Browsing by Author "Lin, Chaolan"

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    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.
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    Parental Acceptance of Children’s Storytelling Robots: A Projection of the Uncanny Valley of AI
    (Frontiers Media, 2021-05-19) Lin, Chaolan; Šabanović, Selma; Dombrowski, Lynn; Miller, Andrew D.; Brady, Erin; MacDorman, Karl F.; Human-Centered Computing, Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering
    Parent–child story time is an important ritual of contemporary parenting. Recently, robots with artificial intelligence (AI) have become common. Parental acceptance of children’s storytelling robots, however, has received scant attention. To address this, we conducted a qualitative study with 18 parents using the research technique design fiction. Overall, parents held mixed, though generally positive, attitudes toward children’s storytelling robots. In their estimation, these robots would outperform screen-based technologies for children’s story time. However, the robots’ potential to adapt and to express emotion caused some parents to feel ambivalent about the robots, which might hinder their adoption. We found three predictors of parental acceptance of these robots: context of use, perceived agency, and perceived intelligence. Parents’ speculation revealed an uncanny valley of AI: a nonlinear relation between the human likeness of the artificial agent’s mind and affinity for the agent. Finally, we consider the implications of children’s storytelling robots, including how they could enhance equity in children’s access to education, and propose directions for research on their design to benefit family well-being.
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    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.