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Constraint is Design: Katherine Isbister and Nicole Lazzaro on Intimate Relations
GS: Gestures and body language and tone of voice supposedly comprise 80% of communication, the actual text is only a fraction of the signal. What are your hopes for the gestural input, particularly with the Nintendo DS and the Wii remote? KI: We're already seeing some amazing work being done, Nintendogs was a stellar example of the kinds of interactions you can have that are emotionally significant for some people. I think the trick is to get designers thinking in new ways to take advantage of that tactile interface, and that means understanding the social component of what’s going on gesturally between people. It's like learning how to program, you need to understand what the routines and codes are happening between humans and how to use that as an instrument to get a really powerful game dynamic take place.
NL: Whenever you have a new platform with a new interface model you’re forced to innovate, you longer have that one button mouse where you’re clubbing everything in the world. GS: Diablo.
If games come out on that platform that are very simple one-button kind of casual experiences, that’s going to make that platform very successful for that market. Not to say there won’t be hardcore games on that platform, but the significant thing is tearing down this 100 foot wall that most games have where its like “until you climb this wall you can’t have any fun in our playground,” and that’s ridiculous. Sure, you can ramp up later, you can add more controls and options, but just make the initial play experience more accessible. That’s what we do with a lot of our clients, we asses that first thirty minutes of play and let people who’ve never touched that device play it, and we identify the barriers to entry. The DS has the potential to make it easier for people, the ability to touch with the pen is a very unique thing that’s different from clicking with a mouse or mashing buttons.
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Features
NL: Yeah, basically that’s it, one button mouse, that’s all you’re doing. The other side is a twelve-button controller you use with two hands, or a keyboard with all those keys, not that fun. We’ve done work with Electric Planet years ago as a precursor to Sony’s EyeToy, and we did body language recognition to create “body games” for them as part of their R&D phase. With the Revolution the really great opportunity is that controller is so familiar looking, it looks like a remote control, so I know how to hold it already and that’s a pretty easy hurdle for people to get started.|
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