We are in many ways just getting started on the problem of developing a set of concepts and a vocabulary for describing the quality of software and in particular its usability. Consider: easy to use, easy to learn, user friendly, productive, fun. How do these, and other terms used to describe software differ; how do they overlap? In this paper, we examine the confusion between being fun and being easy, as these terms are applied to end-user software and systems. This confusion is interesting in that we can ask how such a circumstance might have ever occurred. It is challenging in that we need to separately clarify the concepts of ease and fun, if they are to provide us any analytical leverage in understanding software quality.
Recent years have seen a rapid proliferation of mass-market consumer software that takes inspiration from video games. Usually summarized as "gamification", this trend connects ...
Gameplay experience (GX) is created during the process of player-game interaction, where this interaction has the goal to provide a motivating, fun experience for the player. Si...
Bioinformatics software varies greatly in quality. In terms of usability, the command line interface is the first experience a user will have of a tool. Unfortunately, this is o...
From the Publisher: Written by the author of the best-selling HyperText & HyperMedia, this book provides an excellent guide to the methods of usability engineering. Special fea...
Good computer and video games like System Shock 2, Deus Ex, Pikmin, Rise of Nations, Neverwinter Nights, and Xenosaga: Episode 1 are learning machines. They get themselves learn...
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