability evaluations

expert inspections and usability testing

Heuristic evaluation

existing heuristics: appropriate for 2D GUI

Virtual world usability aspects

Integration of input-output devices

Navigation

Intuitiveness and simplicity of objects

manipulation

Comfort of system design




Research of user needs


Conclusions


for online virtual

worlds (VW)

Usability evaluation


Socialability aspects

conversation forms

high quality synchronous realistic communication

text and voice chats, videoconferencing ...

coordination

verbal and non-verbal communication

schedules, rules and convention

shared external representations

awareness

supporting distance collaboration

rendering of surrounding activities






Conclusions


for online virtual

worlds

User needs in virtual worlds


User – visitor and content creator

Presentation usable graphical user interface

rich photorealistic environment

avatars of both genders, various age and appearance

modest hardware requirements

Activity public and private spaces and communication

realistic interaction and movements flying, teleportation

import of external objects

Rules licensing and intellectual protection

conventions and legal rules






Conclusions


for online virtual

worlds

Socialiability heuristics


The purpose of virtual community (VC)

VC has a clear and meaningful name

Purpose is stated, defined clearly and briefly

Members and their activities

Member has an account

Ability to form groups and communities

Clearly separated user roles

Attendance of member is properly visualized

Active members - promoted and motivated

Motivation for continuous participation

Supported effective communication and collaboration is supported

Rules

Rules for users’ registration and attendance

Control of the behavior of community members






Conclusions


for online virtual

worlds



U1. Navigation

U1.1. Navigation is intuitive and memorable

U1.2. Minimal use of additional windows

U1.3. Minimal use of deep hierarchical structure

U1.4. The system ensures the consistency between

navigation information

U2. Accessibility

U2.1. Adaptation to user devices and tools

U2.2. For possible problems - a set of predefined solutions

U2.3. Technical requirements are clearly defined

U2.4. A short time for downloading and installing the tool






Conclusions


for online virtual

worlds



U3. Information delivery and presentation

U3.1. The convenience of information transfer, acquirement and

search.

U3.2. The system provides only complete and updated information

U3.3. Redundant usage of colors is avoided

U3.4. Usage of animated and graphical elements is limited

U3.5. Information is delivered consistently and coherently

U3.6. The system provides help for users

U4. Dialog

U4.1. The system ensures that protocol of dialog usage can be

easily learned

U4.2. The user controls the system behavior, not vice versa

U4.3. The system response is predictable

U4.4. The system response is informative






Conclusions


for online virtual

worlds



U5. Security

U5.1. The system provides tools for error managing

U5.2. The system prevents user from making mistakes.

U5.3. The user is able to cancel the last performed actions

U5.4. The security of confidential information and

intellectual property

U6. Consistency

U6.1. Prediction of the result of performed actions

U6.2. Ability to the influence of past actions to present

state

U6.3. Ability to apply an experience from other systems

U6.4. Ability to perform more than several tasks at the

same time






Conclusions


for online virtual

worlds

Not covered user needs


Multiple interfaces

messaging, maps, inventory, avatar movement

control, search, object editor, etc.

Interaction between avatars is analogous

to people interaction in the real world

Various kinds of communication between

avatars

Extending the functionality of the virtual

world using given tools






Conclusions


for online virtual

worlds

Heuristics from user research


User forums – a tool for user research

New possibility to do user research

Second Life , Active Worlds and There

Critical flaws with Second Life

Inventory management heuristics

U3.7. Inventory - searched, filtered and sorted

U3.8. An adequate response while attaching

objects to an inventory asset

Balancing GUI with 3D screen

Account transfer






Conclusions


for online virtual

worlds

Conclusions


Analysed data sources Experience gained from WEB 2.0 tools

3D virtual world user forums

Virtual worlds

socialability aspects

synchronous communication

non-verbal communication

playful experiences

10 groups of heuristics

with operationalisations






Conclusions


for online virtual

worlds

Usability heuristics for online

virtual worlds

Viktorija Butkutė, Kristina Lapin

Vilnius University

[email protected], [email protected]


usability heuristics for online virtual worlds€¦ · eu fp7 ict virtuallife about virtual worlds...

Documents