Facing the Human Factors Challenges in Game Design

Abstract

The game industry has been expanding exponentially in the past decades, mainly by making games more appealing to a wider audience. In addition, the level of complexity in control interfaces and graphics has increased steadily. As a result, there is a growing demand for human factors and ergonomics practitioners to ensure the users’ engagement. Furthermore, the gaming domain provides an opportunity to expand human factors research in the academia. Therefore, the goal of this panel is to introduce the audience to the present research and development techniques that human factors practitioners utilize in this domain. Specifically, we will review and demonstrate the unique human factors challenges in Internet social games, console video games, and educational games for children and teens using a variety of unique interfaces, such as virtual reality, tactile controls, and gesture recognition.