The History of Games User Research

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The work that atari was doing in the seventies is still fundamentally very similar to what we're doing to day. They had employed a lady called carol canter who went to arcades in the first place to watch people playing games for real in the arcades. What she was doing there is the same as what user researchers do to day. We're looking to see if people understand how the game works, what they're meant to do. Is it fun er, is it too difficult? Is it too easy? Balancing the game correctly. And that is still a lot of what we do.

Join the UD Email List at userdefenders.com/join through March 2021 and enter to win a free signed copy of Steve Bromley's new book, "How to be a Games User Researcher"!

Steve Bromley shows us how to level up our user research skills. He illuminates the path to getting started as a Games User Researcher. He inspires us to use our user research superpower and insights to make things better for our users. He teaches us techniques he's used to actually enjoy synthesizing data more. He reveals how many user's is enough–spoiler alert...it depends. He challenges us ethically to be responsible for the consequences of what we're designing. He also motivates us to document as we go, but also to be sure and stop to reflect every once in a while.

Most Important Question (4:40)
History + Evolution of Games User Research (6:59)
Differences Between Games UR vs. Software UR (16:55)
How Do You Measure Delight? (20:30)
The Dark Side of Gaming (26:39)
Who's Responsible? (29:59)
Recommended Path to Games UR (37:42)
The Light Side of Gaming (42:21)
How Can We Enjoy Synthesizing Data More? (46:00)
How Many Users is Enough? (49:59)
What's Your Why? (53:32)
What's Your UX Superpower? (55:30)
What's Your UX Kryptonite? (57:35)
What's Your UX Superhero Name? (60:00)
Habit of Success (60:33)
Invincible Resource (61:24)
Best Advice for Aspiring Games UR's (62:09)
Connect & Keep Up (63:00)

Check out the detailed show notes including mentioned links, transcript and Eli Jorgensen's astonishing superhero artwork at userdefenders.com/076

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