Browsing by Author "Faas, Travis"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Beyond cute: exploring user types and design opportunities of virtual reality pet games
    (ACM, 2017-11) Lin, Chaolan; Dombrowski, Lynn; Faas, Travis; Brady, Erin; Human-Centered Computing, School of Informatics and Computing
    Virtual pet games, such as handheld games like Tamagotchi or video games like Petz, provide players with artificial pet companions or entertaining pet-raising simulations. Prior research has found that virtual pets have the potential to promote learning, collaboration, and empathy among users. While virtual reality (VR) has become an increasingly popular game medium, litle is known about users' expectations regarding game avatars, gameplay, and environments for VR-enabled pet games. We surveyed 780 respondents in an online survey and interviewed 30 participants to understand users' motivation, preferences, and game behavior in pet games played on various medium, and their expectations for VR pet games. Based on our findings, we generated three user types that reflect users' preferences and gameplay styles in VR pet games. We use these types to highlight key design opportunities and recommendations for VR pet games.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The Labor of Fun: Understanding the Social Relationships between Gamers and Paid Gaming Teammates in China
    (ACM, 2021-05) Shen, Chenxinran; Lu, Zhicong; Faas, Travis; Wigdor, Daniel; Human-Centered Computing, School of Informatics and Computing
    Online video games support the development of social relationships through gameplay, however, gamers often cannot cultivate and maintain relationships based on social factors such as personality when using in-game matchmaking services. To address this, teammate matching sites external to games have emerged and enable gamers to offer to play games with others in exchange for payment. The affordances of these services are different from other existing gamer social sites, e.g., live streaming. Interviews were conducted with 16 dedicated users on Bixin, one of China’s largest paid teammate matching sites, to examine user motivations, practices, and perceptions. The interviews found that gamers selected paid teammates on Bixin using different criteria compared to in-game matchmaking services and emphasized the importance of real-life characteristics such as voice. To maintain connections, paid teammates often also extended communication to external communication services such as WeChat. Although most gamers expected to communicate with paid teammates as if they were friends, very few reported building real friendships with their matched counterparts.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Self-Directed Learning in Teacher-Lead Minecraft Classrooms
    (ACM, 2017-05) Faas, Travis; Lin, Chaolan; Human-Centered Computing, School of Informatics and Computing
    Minecraft, an online multi-player sandbox video game, is now being used as a teaching tool for course subjects ranging from digital literature to computer science. To understand how Minecraft was being adopted as a classroom tool, we interviewed 16 teachers and 10 students who had used Minecraft inside a classroom setting. Analysis revealed three key ways in which Minecraft enables and motivates students to work towards their own learning goals: the ability to customize context, live through stories, and assume roles in the virtual world. Drawing from these themes we propose a set of design recommendations for online informal learning spaces.