IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine - May 2018 - 57

software, such as video games, online games, and mobile
games, for a wide variety of platforms, including consoles,
personal computers (PCs), mobile devices, and web browsers. The current digital game-development process consists
mainly of a synopsis, background research, script writing,
visualization and concept art, level and interaction design,
animation, programming, media editing, integration, testing,
and publishing. The complexity of the digital game-development process is increasing, which hastens the need for a
mature development process.
The consumer is the person who purchases games for
personal use, so, in this context, the word consumer is synonymous with the term player. Kotler [1] explained that
ensuring consumer satisfaction is a crucial aspect of the gamedevelopment process [2]. Thus, to gain insight into consumers' preferences for the digital games they want to play, it is
important to appreciate the factors that influence their buying
decisions and playability desires. Broadly, game-development companies can benefit from general usability evaluation
methods [3], but there are significant differences between
general software applications and digital games. An integral
part of a game is the design of meaningful challenges, which
is quite a different task than developing easy-to-use software so as to minimize cognitive load. Hence, playability
is considered to be somewhat different from general game
usability [4], [5].
Nacke [6] stated that the most important quality factors
considered by consumers for digital games are usability and
playability. Usability (ISO/IEC 25010) [16] can be described
as the level to which a digital game is learned, understood,
used, and remains attractive to the consumer under specific
conditions. Playability [4] evaluates digital game play or interactions based on certain criteria. Normally, the usability of any
game is measured at a very late stage of the game-development
process, whereas playability is assessed using early prototypes
or iterative cycles during development. The key playability factors along with the usability factors increase the tendency of
consumers to play the game repeatedly. However, the current
game-development process is unable to fully satisfy these
requirements [7]. Exploring diverse consumer gaming preferences can reveal insights that can be used to improve the
digital game-development process and ultimately lead to a
more successful product.

DIGITAL GAME CONSUMER PERSPECTIVE:
RELATED WORK
A game is nothing without players, and play is an integral element of any digital game. The literature demonstrates that
researchers have taken into account various perspectives of
digital game consumers [9], especially in the processes of
game development and design [10]. Sotamaa et al. [11]
emphasized the importance of players in developing a highquality digital game. The primary focus of their research was
on the evaluation method and on integrating elements of play
into game design by introducing an active dialog between the
player and developer. Song and Lee [12] identified key evalu-

ation factors for game design, especially for massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), through a
usability evaluation. They identified 54 key factors after conducting experiments on commercially available MMORPGs
and divided them into four categories.
The first category was the game interface, which included
feedback, control, metaphor, consistency, flexibility, recognition, aesthetics and minimalist design, affordance, help, and
natural mapping. The second was game play, which included
goals, rewards, learning, pace, pressure, challenges, empathy,
replayability, fairness, balance, difficulty, and perceptual motor
skills. Game narrative was the third category, and it involved
evocative space, embedded narrative, enactment of stories,
emergent narratives, curiosity, interaction between players,
and narrative and modeless operation. The last category was
game mechanics, which included factors such as physics tendency, immediate display, and vividness. This research has
extended these current game evaluation methods and identified implications for improving digital game quality at any
design stage. The study was conducted on a group of students
from South Korea, and, therefore, the validity of the results is
subject to cultural limitations.
Sanchez et al. [13] highlighted the importance of the playability factor for video game development and emphasized
that it must be taken into account throughout the gamedevelopment process. They stated that to analyze video-game
quality, usability alone is not enough; playability also has to
be considered. Usability captures only the use of the game,
but playability goes beyond that, especially in the case of digital games. They defined playability as "a set of properties
that describe the player experience using a specific game system whose main objective is to provide enjoyment and entertainment by being credible and satisfying, when the player
plays alone or in company." Therefore, playability is not limited to subjective factors like fun and entertainment but needs
to cover other consumer dimensions, such as satisfaction and
credibility. The playability of a digital game can also achieve
set goals with effectiveness and efficiency, depending on the
context of use and whether the game also offers fun and satisfaction. Based on their analysis, they proposed seven attributes that characterize video-game playability: learnability,
satisfaction, effectiveness, motivation, immersion, socialization, and emotion. They claimed that consideration of playability factors while designing a game will help to improve
the quality of the video game.
Schoenau-Fog [14] developed a survey to investigate the
components and the triggers of player engagement in digital
games. As a result of this survey, the proposed categories
were structured into four components: objective (extrinsic or
intrinsic), activities (exploring, interfacing, socializing, story, or
character experience), accomplishment (progression, completion, or achievement), and affections (abortion, positive, or negative). These components included categories that are vital to
investigating key aspects of the player's engagement process.
The main limitation of the study was that it was restricted to
one group and one game, and it had open-ended questions.
may 2018

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