Disengagement from games is challenging for children, and can lead to family conflict. While parental mediation is well-understood, the role of game design in supporting children’s disengagement remains underexplored. Our work addresses this gap through a qualitative study with 39 participants (22 children aged 4-11 and 17 parents), in which children played "Snarky’s Adventure", a prototype featuring disengagement-friendly mechanics supporting player understanding of progress, and the experience of satisfaction and closure at the end of play. Through Qualitative Content Analysis, we show that the features help children anticipate the end of play, but in some cases spark curiosity and the desire to re-engage. Additionally, while parents valued the mechanics to understand game progress, future work should explore how to actively engage them in children’s disengagement. Our work provides the first empirical exploration of disengagement-friendly game mechanics, and outlines challenges and opportunities for their future integration in children’s games.

Figure 1: Screenshots of the VR game (left) and quiet room (right).

The positive effect of visual embellishments such as juiciness on player experience (PX) is well-recognized. However, little is known about non-interactive visual embellishments (e.g., decorative background images or game objects players cannot interact with) and their implications for PX. This paper introduces lushness, a novel concept referring to non-interactive visual elements in games that are leveraged for decorative purposes. We present results from a study with 31 participants who played four versions of a 2D platformer game with varying levels of lushness: (a) no lushness, (b) low lushness, (c) moderate lushness, and (d) extreme lushness. Results demonstrate positive effects of increased lushness on PX, in particular on audiovisual appeal and overall attractiveness of the game. However, we did not observe differences regarding other aspects of PX, e.g., player competence or cognitive load. Our findings suggest that lushness enhances PX on a surface-level, improving the visual appeal of games without significantly impacting other areas of PX. Designers and researchers can benefit from the informed use of lushness in the development of games to ensure visual appeal, an aspect which we critically appraise for appropriateness in different game genres and contexts of play.

As collaborative technologies become integral in both professional and leisurely settings, especially during the rise of remote work and digital communities due to COVID-19, understanding the user experience (UX) factors is critical. This study aims to explore the differential importance of these UX factors across professional and leisure contexts, leveraging the widespread use of collaboration tools for an in-depth analysis. The objective of the study is to identify and assess key UX factors in collaboration tools, and to quantify their differential impact in professional and leisure settings. Our research underscores the nuanced role of context in evaluating User Experience (UX) factors’ importance in collaboration tools, with significant variances observed across professional and leisure settings. While some UX factors, including accessibility, clarity, and intuitive use, maintained universal importance across contexts and tools, others—specifically dependability and efficiency—contradicted assumptions of being universal" hygiene factors", demonstrating the complexity of UX evaluations. This complexity necessitates a differentiated approach for each context and collaboration tool type, challenging the possibility of a singular evaluation or statement.

In recent years, user experience questionnaires have established themselves to measure various aspects of User Experience (UX). In addition to these questionnaires, an evaluation tool is usually offered so that the results of a study can be evaluated in the light of the questionnaire. As a rule, the evaluation consists of preparing the data and comparing it with a benchmark. Often this interpretation of the data is not sufficient as it only evaluates the current User Experience. However, it is desirable to determine exactly where there is a need for action. The User Experience Questionnaire (UEQ) is a common and valid questionnaire with an evaluation tool to measure and analyse the User Experience for a product or service. In our article we present an approach that evaluates the results from the User Experience Questionnaire using the importance-performance analysis (IPA). The aim is to create another possibility to interpret the results of the UEQ and to derive recommendations for action from them. In a study with 467 participants, we validated the approach presented with YouTube, WhatsApp, and Facebook. The results show that the IPA provides additional insights from which further recommendations for action can be derived.

User Experience Questionnaire is a common and valid method to measure the User Experience (UX) for a product or service. In recent years, these questionnaires have established themselves to measure various aspects of UX. In addition to the questionnaire, an evaluation tool is usually offered so that the results of a study can be evaluated in the light of the questionnaire. As a rule, the evaluation consists of preparing the data and comparing it with a benchmark. Often this interpretation of the data is not sufficient as it only evaluates the current User Experience. However, it is desirable to determine exactly where there is a need for action. In our article we present an approach that evaluates the results from the User Experience Questionnaire (UEQ) using the importance-performance analysis (IPA). The aim is to create another possibility to interpret the results of the UEQ and to derive recommendations for action from them. In a first study with 219 participants, we validated the approach presented with YouTube and WhatsApp. The results show that the IPA provides additional insights from which further recommendations for action can be derived.