View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by ASU Digital Repository Experience Points: Learning, Product Literacy and Game Design by James Scott Reeves A Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science in Design Approved April, 2016 by the Graduate Supervisory Committee: Prasad Boradkar, Chair Elisabeth Gee Donald Herring ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY May 2016 ABSTRACT Game design and product design are natural partners. They use similar tools. They reach the same users. They even share the same goal: to provide great user experiences. This thesis asks, "Can game design build better product learning experiences, and if so, how?" It examines the learning situations created by and necessary for product design. It examines the principles of game learning. Then it looks for opportunities to apply game learning principles to product learning situations. The goal is to create engaging and successful product learning experiences, without turning products into games. This study uses an auto-ethnographic evaluation of a gameplay session as well as participant observation and interviews with gamers to gather qualitative data. That data is sorted with an A(x4) framework and used to create user experience profiles. The final outcome is a toolkit that identifies areas where game design could improve the design of product user experiences, especially for product learning. i To Jim and Sue Reeves . ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank the following people: Prasad Boradkar, Elisabeth Gee, Don Herring, John Takamura, Heidi Fischer, Jessica Vasquez, Marty Province, and Lindsay Dreher. This was a long—and frequently frustrating— journey. You listened patiently. You asked pointed questions. You gave feedback. A few times you even swooped in like super heroes and saved the day. Thank you for all your help. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................................ ix LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................................... xii CHAPTER 1 — INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................... 1 Problem Statement ................................................................................................................... 1 Research Topics and Questions .............................................................................................. 1 Game Learning and Product Learning .................................................................................... 1 The Experience of Game Learning ......................................................................................... 1 Ludomimicry and Learning ...................................................................................................... 2 Conceptual Framework ............................................................................................................ 2 Significance .............................................................................................................................. 2 Viewpoint, Scope and Limitations ............................................................................................ 3 2 — LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................................... 5 Here is the Plan ........................................................................................................................ 5 The active personal voice ......................................................................................................... 6 A Few Useful Terms ................................................................................................................. 9 Product Literacy and Consumer Research ........................................................................... 10 Gamification ........................................................................................................................... 11 Who's Learning About Products? ........................................................................................... 12 Levels of Difficulty................................................................................................................... 14 Everyday Things ..................................................................................................................... 15 Affordances ........................................................................................................................... 17 Designing with Affordances ................................................................................................... 18 The Limits of Affordances ...................................................................................................... 20 Skill-based Products ............................................................................................................... 21 Smartphones and Skill-based Everyday Things .................................................................... 22 iv CHAPTER Page The Case for Learning Design ............................................................................................... 23 More Design = More Learning ............................................................................................... 23 Changing Activities ................................................................................................................ 24 Accidental Changes............................................................................................................... 26 Changing Products ................................................................................................................ 29 Updatable Products ............................................................................................................... 30 Metaproducts ......................................................................................................................... 31 Platform Products .................................................................................................................. 32 Usability and Learning ........................................................................................................... 33 Smartphones and Skill-based Everyday Things ................................................................... 35 Users Are Changing .............................................................................................................. 37 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 39 Game Design + Product Design ............................................................................................. 40 “Joy of Use” ........................................................................................................................... 40 Similar Challenges................................................................................................................. 41 Practice and Study ................................................................................................................ 42 Smaller Worlds ...................................................................................................................... 44 Designed to Be Difficult ......................................................................................................... 47 Guild Wars 2 vs. Rebel XS .................................................................................................... 48 Experimental Learning .......................................................................................................... 51 Remote-control Education ..................................................................................................... 54 Signposts ............................................................................................................................... 55 Fences and Paths.................................................................................................................. 61 Other Tools ............................................................................................................................ 64 Feedback ............................................................................................................................... 64 Affinity Groups ....................................................................................................................... 66 Biomimicry and Ludomimicry ................................................................................................. 68 v CHAPTER Page 3 — RESEARCH DESIGN ............................................................................................................ 70 Overview ................................................................................................................................. 70 Phase 1: An Auto-Ethnography of a Puzzle Game ................................................................ 71 Ico: The First Puzzle ............................................................................................................... 71 Learning Events ...................................................................................................................... 75 Phase 2: Participant Observations and