{"id":513,"date":"2010-01-15T14:57:42","date_gmt":"2010-01-15T13:57:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.stevebromley.com\/blog\/?p=513"},"modified":"2019-11-06T17:45:03","modified_gmt":"2019-11-06T16:45:03","slug":"why-you-should-always-video-players-when-testing-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stevebromley.com\/blog\/2010\/01\/15\/why-you-should-always-video-players-when-testing-games\/","title":{"rendered":"Why you should always video players when testing games"},"content":{"rendered":"

Video game developers around the country are missing a cheap, easy, and useful aspect of running player experience tests by not videoing the players being tested. I believe recording players gives a better understanding of how people experience games, and I\u2019m going to explain why this leads to the development of better games.<\/p>\n

Recently I\u2019ve been involved with the testing of the user experience for a number of high profile upcoming games. The results of these sessions have always been very interesting, and undeniably shown that running tests with real players gives a true understanding of the issues in the games, finding issues that often cannot be seen by the developers. However, all the places I\u2019ve worked at have all been making the same, easily fixable mistake of not videoing the player\u2019s reactions while playing. <\/p>\n

\n
\"Chuck<\/a>

a mistake never made by this man<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

There are many possible excuses given why people running player tests on games fail to record the player. In a hectic working environment, it can be difficult to find time to review the video with tight deadlines hanging overhead. Similarly, the initial set up costs, of a camera or software that will record the player seems like an area where cutbacks can be made with a tight budget. Often tester\u2019s will try to justify this \u2013 surely they can get the same information, and cheaper, by using surveys and interviews after the event?<\/p>\n

Here is just of few of the things missed when you fail to video a player\u2019s experience<\/p>\n