

Why Microsoft turned Office into a Game. - daleharvey
http://www.slideshare.net/danctheduck/wordcamp-2010-public

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enjo
Most interesting take-away from me is the idea that _failure_ is important to
the process. As long as that failure comes with great feedback (in a game, the
'character' doing something other than what you want) a user can learn.

This would seem to extend beyond turning your interface into a 'game'... maybe
it means that we should be much more focused on providing meaningful feedback.
When a user does something wrong, translate that into an action, comment, or
something that clearly provides an opportunity for learning. Makes sense...

Interestingly, I've experimented with something like that in one of our
products. Instead of trying to provide the _shortest_ path to complete an
action, I designed the interface to take the user through the same steps
they'll use when actually managing the stuff they create (with lots of helpful
prompting). This isn't necessarily new, but it was new for me. The early
returns have been pretty good with this approach.

One thing I might take a stab at changing: Instead of providing immediate
prompts for the user, let them click around and only display the prompts after
enough (failure) time has elapsed....

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MWinther
I seem to remember having user experiences where the first couple of times I
did something wrong, I got a short warning sound or flashing menu bar, and
after a couple of more of them, a dialog box popped up with a more elaborate
description. I didn't think about it at the time, but I do believe that
encourages clicking around more than getting the dialog box every time.

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thefool
Yeah, but if you do it wrong, then it just feels as though the program talks
down to you.

I agree that designing the architecture to be easy to explore and learn is a
great idea, to me it seems that the best application to a help interact was if
one added the option to play with things before the instructions for how to do
them. Not if one removed the instructions entirely.

You don't want to be doing something, and then be distracted by the help
screen and come back to the initial thing an hour later forgetting what it was
you wanted to do.

Sometimes less engaging functionality has a greater capacity to engage.

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tjmc
I want Vim Hero!

This is a great presentation - thanks for posting.

~~~
10ren
snake is vi hero

Apparently, it was designed to teach the hjkl keys. It's likely a few other
vim games already exist (vim has every feature you can imagine, and then
some). After I've played some video games, Vim actually _feels_ like a video
game to me.

Except for its learning cliff. However, when I put together regular
expressions, I use new features by trial and error at first, and this is quite
like a game. Try it, press u, edit and try again, press u. That's a feedback
loop, as in the game; just turn-based instead of real-time.
lisp/python/ruby/bash etc REPLs are similar.

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Osiris
It's a very interesting perspective. They are dead-on about video games. You
startup the game with basically no instructions and quickly have to figure out
how to play.

I'm curious how well this type of thing would do in a corporate environment,
especially those switching from Office 2003 or earlier to 2010. I can see how
this would be much more helpful than the standard training classes I've seen.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
Video games are the most tradition-bound interface in all of computerdom.
There is basically NO exploration going on. Every button on the controller has
to do what the user expects from every other game or the they get frustrated
and don't buy the game. Even when ported to a PC the games stink of "console".

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T_S_
Unnecessary rock thrown at the iPhone (almost literally). Still a very good
presentation.

Since Office on the Mac sucks and has subtle compatibility issues whenever I
share files with PC users, I am considering giving the web app a try as my new
"have to use MS Office" escape hatch.

~~~
enjo
Ya, because maybe the iPhone is the best example of exactly what he's talking
about. The iPhone has always been something of an enigma to me. In all of the
short-term usability testing I've seen (and done), it's performed really
poorly. Yet the overall engagement is through the roof.

I would argue it's primarily because the iPhone feels like a game when you
play it. It rewards you for doing the right thing. It provides a lot of
feedback. It's smooth and quick... It's exactly what the author is talking
about.

~~~
msg
He also talks about the success of a plugin system, like iApps, in shrinking
the skill pyramid.

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mattrepl
For those interested in reading more:

The presenter is Daniel Cook (Danc) who worked for Epic Megagames long ago
doing game art and design.

Some of his essays have made it to HN before, those and some of his art can be
found at his site: <http://www.lostgarden.com/>

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random_guy
This is so full of corporate bullcrap that it makes me shudder... Game
mechanics in crappy apps -> ???? -> PROFIT!

~~~
JoeAltmaier
I detest whimsical crap like this - especially when its shoved into your face
like that insufferable paperclip guy.

The ribbon may be a happy happy joy joy thing for fluffy folks, but I just see
a crappy toolbar with half a dozen fonts and no clear way to search for the
randomly-distributed features. I detest it.

~~~
T_S_
Give me Excel 2003. That was the most usable version for me. (Actually I was
the most productive by far in Lotus 1-2-3. The reason I believe was the lack
of a mouse.)

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daleharvey
this is one of the most inspiring talks about ui design I have read in quite a
while, and from microsoft of all people.

