
Session Information
Title | Researching Spore: A New Approach to Player Testing |
Presenter(s) | ![]() Nate regularly gives presentations on native environment research methods in both commercial and academic settings. Working with faculty at the University of California, San Diego, he created a degree titled "Digital Technology and Society," which focused on the intersection of technology and mass population usage. He also completed a year of communications studies at the Sorbonne in Paris, where he was jailed briefly for playing drums in public without a license. |
Time | Friday, October 10, 2:30p-3:30p |
Location | Ballroom |
Format | Speaker |
Description | In researching the player experience of Spore for EA, Bolt | Peters set out to challenge the traditional focus group method of game research. Combining a simulated native environment with new observational technology and the PENS (Player Experience of Need Satisfaction) evaluation model, we captured a more accurate reading of the user's mood and comfort level.
We'll talk about using remote voice chat to moderate multiple gamers simultaneously, removing the disruptive physical presence of the moderator, relaying 18 streams of live video, and other benefits and methodological pitfalls of this approach as applied to Spore. |