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User Action Framework in Diablo Immortal

(1) Emotional Affordance:

Fantasy Setting: Often games are used as mediums to immerse one's self in another world/environment, in which fantasy worlds are extra enticing. With the story of angels, monsters and demons, they make the users feel excited about creating their own adventure and new experiences. The game also allows customization of the character's face/attire to help with self-expression.

Operational Immersion: The game Diablo Immortal takes a similar approach to other popular MMORPGs by including voice actors for greater auditory experience, in which you get to feel more immersed in this fantasy world. You can also hear your character speak based on the choices you make (e.g. drinking a health potion) to help feel more connected to the character and identify with them. The different levels of interactions you can have with the world is engaging and appealing as there are different stages/moments in the game where your character has unique animations when given the opportunity to interact with chests, doors, relics, etc. The monsters are also unique in design and movement when coming into frame which the users commend the visuals for.

Nostalgia: Diablo Immortal, a series started from 2005, has high levels of nostalgia built into it that drives the novelty and communal feeling of the game.

(2) Stages-of Action Model during Boss Battles

Perceiving the State of the World: You walk around the game world, following the footsteps to pursue the main storyline's quests. You see an enemy mob spawn out of nowhere rather than walk into frame like normal mobs. You may see that it is also bigger in size and has a more unique animation/design.

Interpreting the Perception: You come closer to it. The boss-level enemy also has a more complex and a more well-animated attack sequence that takes up most of the screen, meaning that the amount of time and money the developers put into this game, they intended this battle to be longer than average.

Evaluation of Interpretations: This bigger, detailed mob with a long battle makes you feel like it will have greater health, meaning greater drops/rewards. You come to the choice of whether to fight it or not.

Goal: Defeat the enemy!

Intention to act: You think about what attacks and combinations to use on the enemy.

Sequence of Actions: Use controls on UI -> Move character -> Get close and attack -> Run away when monster attacks -> Get close and repeat the steps until monster is defeated.

Execution of Action Sequence: Press on the mousepad to move character closer to enemy -> Press an attack button on the right side of the screen -> Press on the mousepad to run away -> Repeat the prior steps until monster is defeated.

(3) Interaction cycle of the UAF:

Assessment: You become more comfortable with moving your character around and attacking enemies, using potions, etc. You see an enemy monster that seems bigger and might give greater rewards when defeated.

Planning: You choose to attack the enemy.

Translation: You get close to the enemy, attack it, run away when it attacks and come back to attack it.

Physical Actions: You press on the movement mousepad to move the character closer to the monster, press the attacks on the right side to lower the enemy's health, run away with the movement mousepad to avoid attacks, run back with movement mousepad and attack with buttons on the right until you defeat the monster.

Outcomes: Defeat the monster and witness it disintegrate in its animation and collect the rewards it drops.

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Blog 4

1. Gap of Mental Models: A person's mental model provides the space in which the world is perceived. So, it's not necessarily the information itself that gets perceived but the way that it is presented and by whom it is received. I would say that a major gap in mental models between the developers and users in this game is caused by the busy screen. Diablo games have historically been on PC and other consoles that have greater screens and processing units that can afford rich graphics and movement. However on a mobile device, it is more difficult because of the lack of screen, storage and computing unit. Though the developers hoped to have all these buttons, customization and notifications on their screen to help players make their experience more individualized, it actually causes players confusion and can cause disengagement. An example given to understand mental models is when someone sees a spoon and a fork next to each other, where the spoon is on the left side of the fork. Because of this order, and the trend for Americans to read from left to right, our brain might process this information as "spoon fork" rather than "fork spoon". To apply this to Diablo Immortal, it's hard for people to process because there are too many elements to even know where to begin to understand how to play. The lack of order, which may be great to some players is not great for others, especially new users.

2. Game metaphors in Diablo Immortal: UI - can touch wherever on the screen with your left hand to start a control pad to control character movement to imitate immersion. On the right, it has a set number of slots for items/moves for characters to use with graphics that hint at what type of attack it is. Interactions - NPCs, storyline animations, voice lines from characters, unique monster/enemies fighting animations and fellow online players/clans with unique customizations. Communication - tapping the message button near an NPC, typing in the public chat or tapping on a player and messaging them. You have to choose to talk to someone and can choose how to engage with them, even rejecting requests from villagers. There is also a voice chat for groups/parties to help the feeling of connection/community within the Diablo world.

3. Sketching Improved UX: Players, such as Diablo players, come from a committed series. With that, I would try to resemble the experience to the console that it was consistently in, PC. Which would mean understanding what they valued and what they were used to, which is a more powerful device that can handle stronger visuals, controls/features and a more immersive experience. I would change the inability to zoom in/out of the camera view of Diablo Immortal. It limits players ability when playing against other players and can even be an unfair advantage to those with larger mobile devices. I would also try to increase the haptics and add vibrations to help with the immersion that they’re given with computers.

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3 Days in Diablo Immortal

My character: There were 6 classes you could choose from and I chose "Blood Knight" because of its melee and hybrid fighting style. I named it "skedaddle" because the game seemed scary and I predicted that I would flee from the monsters. (I had the sound/background music turned off because I was scared.) I don't know much of the lore behind this specific class but after looking it up on this wiki (https://diablo.fandom.com/wiki/Diablo_Wiki), it says that this class of characters are humans that are affected with vampirism.

Game Story/Context: It's a part of the Diablo series and is supposed to be set during the time between Diablo II and Diablo III. It is a fantasy world where the player is led on a journey to stop the antagonist(s) from destroying the world, fighting monsters/undead, leading up to the climax where the players come to fight the antagonist.

Summary of Three Days: I was introduced into the game with a log-in screen and then after pressing that I was a new user, it asked me to choose my class then transitioned into an animation video to introduce the story/plot. After watching the video that included voice acting, clips of animations and in-game movements, I was taught how to move the character, attack, heal and talk/interact with objects and npcs. It was a classic MMORPG, where you are given quests, have clans/chats with players, and also defeat monsters for items to increase your character's stats.

Pictures of game scenes:

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Blog 2: 3 pictures that describe me well

I like finding beauty and meaning from things around me. Whenever I'm stressed, I like sitting and looking at the sunsets/sky and I feel like it brings me back to my natural state where I can just be "me".

I love to laugh and find a lot of joy from everything around me. I thought this was very silly and very me.

I love to handcraft things and a bonus if I can use it to bring people happiness, whether it's artistic, consumable or innovative. I felt the picture encapsulated my passion to learn and to apply what I learn.

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Blog 1: Introduction

Hello! In English, my name is Seolbin Hong. I have no middle name nor an “English” name. In Korean, my name is written as 홍설빈. When I lived in America, my name started to change its pronunciation from a upward, sharp tone of “sul” to a downward, rounded “sole” sound. My identity started to change, or some might say “take shape”. For 15 years, whenever I took a new class, I would know when my name was next on the roster for attendance. The teacher would start roll call with the names that began with A, then would tread down the list until they took a breath of hesitance for my name. After their breath, they would begin trying to read out my name phonetically like  “Seeaaaaa-oleeeee-bbb???”, while darting their eyes around the classroom for the student, in which I would raise my hand quietly, and when recognized, pronounce my name for them. It didn’t bother me because they meant no harm. But, in the couple days that I was here studying at Yonsei University, I’ve come to realize that taking attendance had actually made me anxious, that I would always hold my breath when it came near my name. I would often have to decipher if the teacher was trying to pronounce my name, I learned to speak up for myself and identity from a young age.

But now, at age 20, attending a Korean university, the professors would say my name with such ease and quickness that I almost missed it even when I was alert. They read my name as it was intended by my parents and I felt happy. I felt at ease. This was a small realization I’ve had recently, but it defines who I am: Someone proud of my culture and heritage, but someone who also has experienced troubles with identity.

I always like to reflect on my experiences and analyze them. I like comparing the different ways people/companies approach the same situation. I like learning new ways to be creative and learning about what works and what doesn’t and then applying it. Beyond concepts and information, I like understanding how experience is curated and catered to the audience, the human experience!, whether it is intended or not and whether it is at a micro level or a macro level. During this time in Korea, I’ve also observed many of my American classmates experiencing what I’ve experienced for a long time for the first time, where their name was met with inexperience. And it makes me think of people like me in America and what I can do to help connect different groups of people together through technology as a Computer Science major.

Names are important, it provides meaning and connection, which is why people say that you should not name a stray animal, lest you get attached to it. You’re called a certain name by the people you love, and with that, your name starts to represent more than yourself but the people you’re intertwined with. My name is important to me too, but I wonder if I’ve come to downplay significant things in my life and expect people to be unfamiliar with me, who I am and what I represent by allowing them to change the pronounciation of my name. And I wonder how that affects the inclusivity provided by services, people and groups in America towards people like me. While I understand that not everything can be catered to, I wonder about how design can be improved to better understand the current world and the people in it and to help them. Like in the introduction of the post-LLM HCI class, we can’t always design how someone will feel. But, the more sensitivity and understanding of context that we have for one another, the more likely it is that the individual will feel more comfortable. I want to learn how to do this better, how to better design and plan for better user experience for more people, whether it begins with employee training or within development of the product/service that moderates this experience.

Some more background information about me is that I grew up in Hawai’i, though I was born in South Korea. Both my parents are from South Korea, and we moved with a couple of relatives from my dad’s side. I’m conversationally fluent in Korean since my parents didn’t have much background knowledge in English when they moved, so my older brother and I would always speaking Korean at home. Growing up, I really liked pokemon and video games (more so mario, pokemon and wii games rather than fps shooter type games). My MBTI is ambiguous because I’m nearly split 50/50 on all four categories. I like to laugh and make conversations and friends. But I also reallyyyyyyyy love being at home. I could stay in the house for a really long time as long as I have food, a bathroom/shower and wifi. I love couches. I’m also not really sporty but I like music, cooking and the art of creation. I know how to play around 7 instruments and have tried many artistic hobbies (illustration, whittling, stitching, felting, etc). And, currently, I’m a Junior Computer Science major in California.

Because of my field of interest, from this course, I would like to understand more about how to design products/processes better, with a more accurate understanding of my target audiences. I also hope to adopt better skills in research to better contextualize and select my target audience, assess their needs in today’s current world and also adapt myself for possible changes in the future. One of my aspirations is to create my own game, and also work on other applications/websites to provide better and easier services for user experience. I would also like to help services become more inclusive towards the older generations and to different languages in America by working with existing, widely-used companies. I believe that beyond machinery/technology, AI should be used to help people and if we take the time and effort to ask the community around us for their input, we will better be able to care for one other, and that's what matters to me.