Usability in Games

Through the Human-Computer Interaction course I took last semester, it was made clear to me that in terms of usability, the user does not have to think hard or try to remember a sequence of steps in order to use a specific device/system. That is, it should be as intuitive and effective as possible. This however changes when we're dealing with games or large software systems like Adobe’s for example where the functionality cannot go by the rules of standard usability rules. Gamers, for example, know how to navigate through a complex interface and love all sorts of gaming challenges. A different set of usability rules applies to this situation. I’ve come across an online article in BusinessWeek titled “Gaming Usability 101” which analyzed ten features that should be embraced by game designers for better game usability. What I realized is that most of the issues don’t deal with the game per se, but rather with the general gaming process, for example: saving settings, remapping controller buttons to suit the gamer’s personal preferences, skipping scenes, full control to accessibility options etc.In addition, it must be noted that since a game can become a whole new world for the gamer, there should be a deeper understanding on how the gamer understands, behaves and interacts with the virtual world presented to him/her.