gaming me

Pointing interaction March 31, 2010

Once again interaction is the subject of the blog. I suspect I mentioned some of this stuff before, when talking about immersion, but it’s been on my mind lately so I thought I could share.

What I have been rummaging is how important pointing is in human communication. It might just be the most important gesture we use when trying to express something. We point our fingers at people when we refer to them, at objects to draw attention, at streets and buildings to give directions and even at ourselves to indicate personal feelings or achievements.

But we don’t stop there. If you think of pointing in an ample way, as indicating a position in space, pointing is also the most natural drawing strategy we have. We sketch on the sand and paint with our fingers. And if we need more precision, we create tools to do the job. Pens, pencils, compasses, rulers, all of them tools to make pointing more precise. Of course the goal is to generate a visual representation of something, but we always want to point on the process.

Pointing can also be very aggressive too: guns are pointed at the target before the shot, swords pointed at the heart to threaten. The list could go on and on.

In computers we tried not to point too much and at the beginning we just moved cursors up and down with our arrow keys (on a second thought, isn’t that pointing too?). But after some skepticism, the whole world succumbed to the mouse, invented at the Stanford Research Institute and popularized by Apple in 1984 with the Macintosh. The mouse has always been recognized as a pointing device and during the years it increased enormously in precision and functionality.

But using the mouse is not as natural as using our hands. Or pencils. So there goes humanity again developing tablet pens and displays, touch screens and what not. Maybe by now, if you remember I am a gamer, you can see where I am going. No? What if I say a few weeks ago I gave up fighting and got an iPhone?

Yes, there we go again to input methods and interaction in video games.

Touch screens are not new and neither are stylus pens. However, when touch devices became more popular and portable, the stylus became a hassle. Storing the pen inside the device, like it happens for example with the Nintendo DS, is a valid option. But when the device becomes truly portable and is used everywhere, like in a smart phone, it doesn’t work so well. Why? Because getting it out of the device to answer a call is very annoying. And because it is easy to lose.

Before I got the iPhone, I had an LG Dare. It is a decent phone, with a touchscreen and a stylus that I could attach to it. But every time I got a call, I would leave the stylus where it was and use my fingers. My first instinct was to actually use my fingers all the time, except that in the LG Dare you sometimes can’t do s*** without the stylus.

The iPhone is different. It was designed to be used with the fingers, it doesn’t even have a stylus. I was very impressed at how this apparently small change made such a big difference. Everything feels more natural.

And when I thought of that, I immediately remembered my talk about video game immersion and the division between transparent and engaging controls. Using the touchscreen with the fingers is very transparent.

Now let’s thing again about the new control technologies coming out for consoles this year, joining the Wii in the innovative input group. Project Natal is definitely the most transparent of them hands down. Nothing feels as natural and unobtrusive as moving our own bodies. However, does it offer a good pointing device? Probably not as good as Playstation Move (or Wii MotionPlus for that matter).

And therein, as the bard would tell us, lies the rub (this reminds me of Inside Man. Great movie). There’s a lot of expectation associated to Natal. but we don’t know exactly what to expect yet.  If they succeed at making with image recognition a top-notch pointing system, there’s no discussion and similar systems will be the future of gaming. However, I’m not sure that will hold. Just like touch screens lose precision when used with fingers, pointing will lose precision without a device manufactured exclusively with that purpose.

So I guess what I am trying to put into perspective is the balance between transparency and pointing precision. The difference in this balance is most likely going to dictate the games that come out for each device. And the question is: given the importance of pointing and of transparency, which one do you prefer? My answer is always the same: just to be on the safe side, I’ll probably choose both and find out playing.

See you space cowboys…