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MAKING SENSE OF BUSINESS IN VIRTUAL WORLDS
Usability in virtual worldsMaking Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds
Karlsruhe, May 27th, 2008
Seite 2© 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds
About us ...
Seite 3© 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds
The Otherland GroupMaking Sense Of Business in Virtual Worlds
We are offering consulting and professional services for companies wishing to enter the Metaverse.
All of our projects, products and services are developed in a context of integrated brand communication, with a clear focus on return-on-investment and have to have measurable performance indicators.
“Lets do it! The competition is doing it, too.”... That’s so 2007!
Seite 4© 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds
Consulting ^Development Services
Full-Service for the Web3D
Our Portfolio includes all services necessary for a longterm engagement in virtual worlds, that makes business sense and operates with of measurable key performance indicators.
Our business is structured into three divisions which supplement each other but which deliver results independently from each other.
Consulting for (and before) using virtual worlds in real business
Implementation of projects in/with virtual worlds; customers projects and our own
Services and products in the realm of virtual worlds; B2C und B2B
Seite 5© 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds
Inworld Advertising Network
Since 2007 we are maintaining an advertising network for virtual worlds and conducted some high profile campaigns for companies like Deutsche Post, Funny Frisch, Axel Springer Verlag, EnBW, Gothaer Versicherungen or Festo AG.
Together with nugg.ad AG we developed the first solution for “behavioral targeting“ in virtual worlds.
Seite 6© 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds
Otherland Real Estate
The real estate division of Otherland is the third-largest real estate developer in Second Life Pure premium / luxury segment 8 Mio. virtual sqm in stock 400 customers plus project business
Additional services Procurement and development Facility management User support Security
Seite 7© 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds
The Otherland Archipelago
Seite 8© 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds
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Analytics
Tools for measuring and controlling the performance of projects in virtual worlds
simple log analysis (counter)
premium analysis package
behavioral analysis
vCRM Suite
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Plus project-driven business
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But now ...
Usability in Virtual Worlds
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Usability?
Usability is a term used to denote the ease with which people can employ a particular tool or other human-made object in order to achieve a particular goal [efficiently, effectively w/ user satisfaction]
> Ergonomics
Ergonomics is the scientific discipline concerned with designing according to the human needs, and the profession that applies theory, principles, data and methods to design in order to optimize human well-being and overall system performance.
> Human Factors Engineering
Seite 13© 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds
But ... usability in virtual worlds?
Isn't this for software and machines, only?
Seite 14© 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds
No!
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Every system intended to fulfill a certain functionor help users reach a certain goal ...
... should be designed with a maximum of usability
Seite 16© 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds
Examples for functions
Sell stuff
Teach visitors something
Keep people in my building
Present a brand favorably to visitors
Change their attitude
etc. ...
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Examples for (users) goals
Buy a pair of (virtual) high heels
Learn how to ...
Have a good time
Meet other people
etc. ...
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That‘s why this should be “usable“
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... and this should be “usable“, too
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... and this
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What is the purpose here?
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Impress with ‘Sweden‘
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The situation today, though:
Cool Design rulez!
(like on the web in the late 90s)
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This will (has to) change ...
... as soon as the focus is on business ROI
Seite 25© 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds
Is this all about Second Life?
No!
Everything said is valid for all worlds.
Including physical reality, of course ...
Seite 26© 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds
Zur Anzeige wird der QuickTime™ Dekompressor „“
benötigt.
Seite 27© 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds
Zur Anzeige wird der QuickTime™ Dekompressor „“
benötigt.
Seite 28© 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds
Zur Anzeige wird der QuickTime™ Dekompressor „“
benötigt.
Seite 29© 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds
Problems in Second Life are similar wide-spread
(1) User Generated Content - like in RL
(2) Second Life itself is already a usability nightmare
Seite 30© 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds
Let‘s have a look at the state of the art!
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Whoopsie
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Disclaimer
I have no intention of dissing the competition.
But I can’t avoid some examples of other guys works:
It is hard to talk about usability without examples
We can’t make all the mistakes ourselves
That said ... besides the small mistakes I am showing here, all those guys are doing a great job and actually build some of the coolest projects in Metaverse.
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Where am I? What can I do here?
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What do I need a flight assistant for?
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Cool Architecture!
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Where to?
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What will a newbie find here?
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Is this what I am looking for?
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That‘s what the newbie sees on his screen
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Design scaled for a human
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Design for avatars
Not for humans!
Seite 42© 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds
Let‘s go party!
Seite 43© 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds
The road to nowhere
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Where am I?
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This looks dangerous
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Whaaaaahhhhh
Seite 47© 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds
Design for avatars
And mind your target audience!
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Where am I? What am I supposed to do?
Seite 49© 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds
Hmmmmm ?
Seite 50© 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds
Great, an overview!
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Let‘s try ‘orientation‘ ...
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Ooops. Where is the Back button?
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But ... unquestionably cool design
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Some usability rules of thumb
Always make clear:
Where am I?
What can I do here?
Where can I go from here?
Where have I been?(How do I get back?)
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Usability is not only about orientation
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What do these people want from me?
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Aaahh, a panel!
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Why don‘t they talk with me?
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Why should I do this?
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Fulfill users expectations
Something that looks like an avatar ...... should behave like an avatar
Something that looks like a car ... You get the idea?
And please don’t overdo “creativity” Make it simple Tell your users, what you want Tell your users, what they can expect
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Even successful projects can have issues
Seite 62© 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds
Where to?
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Where is the stuff I am looking for?
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Sometimes the old ideas are the best
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Why not hand out a map?
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And, while we are at it ...why not quote prices, too? :=)
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There is always room for more usability!
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So, Usability in SL has ... „room for improvement“
How to improve it?
Seite 69© 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds
Two Ways to Approach Usability
1. Ask the experts
2. Ask the users
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Ask the experts?
Much better than letting designers or software developers anticipate users needs, expectations, thoughts ...
Seite 71© 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds
It doesn‘t make the process any easier, though
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Usability experts are from Mars, Designers are from Venus
... and software devs are from Jupiter
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Ask the Experts?
Experts are people, too.
So many websites suck today because of the hippo - as in the "highest paid person's opinion."
Avinash Kaushik, Analytics Evangelist Google, Inc.
Seite 74© 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds
Ask the Users!
A much, much better idea!
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Enter
User Centered Design
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User Centered Design.
„You are not the Audience“
Put the (future) users into the focus.
Work open-endedly. Don’t have an expert design ready before you start and plan for one big test at the end.
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Basics UCD | ISO 13407
“Human centered design processes for interactive systems”
Principles:
Actively involve the users in the design and development
Iterative Evaluation of designs with the end users
Multi-disciplinary staffed development teams
Major goals: More effective, more efficient use of the system Improved working conditions More “Joy of Use” / Flow
Seite 78© 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds
Process model UCD (simplified)
User interviews (8 - 12)
Mental Model
Personas / Scenarios
Paper models / wire frames
User Testing
Prototype
User Testing
Final Version
Seite 79© 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds
Step 1: User interviews
Developers and experts can never have the same attitude towards the end product as the real user.
So ... Let us find out what the user thinks!
We start with a series of intense user interviews.
Seite 80© 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds
What we want to find out
NeedsWhat are the user’s needs (information, services, performance, features, ...)
DesiresWhat does the user want (rarely identical with the needs)?
AbilitiesWhat can we expect about the user’s abilities and knowledge? In which situations / contexts are the using our systems?
MethodsHow do users solve similar challenges today (without our system)? (steps, order of steps, breaks, phases ...)
Seite 81© 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds
Resulting in a “mental model”
Seite 82© 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds
Personas
Mental models describe user’s thoughts, ideas and prerequisites on an abstract level.
To really envision our users, we need something else
one or more persona(s)
Personas describe a ‘real’ (fictive) person from the systems target group.
Seite 83© 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds
Personas
A name
An age
A gender
A picture
A private situation
A job
A particular PC
A specific reason for using the system
A goal
Individual needs/wants
Individual fears
Personas have
Stereotypes are good! (“Nerd“, “Yuppie“, “old miser”). Political correctness is NOT the goal.
Personas should help the development team, to understand the user maybe even impersonate him/her.
Seite 84© 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds
An example: Holger
This is Holger.
age: 38
situation: married, one son
small house, near Munich
occupation: team leader development with a big electronics company
web: spends > 3h/day on the web (job related)spends > 1h/day on the web (private)windows based notebook, 1GHz, 2GB
income: 2.500 EUR
etc. etc.
Seite 85© 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds
Scenarios
Little stories about the personas (no use cases),
– How and with what goals,
– in which perticular situation
they use our system.
Important:
– Something might go wrong
– Other people might join/get involved
Typically 3 - 4 Scenarios per Persona.
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Testing with paper models
VERY useful for web design
... not really relevant for virtual worlds today
Seite 87© 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds
User tests
All tests have to be run in a controlled environment - but not necessarily in a lab. Stay pragmatic.
More important:
Test often
Document tests properly
Analyze tests immediately
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Testing setup
Raum 1 - Testdurchführung Raum 2 - Beobachtung
Der „Rechner“
Moderator
Proband
Video
Beobachter 1
Beobachter 2
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Tight iteration cycles
Test early
Test often (weekly)
Many tests (small groups) instead of few big ones
Short cycles guarantee, that the project can’t run into the wrong direction for too long.
Seite 90© 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds
Mental models, personas, scenarios.
They are - besides the iterative approach - central for the growing success of UCD. The goal is a deep understanding for the real user.
What do they want?
What do they need?
In what terms/concepts do they think about “the system”?
What knowledge and abilities do they have?
What knowledge and abilities are missing?
In which situation/context are they using “the system”?
etc. ...
Seite 91© 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds
That is the state of the art ...for achieving better usability
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Yes, you can do all of this in virtual worlds!
It doesn’t hurt
It doesn’t cost you and arm and a leg
It is actually helpful
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Principles
You are Not the Audience!
Test
Test often
Use real users for your tests
Recruit them from your target audience
Believe your test results
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Testing is not “prohibitively expensive“
Small tests are helpful
8 - 12 user tests usually find all the usability issues in a small system, usually
“No testing” is expensive!
Unusable projects waste your money
Fixing issues gets more and more expensivein later project stages
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Rules of Thumb
Design for the Avatar, not for a human!
Do walk-throughs often!
Do fly-throughs, too!
Always make clear: Where am I? What can I do here? Where can I go from here? Where have I been?
Billboards are not necessarily evil
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Will this still lead to cool projects?
You bet!
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Discuss ...
Seite 98© 2008 The Otherland Group GmbH Making Sense of Business in Virtual Worlds
The Fine Print
The ideas and concepts presented herein have been created by and are the property of The Otherland Group GmbH. They are protected by Copyright laws in Europe, the USA and other countries. The reproduction of this document and/or distribution to third parties - as a whole or in part - is strictly prohibited.
Kontakt: Markus Breuer
[email protected] +49 [ 170] 807 23 56http://www.otherland-group.com http://otherland.blogs.com
The Otherland GroupKöpenicker Str. 48/49 (DAZ)10179 Berlin-Mitte, Germany