Usability and Fun!
by Trent GroverDownload: Slides, Video Podcast
The importance of fun is on the rise in almost all uses of information technology, but it is still a quality that is rarely discussed or measured within the context of usability testing. In her article, "Usability and Fun: An Overview of Relevant Research in the HCI Community" [1], Charlotte Wiberg attempts to prompt discussion of this fact by summarizing the current state of HCI research as it relates to fun.
The author highlights the HCI community's focus on usability testing primarily for the functional aspects of a product or process (e.g., efficiency and number of errors), while often ignoring the distinctly subjective study of pleasure and fun. Though interest within the HCI community is growing, the study of fun remains severely underdeveloped for several reasons. These include the fact that the study of fun suffers from a shortfall of funding sources, there exist few established methods for evaluation of fun, and the absence of a conceptual or methodological tradition to build upon. Despite these difficulties, the author notes several studies in which more subjective measures of user experience, like beauty and fun, showed substantial impact on the participants' perception of usability.
Ultimately, the study of fun represents a key subject in the future of HCI research. There are a number of open questions that must be addressed, including:
- What is fun?
- How can we evaluate fun?
- How does fun relate to usability?
Key Points
- Usability testing suffers by focusing solely on functional aspects of products and processes.
- Beauty and fun can affect the perception of a product's usability.
- The study of fun is a key subject for future HCI research.