TY - GEN
T1 - A Data-Driven, Player-Centric Approach to Evaluating Spatial Skill Training Games
AU - Wauck, Helen
AU - Woodard, Brian S.
AU - Xiao, Ziang
AU - Li, Tiffany Wenting
AU - Bailey, Brian P.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 ACM.
PY - 2020/11/2
Y1 - 2020/11/2
N2 - Certain commercial games train spatial skills, a subset of cognitive skills used in school, the workplace, and everyday life. However, it is difficult to design spatial skill training games without knowing why some games are effective. In addition, existing game training studies do not analyze motivational factors for critical target populations. We conducted a study comparing spatial skill training effects and enjoyment for low spatial skill students on three training interventions: the computer game Homeworld Bound: Redux, digital spatial workbook exercises, and an active control group. We found no training effects for any intervention, but performance in certain game levels predicted spatial skill, and low spatial skill students enjoyed the game more than the workbook exercises. We provide three design recommendations for spatial skill training games based on our findings: use asymmetry for object manipulation tasks, require explicit 2D to 3D representation translation, and employ time pressure for navigation tasks.
AB - Certain commercial games train spatial skills, a subset of cognitive skills used in school, the workplace, and everyday life. However, it is difficult to design spatial skill training games without knowing why some games are effective. In addition, existing game training studies do not analyze motivational factors for critical target populations. We conducted a study comparing spatial skill training effects and enjoyment for low spatial skill students on three training interventions: the computer game Homeworld Bound: Redux, digital spatial workbook exercises, and an active control group. We found no training effects for any intervention, but performance in certain game levels predicted spatial skill, and low spatial skill students enjoyed the game more than the workbook exercises. We provide three design recommendations for spatial skill training games based on our findings: use asymmetry for object manipulation tasks, require explicit 2D to 3D representation translation, and employ time pressure for navigation tasks.
KW - cognitive training games
KW - intrinsic motivation
KW - player experience
KW - spatial skills
KW - stem education
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85097510963&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85097510963&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1145/3410404.3414255
DO - 10.1145/3410404.3414255
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85097510963
T3 - CHI PLAY 2020 - Proceedings of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play
SP - 349
EP - 361
BT - CHI PLAY 2020 - Proceedings of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play
PB - Association for Computing Machinery
T2 - 7th ACM SIGCHI Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play, CHI PLAY 2020
Y2 - 2 November 2020 through 4 November 2020
ER -