Feedback Essential for Video Games and Learning

One of the features video games, board games and other types of games have over traditional learning environments is the frequency and intensity of feedback. Feedback in games is almost constant. In a video game the player has real-time feedback on progress toward goal, amount of life or energy left, location, time remaining, how much stuff they have in inventory and even how other players are doing. In fact, often a screen or a player will flash to indicate they are in danger of being eliminated with the next wrong move. Feedback in a classroom or in an online learning module…usually not so constant, predictable or helpful.

On a board game you can see where your piece is related to others, you know who is taking the next turn and you can see how much progress is to be made with the roll of the dice and how close you and your opponents are to successfully finishing.

Feedback in learning or playing games is designed to evoke the correct behavior, thoughts or actions. It is designed to inform the learner in two important areas.

Board game showing player's pieces.

The first is to indicate the degree of “rightness” or “wrongness” of a response, action or activity. Feedback immediately informs the learner if they did the right thing, the wrong thing or if it was somewhere in the middle.

The second is to provide information to the leaner to help guide them toward learning the content. If you did the wrong thing, you should be prompted, guided or pointed toward a more appropriate action or activity. If nothing else through the knowledge that the activity you chose was not correct. Often these two feedback mechanisms overlap. If you are playing a video game as a spy and you enter a door and alarm goes off and bad guys instantly become alert, you know you went in the wrong door but that action also informs you. Look for other options for entering the building such as that open window you passed on the way to the door.

In game designer parlance, the term they often use for effective, exciting and engaging feedback is “juicy.” When creating feedback, they strive for juiciness. So what is juicy feedback? Well know game designer, Robin Hunicke, describes juicy feedback as having the following characteristics:

• Tactile—The player can almost feel the feedback as it is occurring on screen. Feedback is not forced or unnatural within the game play.
  
• Inviting—It’s something the player desires to achieve, as the player interacts with the game, they want the feedback and work to get the positive feedback . The player si given just the right amount of power and rewards.
  
• Repeatable—The feedback can be received again and again if the goals, challenges or obstacles are met.
  
• Coherent—The feedback stays within the context of the game. It is congruent with on screen actions and activities as well as with the storyline unfolding as the interactions occur.
  
• Continuous—It is not something that the player has to wait for, it occurs as a natural result of interacting within the context of game environment.
  
• Emergent—It flows naturally from the game, it unfolds in an orderly and well sequenced fashion. It feels like it belongs within the context of the environment, it is not distracting.
  
• Balanced-The player knows they are receiving feedback and they are reacting based on the feedback but they are not overwhelmed by the feedback or thinking of it as direct feedback.
  
• Fresh—The feedback is a little surprising contains some unexpected twists and is interesting and inviting. The surprises are welcomed and congruent with the continuous feedback.

Hear Robin explain it herself.

UX Week 2009 | Robin Hunicke | Wildflowers: The UX of Game/Play from Adaptive Path on Vimeo.

Jess Schell, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Center describes “Juicy” simply as “a ripe peach, just a little bit of interaction with it gives you a continuous flow of delicious reward.”