Notes

It's an Excellent Idea, but you might not have Heard of It.

This post started as a lengthy email sent to some researchers I work with that research user experience, specifically with families (they're the ones who created the fun Nokia/Sesame Street-related stuff). Today I was thinking about the email and realized I couldn't publish it without permission. I find it fascinating.



My nine year old son Alex had a play date recently at our house After a while, Alex wanted to show his friend Minecraft Pocket Edition, which I just purchased for our iPads (we each have one, my best investment so far in his education). He and I played for a few hours on a Saturday, creating virtual castles and underground hideouts, etc. It was great fun.



If you haven't heard of it, Minecraft is an independently developed block-building-slash-survival game that hit it big over the last year, and they just came out with a tablet version a few weeks ago for both Android and iPad. The tablet version of Minecraft is a simplified version. There's no zombies, fighting, etc. like the PC version, just the ability to create things. It was initially hard for me to buy the iOS version because it costs $7 on the iPad, but Google has been promoting games for Android and Minecraft went on sale for only 10 cents so I decided to purchase it for my Motorola Xoom (which I mostly use to test). This was when I realized how enjoyable the game was! I immediately purchased the iPad version and Alex and I have had fun playing with it ever since.



That said, I wasn't sure if Alex's friend would be as enthralled as it's kind of geeky however it was an enormous success. Because the Android and iPad versions are compatible, we were able to jump into the same world together using three tablets simultaneously. We spent two hours in the living room each using one of our tablets making cool things together and then running around the virtual world looking at the creations of others. There were no puzzles or challenges, no blasting bad guys, and no tackling them. It was pure virtual creation.



For me there are so many parts to this experience that I consider quite novel.



- Minecraft PE isn't a game' in the traditional sense, simply a sandbox. Minecraft PE is a sandbox, similar to Lego blocks, but more exciting because you can actually build the world you are building. - The interface is so simplethat anyone can play and have fun with no prior experience - not normal for many video games or virtual worlds - It's amazing how quickly you go from constructing a tiny tunnel or shack, and then needing to clear 10 acres of virtual land to build the largest castle ever. It was amazing to watch the boys leap ahead of themselves only to reduce their efforts, help each other and more. Sharing what you've created is a great social aspect. I needed to remind them at times to check out the work of the other, as they were so absorbed in their activities that they couldn't stop. There were many 'Oh! Cool! I'd love to help! Come see my work! This is the first time I've ever witnessed this type of instruction while playing any kind of game. - Being able play with the boys and guide them was a great experience. This was in the form of fresh ideas or getting lost. One boy walked all of the way to the virtual world's borders and couldn't get back. ((:) ) Cross-platform compatibility - this seems obvious, but it enabled all the above. FORUMS Finally, the boys did manage to come up with a game to play - Hide and Go Seek. This was quite hilarious particularly when you consider you could make your own tunnels.



It was fascinating to watch the boys get into the game, come up with new ideas, and have fun together. Even though it appears that, with us all heads down on our own device the experience isn't as personal, it was way better than the typical co-op video game where you all sit facing one direction, and you communicate using grunts and occasional elbows. Instead we all sat down in the living room and chatted with one another. We also glanced around to see what others were doing. It was a much more normal social experience than a shared-screen one.



Once again, I'm truly amazed at how far tablet computers really are: Touch can make UIs so much more accessible and intuitive and the tablet's shape melds easily into social situations without imposing barriers like gaming consoles or laptops.



This is yet another example of the technological leap tablets are a part of. It's not like tablets are a third-party computing system that is oddly matched to the mobile phone and PC, but it's now obvious that tablets will be the dominant computing device in the near future. Perhaps they'll be referred to as PCs with touch interfaces or huge mobile OSes, but that form factor I believe we've been waiting for for decades is finally here and it's as great as we all thought it could be, or better.


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