A Measure of the Effectiveness of Tutorial Systems in Video Games
Open Access
Author:
Schneider, Timothy John
Area of Honors:
Information Sciences and Technology
Degree:
Bachelor of Science
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Steven Hayne, Thesis Supervisor Steven Raymond Haynes, Thesis Honors Advisor David Richard Mudgett, Faculty Reader
Keywords:
Human Computer Interaction Games Learning Tutorials
Abstract:
As video games become increasingly complex, more development time is spent creating interactive tutorial sequences to guide users of a given game into the mechanics and strategy required to succeed at a game. However, unless designed carefully, these tutorials may have the opposite intended effect on users. Instead of teaching them, poor tutorials may in-fact drive users away from learning what was intended due to a variety of factors that this study hopes to reveal. While much research has been undertaken into the teaching ability of video games in general, as well as the subject of interface design for software – there has not been substantial research into the subject of interface and tutorial design in the realm of games, and even less on what exactly constitutes a good tutorial. This study, through a two-part research design, aims to explore what makes tutorials in video games effectively teach users how to perform the tasks within the context of their game-world.
