USABILITY AND GAMEPLAY IN NEWSGAMES

a comparative analysis of the genre of documentary published in brazilian news portals

USABILILITY AND GAMEPLAY IN NEWSGAMES

Carla Teixeira, Breno Carvalho

Marcelo Soares, André Neves

Anthony Lins, Jarbas Agra

Valeska Martins, Gabriel Soares

Unicap | UFPE

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2015LAS VEGAS | USA

NEWSGAMES

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2015LAS VEGAS | USA


The games of this genre share similar objectives:

they seek to record an event, its space and the

parties involved, for posterity.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

AHFEInternacional

2015LAS VEGAS | USA


This article sets out to analyze the usability,

ergonomics and gameplay of the selected games.

The gameplay analysis guided the guidelines of

the questionnaire applied in the user tests in

which 12 people, aged from 18 to 35s, 10

males and two females, randomly selected

took part.

The test was conducted with remote

monitoring by two moderators, on PC

computers connected to the internet and

provided with a sound box, monitor, keyboard

and mouse.

Each user was asked to play an entire game,

and thus to go through all the stages of the

game and, after the game, to reply to the

questionnaire.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

AHFEInternacional

2015LAS VEGAS | USA


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2015LAS VEGAS | USA


The newsgame was published in 2009 in the

online version of the magazine

Superinteressante. The language is flash and

the platform used was the web.Its plot is about

the part played by Brazilian soldiers in taking

Monte Castelo during the Second World War.


User's Freedom and control: the player

interacts via the mouse and keyboard. The

game says when the latter needs to be used.

Every action involves three possible options. Once

the final stage of the phase is reached, there is

no return.

Homogeneity: the same visual codes,

captions and actions to be taken by the player

are used. The environment changes according

to the phase as well as the challenges. The

contextualization contributes to

understanding the historical moment.

Gameplay: immersion in the environment

and the incentive to stay in the game,

balancing between phases and fun.

The game was published by the magazine

Superinteressante in 2014, on the occasion

of the 50th anniversary of the military coup

in Brazil. It is a quiz in which the player can

return to the past and chart his/her destination

according to the main events of the Brazilian

military dictatorship. The platform is web,

HTML5 is the language.

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2015LAS VEGAS | USA



System visibility: there is an introductory

video about the context of the 1964 military

coup, the only element of the game that has

audio. There are no indications of the time

limit on playing. The feedback is clear.

Mapping between the system and the real

world: the typography, photos and narrated

situations are based on real events. The color

pattern makes clear reference to the revolution,

with a predominance of black and red.

The photos in black and white contribute

to signaling the epoch.

On the user's freedom and control: there is

no possibility of returning or restarting the

game. The user interacts exclusively through

the mouse.

The homogeneity of the interface is explicit

in the screens and clickable objects. Visual

identity as a whole goes back to the 60s.


The gameplay is simple as it is a quiz. One sees

the use of balancing in the gradual increase in

the complexity of the questions.

Immersion takes place because of the

involvement in real situations and the choices

based on criteria such as physical integrity,

harming someone, and helping the family.

The newsgame recreates one of the most

important events in southern Brazil: the battle

of the Farroupilha Revolution in Rio Grande do Sul.

Inspired by the classic "Age of Empires". It was

published in 2011. It uses a web platform and

Flash language.


Visibility of the status of the system: offers

feedback to the player. The minimap at the

bottom of the screen makes the advance of the

troops visible but can interfere with the

gameplay. Subtitles appear with the meaning

and characteristics of the soldier actioned.

Mapping between the system and the real

world: the setting is consistent with a

battlefield. It favors immersion in this regard.


The questionnaire had ten questions,

evaluating a range of issues from the ease of

play and the effectiveness of the controls in

the tasks to the enjoyment that it provided.

The answers attributed concepts to the items

analyzed, ranging from 1 (poor) to 5

(excellent). The players were also able to

comment on the negative points of the game

and give suggestions for improving it.

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The navigation system ranged from

satisfactory - 33.3% -, excellent - 16.6% - and

good 16.6%. Of the players, 25% found it very

poor and 8.3% said it was bad.

The lack of clarity in the goals to be

achieved in the game is one of the main

problems raised by users.

Among the negative points raised by the

players are the lack of feedback; bugs; very

fast captions; dispersed controls, offering

little interaction between player and

newsgame; it does not show the objectives of

the game clearly.

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2015LAS VEGAS | USA


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2015LAS VEGAS | USA


The games varied between 5 and 30 minutes.

Most players found the game easy (58.3%) and

very easy (16.6%).

The navigation system screens and game menus

were considered excellent by 50% of respondents.

The clarity of the goals was considered excellent

by 50% of respondents.

Regarding it being fun, 50% of the players

considered this was satisfactory.

The negative points include: navigation; a

limited number of choices; a lot of information

but a lack of clear goals, rules and of a plot that

grips the player.

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2015LAS VEGAS | USA


The duration of each starting varied from

four to thirty minutes.

Negative points: the navigation has little

that is intuitive; controls are dispersed and

there is little gameplay; layout, gameplay,

loading takes a long time.

On the ease of playing, 41.66% considered the

game difficult.

On the screen navigation system and the game

menu, 41.6% of the players considered it good

and 33.3% excellent.

As to the clarity of the goals, this was

assessed as good by 41.6%.

On the fun that the game provides, 58.3%

considered it good.

As a genre of documentary, the plot of the

games was positively evaluated among the

players who took part in the test.

The gameplay could be enhanced by using

elements that favor immersion, such as music

and sound effects.

The criterion of homogeneity in the interface

favors the ergonomics of the games and is

worked on mainly in the Newsgames Back to

1964 and the Battle of Red Clay.

What needs further exploration is to develop

more the balance and the rhythm in games of

this format, and the clear presentation of the

goals and challenges proposed, thus increasing

engagement with the fact narrated as well as

immersion in the experience.

CONCLUSION

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2015LAS VEGAS | USA


THANKS!

AHFEInternacional

2015LAS VEGAS | USA

Design

USABILITY AND GAMEPLAY IN NEWSGAMES