Intuitive, As Opposed to Better

I apologize in advance if this seems only tangentially related to gaming but it seems a good time, with Kinect and Move evangelists flailing about, to speak to the topic of alternate UI and control schemes. Whether you love them, or hate them, chances are that when it comes down to discussing Kinect, Move, Wii waggle or voice control you’re missing the point. As a hobbyist developer I feel fairly comfortable in telling you that UI design is brutally difficult, so much so that it’s easy to believe UI stands for Unintuitive Interactions rather than User Interface.  I’m not trying to be an apologist here, I’m simply pointing out a truth.

True Story

My real people job™ is to assist others with their computer woes. At any given time I’m expected to support one of over 300 different applications. I do this job successfully not because I know everything there is to know about these applications but because I’ve been a computer user and troubleshooter for almost two decades. I’m familiar with the lexicon of computer interactions as they apply to Windows programs. For instance, if a toolbar is missing – no matter the program – I’m pretty certain I can go into the Edit or View menu to re-enable it. If some feature is missing that the user misses, I know I can probably dig through an Edit -> Options menu until I see what it is. To most users this seems like magic, to us it’s just a different means of navigating, a familiar language of interaction and protocol.

Recently a favorite blogger of mine bemoaned the lack of progress in computer speech recognition and he opined that perhaps we should just give up on it. To back up his claims he speculated, and then laid out some examples, as to how much quicker mouse\keyboard interactions are when compared to spoken commands. As brilliant an individual as he is, he too is missing the point.

Intuitive UI is not primarily about making things easier, faster, or even more productive. It’s about creating a control scheme built on a universal vocabulary that does not require a lot of time to adjust to. Yes, it might be easier or faster to select a column in Excel and click on the formula tab and then click on Sum, but it would be more intuitive to say “Computer Sum Column B4 on B11.” We wouldn’t need pesky computer training if computers could only understand us instead of us having to understand them.

Gaming is currently afflicted by this same lack of understanding. What seems like a simple control scheme to us, the ‘hardcore gamers,’ is a confusing mess to the average non-gamer. While Kinect might appear goofy, and waggle might seem dumb, they introduce a control scheme that is less intimidating to understand. After all, who hasn’t flailed around at some point in their life?

In the end, we as gamers need to get over the idea that everything is for us. Microsoft and Sony don’t want your money, they want Mom & Dad’s money and they want grandma’s money. If you’re about to become a Mom or a Dad they’re banking that they’ll have your money in a few years when your toddler is walking around and you want something to play with them. After all, isn’t it just easier to get in front of the screen and jump around than to have to sit down and explain what each button does? The important thing to understand is that both of these things can co-exist, and should. Microsoft and Sony are undoubtedly making major mistakes in the way they are marketing their technologies but remember, nobody is trying to gouge you, it would only be gouging if you actually cared to play.