In games and learning interfaces, strive for an interactive conversation interface

Here is some information that I have discussed before but it is worth repeating, as interface and instructional designers, keep in mind this interactive, engaging interface design technique.

Research indicates that a conversational style is much more effective for conveying content to learners than a more formal style. In the book, “e-Learning and the Science of Instruction,” Ruth Clark and co-author Richard Mayer report on a number of studies that reinforce the fact that conversational style is the way to go for interactions. They report; in a set of five experimental studies involving a computer-based educational game on botany and multimedia lesson on lightning formation, researchers (Moreno and Mayer, 2000) compared versions in which the words were in formal style with version in which the words were in conversational style where the content was presented in a personalized way so it seemed as if the computer was talking directly to the learner rather and formal third-person language. It turns out that participants in the conversational group produced between 20 and 46% more solutions to transfer problems than the group who was presented content with formal language.

On company that has capitalized on this idea is Jellyvision the makers of the popular trivia game You Don’t Know Jack which was first released in 1995. In the game, the announcer interacts with the players of the game as if they were all in the same room or studio. The announcer uses a combination of humor and direct-response interactivity. He remembers whether or not you got the last answer correct and encourages to you “hurry up and pick an answer” if you hesitate too long. He talks to you as if he were standing right in front of you watching what you are doing.

Jellyvison, the developers of the game purposefully set out to create a computer-human interface that is realistic and fun. They call their interface the “Interactive Conversation Interface” or iCi for short and pronounce it “icky” (No, really, they do.)

Using the “iCi interface, Jellyvision seeks to give every digital device the ability to communicate information and ideas with such seamless pacing and awareness, such personality and wit, that it feels like a real person is just behind the machine.” When you play the game, you know they’ve succeeded.

An enabler of the iCi interface is a set of guidelines known as the Jack Principles. These principles need to be in any software program trying to create the illusion of conversation or interaction with the person sitting in front of the computer. The three main principles are:
 Maintaining Pacing
 Creating the Illusion of Awareness
 Maintaining the Illusion of Awareness

Here is a link to the short description of the interface development process–The Jack Principles.