Reflection

What did I find to be the most useless/boring/misguided/off-topic/badly taught concept in CSC318? How could this be improved?

While I did find most things interesting, I don’t think what follows is exactly off-topic/badly taught but is rather unintuitive in the way we get to apply our knowledge.

In both the continuous project as well as the third assignment we basically must design a prototype or an interface at the very least. While this course is called “The Design of Interactive Computational Media”, it makes sense but while the concepts we learn are good and all, we’re still expected to use external tools to create these interfaces. If someone had no experience with an image editing program like Photoshop/Gimp/Whatever it would be rather difficult to create these mock ups.

It would obviously be unintuitive to only, for example, explain your design in words for both the student and the grader. But when something has to generally “look good” for the most part, it can be difficult having to try and apply the concepts we learn while having to learn how to use a tool to create the mock up (I mean there could be an entire course based on learning how to edit in Photoshop depending on the depth of its content). I mean a sketch with explanations is hardly sufficient when the thing is supposed to be aesthetically pleasing. I mean look at Krug’s Laws of Usability, a user wouldn’t want a sketch with notes and have to think about and read what each part does or is intended to do.

As a result, it is a difficult problem to solve. We learn the concepts in order to understand and be able to design things well but creativity requires an outlet. One can imagine of a grand design but what will they do if they lack the ability to execute it themselves.

The learning of tools is unfeasible to be taught in the course but I honestly don’t think there’s a way to fix this since there’s so many key things to learn already.

The Nintendo Switch is finally here!

Nintendo Switch (centre) with the Joy-Con controllers attached to both sides*

Nintendo’s newest console, the Nintendo Switch, came out last Friday on March 3rd. While I was hyped for the launch, I couldn’t rationalize getting it just yet since it basically only has about 5 games at launch that are exclusive to the Switch (or 4 if you don’t include The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild since it also technically releases on the Wii U). But I still have been keeping up with reviews and such of the console since I still have an interest in purchasing it in the future.

So the way the Switch was marketed and designed is quite interesting as it allows it to be used as a home console as well as a handheld device to be played on the go.

Now I’ve only spent about an hour playing with the Switch a friend of mine bought so this first point may not be critical.

Looking at first the Joy-Con controllers, they can slide on and off the side of the switch and can be used independently as two controllers for multiplayer games as well.

Side view of the Joy-Con controllers*

As you can see, they are designed to be held the same way no matter which side you have. The joystick on the left with the 4 standard input buttons on the right hand side. While this is great for consistency while being used individually, the Joy-Con controllers, when attached to the switch as a handheld, seems weird. Both your hands still have to be positioned to be able press the L and R buttons on the controllers. As a result your thumbs will generally rest on the Left Stick as well as the A/B/X/Y buttons and when you want to use the Right Stick (To rotate cameras in third person games for example), you have to adjust your hand slightly and shift the weight of the console which doesn’t feel great.

Next consider the Switch in “tabletop” mode when you use the Switch’s kickstand to use it as a screen for multiplayer games.

Back of the Nintendo Switch*

In this configuration, there is actually no way to charge the Switch while you’re playing. The USB Type-C connector on the bottom the console will obstruct with a surface when standing up. As this was one of the key features that was marketed for the Switch I feel like it is a real issue when you’re not at home and want to play with other people using the Joy-Con controllers.


Last but not least is the Nintendo Switch Dock.

Nintendo Switch Dock*

 This is the primary way the Nintendo Switch is supposed to be used as a home console like the PS4 or Xbox One. With the USB-C connector, it will charge and display the output on a TV. You slide the Switch in and it connects automatically. Simple, with an obvious spot of where the Switch should go which is great.

However, there is no padding or any protection on the inside of the Nintendo Switch Dock. There is simply a Type-C connector on the bottom to connect to the Switch as it could still possibly move around.  Combined with the fact that the Switch’s display is a plastic LCD screen results in scratches on the Switch itself. Given that this one of the officially supported ways to play, it seems like an oversight in its design of the dock that will harm the Switch. I feel like this last one is the biggest issue that Nintendo should fix.

At least for now I know that if I’m going to buy a Switch in the future, I’m going to have to apply a screen protector before I use it. Too bad they’re not included with a Switch but hopefully it will addressed in the future as there isn’t any other way to connect it to the TV.

*All of the images above are from Nintendo's site featuring the Switch.

Sources:

http://www.glixel.com/news/youre-going-to-want-a-screen-protector-for-your-nintendo-switch-w470245

http://www.nintendo.com/switch/features/

YouTube's 30 second unskippable ads

I came across some articles about YouTube’s plan of getting rid of 30 second advertisements that were unskippable in 2018. YouTube can reach a very wide audience with some of the most popular videos getting hundreds of millions of views. Each and every one of their users have to deal with the design of their site and the ads. Video Ads – The bane of the consumers but necessary for the producers of the content, be it ones who produce television shows or videos or any sort of content on the internet. (I’m going to ignore the discussion of ad blocking software and whatnot because that’s a whole other can of worms)

But that’s huge right? Since we’re talking about YouTube here, if I had a choice of ads on their site, I’d rather pick the skippable after 5 seconds deal instead of waiting a forced 30 seconds before viewing the content I expected from the video. As a user, when I do see those unskippable ads I would often groan, which probably isn’t good for the user experience side. And judging from Google’s own page for YouTube’s “Non-skippable in-stream ads” it even says that the abandonment rate, basically the amount of people that don’t watch an ad from start to finish, is higher for these types of ads specifically.

These days people enjoy much more bite-sized content that they can complete in a rather short amount of time. Think of gifs nowadays, these are short videos that people enjoy (Often much shorter than 30 seconds). Imagine having to sit through a mandatory ad that is the length of multiple gifs before you finally get to what you want; I would at the very least try to avoid this as much as possible...

(What was that? A distraction! and it was just chosen because it was on the front page of /r/gifs). If I wasn't talking about gifs this wouldn't even have been relevant, and even barely so. That gif itself was a huge break in the text, a large distraction don't you think?

(P.S. I apologize for the gif as it is very distracting but it is a good example.)

Now from a design perspective for the user, I would have preferred if I was given the option to view it, "i am lion." gif, like so instead of having it pop up in the middle of the text since viewing it doesn't necessarily enhance the text surrounding it.

If you think about it, this choice does make sense. People, as users, enjoy a feeling of control. They want to be valued, not seen as just consumers. They want to feel like they are given options and can then choose the most preferable one. In addition to this is the prevalence of users using their mobile devices as, more often than not, you can’t even talk to your friend on Skype or browse Twitter while you wait for that ad to finish playing. They are limited on both time and have much more restricted mobile bandwidth on the go. 

I mean sure the ads can be annoying but they are businesses and they have to make money in order to keep operating. And even though the other <30 second unskippable ads remain I think this is a step in the right direction. With all the various forms of media nowadays available and competing for consumption, YouTube should be constantly changing in order to best fit the needs of their user base. So what is the answer? Well if I knew I'm sure I would have a bunch of people from the advertising industry on my doorstep. But, in my opinion, a good change would be having "acceptable" ads. Ads that aren't intrusive (Large popups that fill up the entire screen anyone?) and aren't embedded into the content (Like the gif above which is constantly restarting which I'm sure was very distracting.) would be a great start.

But this removal will give control back to the user faster and should leave the users at least slightly happier (or less annoyed perhaps) while watching videos.

Bibliography

https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/188038?hl=en

http://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/02/17/google-ditches-30-second-unskippable-ads-youtube

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/03/12/humans-have-shorter-attention-span-than-goldfish-thanks-to-smart/

Bless FrankerFaceZ! PraiseIt

I had meant to write this earlier (Because I had taken these screenshots when AGDQ, a speedrunning marathon that happens every year that raises money for different charities, was running in early January I believe) so the images themselves may be a bit old.

Anyway I frequent a streaming website called Twitch.tv where you can watch others play games and such. I almost always have a stream open on a second monitor akin to leaving the television on as background noise.

Now here is what the stream on Twitch looks like without any modifications.

Original view of Twitch.tv

Sure it looks fine. But I wouldn't be writing about this if I didn't notice something unusual. Here's what I see:

View with BetterTTV and FrankerFaceZ extension installed*

Ignoring the obvious dark theme and some changes that were also made from BetterTTV extension as well as changes the FrankerFaceZ extension/addons for browsers (And the double "Host" buttons at the very bottom since both extensions added one I hadn't removed one of the buttons until a week later).

There were two extra buttons that simply are not there on other channels, even with the addons.

The "Featured" and "Schedule" button that came specifically for this channel using FrankerFaceZ were completely new to me!

 Note: It usually isn't there and is purely added on from the community extension*.

It's an extra feature that GamesDoneQuick had to update specifically for the stream through interaction with the extension developer and sadly I can't find the link to the extension page that mentioned this feature because the buttons are gone now that the marathon is over...But it was there, I swear!

And boy were they so, so, so useful.

Normally you would have to scroll down, click on a banner to open a new tab in order to go to their website to see the schedule. This embeds it right underneath for ease of access for the user and is so much more convenient.

As you can see, hovering over the button with the mouse will give you the current game being run as well as the next game to be played.

Clicking on the button will give you the whole schedule without ever having to leave the page.






Next the Featured button. I'm glad this was added because in the past GDQ (Games Done Quick) charity marathons I've personally been too lazy to manually type in the stream of the person that was currently playing in order to follow them for notifications on when they stream themselves. As a result I would just forget about them a week later even though I thought what they did was really cool.

View after clicking on the Featured button.*

A button to directly follow the streamer!
Honestly I thought that was fantastic and so helpful I wondered why Twitch didn't create a feature similar to this where ANY streamer can update these on their own channels, for example, to promote their friends and people they are currently playing with.

Anyway really great designs added with the help of third party extensions. I personally don't see any downsides to Twitch actually implementing this themselves as it barely adds any clutter to a place where Twitch already puts their 'Share' button (See bottom of first screenshot next to viewer count.)

*All of the images above are screenshots I took of Twitch.tv and Twitch.tv/gamesdonequick
 and the layout of the site has been modified and does not reflect the original layout of the site.

Design in KHUx

 (Intro, feel free to skip, tldr underneath this section)
In recent years, in-app purchases have become more prevalent in mobile games. I rarely play them, even so only occasionally, but I started KINGDOM HEARTS Unchained χ published by Square Enix North America (SENA) just because I loved the Kingdom Hearts series and the story released here was canon. So the main way this game incentivizes in-app purchases are with "Weekly Deals" that give you jewels (Basically valued currency in the game) and access to special quests that grant you special items. The key point with these quests are that

1.  You complete objectives to receive the items. Rewards are only given for the first time you complete the objective.
2. They are timed. The quests "refresh" afterwards where a new quest replaces the old one. So you cannot access 'old' quests and this incentivizes you to purchase earlier in the week, as soon as possible or you'll miss out on previous day's quest and rewards.

tldr: Game incentivizes the in-app purchase at the start of the week, as early as possible.

The problem
A couple weeks back they introduced this special quest that is only unlocked for people who utilize the in-app purchase.

Original notice.

 So first, for the text, the writing does not specify how many Magic Mirrors will be available and only states that you can earn "valuable Magic Mirror medals" by completing the quest.

Now notice the banner, which is the banner that will appear in game for all players to see. Now since there are always 3 objectives for every quest, people naturally assumed that you would be getting 3 mirrors each day.

How quests are presented

A. Screenshot of a list of quests

The Cid Medal Challenge quest labeled VIP is an example of one of the special quests that only paying members can unlock every single week.

As noted by the lock on the bottom right, you cannot access that quest and clicking on it results only in a pop up telling the user to buy the weekly deal to gain access.

B. Display of information after clicking on quest.

This image is an example of the information the user receive after clicking into any quest they have access to.

The UI here is clear. Users can see an image of the rewards they can possibly receive from completing this quest.



Also note how in picture A, there are three pictures of Cid medals in addition to a simple text explanation (And yes, you do indeed receive three Cids per quest completion).

Now imagine if the Magic Mirror Quest was in that list of quests, hidden behind a lock as well with a design extremely similar to that of the Cid quest. The text in the notice was not helpful and the banner picture does not clearly state the rewards for the quest. So people, with limited information, assumed.

As a result people were upset and felt that they were misled by the banner and lack of clear information.

The quest actually gave 2 Moogles (Basically useless items) in addition to a single magic mirror every day.
This raised questions as to why was the banner designed in that way and why the text was so vague.

This did annoy me.
The information given to the user should have been clearer.
The user interface should have been clearer.

• Having extra line of text like in the Cid Medal Challenge quest stating "Get up to x...everyday" would've sufficed.
• Not putting three mirrors in a design similar to other related quests. (Instead, put pictures of the other items you can receive)
• Possibly allow the user to enter into the information screen (Like picture B) but not click "Begin" if they haven't paid. (Possibly more complicated than the other 3)
• Updating the text in the notice.  This is the least preferable in my opinion as it forces the user into an extra screen to read information; the information would be hidden away compared to the others above.
• In general notices requires users to navigate from menu -> other -> notices to access them.

And the outcry was heard (Probably more in the form of support tickets and refunds through the Apple app store and the Google play store). Two days later, the problem was acknowledged.









And the original notice was amended to state "Complete these quests to earn up to seven valuable Magic Mirror Medals." to state the number of mirrors they intended you to receive. But they didn't even say that the original notice was updated.

Why was this a problem in the first place? Why was the designed interface and banner design intended mainly for their paying users so incoherent? There was no reason for the disparity with other similarly designed banners.

Was it to hope that there would little to no backlash and make the most money since most people would purchase it early before realizing it was a mistake? Obviously I'm not in a position to say but in general I'd just say that mobile games with these in-app purchases just aren't great games to play, but I digress.

The interface should be clear and concise for users so they can make an informed decision. It should be easily accessible and no guessing should be required.