IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine - May 2018 - 60

Therefore, ease of use for digital games means that the
consumer can easily manipulate the controls within the game to
take actions that help in achieving the goals of the game. Ease
of use in digital games also includes attributes like control consistency and internal and external navigational consistency.
Davis and Sajtos [45] and Newman [46] argued that ease
of use in digital games results in a higher level of interactivity
for consumers. Ease of use is considered to be a fundamental
driver, especially with marketing-related products like digital
games. Davis and Lang [47] explored the relationship between user game purchase, usage behavior, and ease of use.
They conducted interviews based on a structured questionnaire, using four competing models of digital game types: all
games (the original model), MMORPGs and role-playing
games generally, sports/simulation/driving games, and action/
adventure/fighting games.
In digital games, ease of use consists of all the attributes
of the digital game that help its consumer control and operate
the game easily, either inside or outside of game play. Ease of
use is the most discussed and least understood aspect of digital games. The literature has shown that digital game consumers prefer to use and purchase digital games that are easy
to use (Apple Mac or PC and/or games on a console, such as
for their Apple iPad, mobile phone, Sony PlayStation, Microsoft Xbox, or Nintendo Wii).

SOCIALIZATION
Digital games give rise to meaningful and engaging social interactions. Socialization has now become an important feature of
digital games in today's world, although it is not a game characteristic that provides flow or immersion but rather an opportunity to promote the social dimension of digital games. It enables a
game consumer to socialize with his or her friends and share
game experiences. Sanchez et al. [13] studied the usability and
playability of video games and proposed that the socialization
attribute has certain properties. The properties of socialization
include social perception (including the degree of social activity
as understood by its consumer); awareness, meaning that consumers have a sense of sharing objects or being part of a team;
personal implications, meaning that each consumer knows how
his or her action leads to group or individual victory; sharing,
including an understanding by the consumer of how to manage
resources or common objectives within a group; communication, which provides mechanisms to support successful information exchange; and interaction, including ways to support
communication among consumers. Very few researchers have
studied the socialization attribute of digital games.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
Digital gaming has become a mass phenomenon, and the
intensity of competition within the industry is increasing.
Game-development organizations must pay close attention to
consumer preferences in the game-development process if
they are to remain competitive in the market. This article
compiled the consumer factors that are considered the most
relevant to game success.
60 IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine

may 2018

The literature suggests that consumers of digital games are
motivated to play games mainly due to the enjoyment factor,
i.e., positive experience during a game play session. Game
developers have mainly been employing usability guidance
tools as proxy heuristics for the enjoyment factor; thus, developers' estimations of a game's enjoyment factor may not
match the consumer's experience.
This study is a part of a larger project aiming to propose
a digital game maturity assessment model [48]. Rapid and
continual changes in technology and intense competition
necessitate that game-development organizations must
adopt an effective evaluation methodology to remain competitive. The consumer perspective is one of the identified
dimensions in addition to the developer [49], business [50],
and development process perspective itself. The findings of
this article justify the inclusion of these factors in an assessment methodology.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Saiqa Aleem (Saiqa.aleem@zu.ac.ae) is an assistant professor
at Zayed University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. She
has many years of academic and industrial experience while
holding various technical positions. Her research interests
include service engineering, quality of service and resource
management, software process assessment, information technology governance, and cloud computing.
Luiz Fernando Capretz (lcapretz@uwo.ca) is a professor
of software engineering and assistant dean (information technology and e-learning) at Western University in London,
Ontario, Canada. He has vast experience in the engineering of
software and is a licensed professional engineer in Ontario.
Faheem Ahmed (fahmed@tru.ca) is a professor in the
Department of Computing Science at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada. His research
interests are software process assessment, empirical software
engineering, and green computing.

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine - May 2018