Direct Manipulation in Games

In this week's blog post, I'd like to take some time to talk about direct manipulation in video games. Direct manipulation is basically the continuous representation of an object, combined with rapid, reversible, and incremental actions and feedback that these objects have (Nacke, 2013). The game that I will be using as an example throughout the post (and one that I recently started playing) is SimCity.

Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5f/SimCity_2013_Limited_Edition_cover.png

SimCity is a city planning and building game. In the game, players zone areas of their city for purposes such as residential, business, and industrial. Once zoned, Sims begin moving into the city, working at factories and spending their hard earned money at stores.

The game serves as a good example of direct manipulation in video games. If we look closely at the actions the players perform in the game, they are similar to actions that would occur in the real world. An obvious example could be the government zoning a residential area, home builders building new houses, and eventually, new people moving into the city.

In general, the game feels like an interactive and animated version of Google Maps. Users are able to zoom in and out of the map to get a better view. When the user zooms in, they are able to see fine details of the game, which provides a further example of how the game is in-line with the definition of direct manipulation. Once an area has been zoned, users will be able to see the construction process of new buildings in the city. As it would be silly for players to wait months and months for construction of new buildings like in the real world, obviously game time progresses a lot faster and the player is able to see the entire construction process. Of course, in the later stages of the game, the player may find that their layout is no longer suitable for the population of the city and may choose to re-organize the city. Players are given the ability to do this through demolishing a building, removing the zoning permit (if desired), and then re-zoning the area.

Overall, the user interface in the game is easy to learn, makes sense, and is easy to master over time. The ability to create a city and share it with other players and friends is a factor that encourages users to master the interface as well as to continuously explore to see what new options are available as the player as they progress through the game.

In last week's lecture, one of the topics covered was command line vs. display editors. The example in the lecture was regarding word processors and operating systems. For many of us, the costs and benefits associated with each are easy to identify: command line can be more powerful but requires users to memorize different syntax for different systems; display editors are able to offer a WYSIWYG interface and offer icons to help easily identify features, but lacks some of the more sophisticated features. To add to that and provide a more gaming related example, we can look at the transition of computer games throughout history.

For those that were around in the 70s, they may remember a little text-based game called Zork.

Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/01/Screenshot_of_Zork_running_on_Frotz_through_iTerm_2_on_Mac_OSX.png

Zork provides a good example of what a command line text-based game would be like, as users had to read blocks of text and input actions they wish their character to perform. From there, the 80s brought us the first SimCity:

Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/Micropolis_-_empty_map.png

As we can see, there's more of a WYSIWYG interface, although there is still a lot of text in the game. Text provides the user with important information regarding their current game state, while the icons in the middle provided a quick way to develop the city, and, of course, the map provided users with a current view of their city.

Fast forward to 2013, advances in the games as well as computer hardware industry have allowed developers to craft more realistic and exciting experiences, as well as improve on old ones for players to once again enjoy. Below is a screenshot of the recently released SimCity:

Source: http://img.popherald.com/uploads/2013/03/sim-city-5-2013-traffic.jpeg

As you can see, there have been major improvements. Users have the ability to zoom in, the game is able to simulate Sims with AI, and there is a minimal amount of text and lots of icons.

This is not to say that we are now able to create perfect interfaces without any problems whatsoever. SimCity's user interface does come with its own set of problems. For starters, the game's heavy reliance on icons means that users must take the time to learn what each icon means and where to find certain buildings that they wish to construct. This was definitely one of the problems I faced as a new player playing the game. There was an instance where I wished to specialize my city as a gambling city and build my first casino; problem is, which category would casino fall under?

A second problem that is closely related to the first is the use of icons that may be confusing to new players. Looking at the image above, there are certain parts of the UI that may confuse a new player, for example, what does the shield icon on the bottom left represent? What would the green, blue, and yellow bars represent at the bottom of the screen?

A third problem with SimCity's UI, albeit a minor one, is the lack of keyboard shortcuts. Having keyboard shortcuts is essential for expert players as they do not wish to waste time going through menus and know exactly what they want, and where they want it. For these users, speed is important as they have remembered all the keyboard shortcuts. On the other hand, in SimCity, speed does not necessarily provide users with any particular advantage, hence why it is a minor problem for the game. If we look at RTS games such as Starcraft, the lack of keyboard shortcuts would be a significant problem for Blizzard. Many players of Starcraft are veterans, and, even for new players, they quickly realize the importance of knowing keyboard shortcuts, as every second in the game can make the difference between winning or losing a game.

To finish off, we've gone a long way in the gaming industry. From the text-based games of the 70s to sophisticated and beautiful UIs found in today's games, each game has a different UI that is specifically designed to work well for that type of game. Therefore, it is monumentally important that developers understand their target audience, and design a UI that is meaningful, easy to learn, and works well for both beginners and experts in order to have a successful game.

References

Nacke, L. (2013). Uoit infr 4350 lecture 7: Direct manipulation [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Oq7PRoALJV4