Here is some of the cognitive science behind why Angry Birds is a truly winning user experience. Why is this seemly simple game so massively compelling? Creating truly engaging software experiences is far more complex than one might assume, even in the simplest of computer games. I say these Angry Birds are clearly up to something worth looking into. To compare, all person-hours spent creating and updating Wikipedia totals about 100 million hours over the entire life span of Wikipedia (Neiman Journalism Lab). More compelling is the fact that not only do huge numbers download this game, they play it with such focus that the total number of hours consumed by Angry Birds players world-wide is roughly 200 million minutes a DAY, which translates into 1.2 billion hours a year. Why is it that over 50 million individuals have downloaded this simple game? Many paid a few dollars or more for the advanced version. Obviously, this sounds like a truly dumb concept. The basic thrust of the game is to bring about the demise of the pigs as quickly and expertly as possible by collapsing the pigs’ houses on top of their (sometimes) helmeted heads. The game involves employing a sling shot to propel small cannonball-shaped birds with really bad attitudes at rather fragile glass and timber houses populated by basically catatonic green pigs. For those who don’t have a clue what Angry Birds is all about, here is a quick synopsis. The interesting question: Recently clients have asked about the phenomenally successful casual computer game Angry Birds, designed for mobile phones, tablets and other platforms. This question pops up when products become massively successful based on their user experience design – think iPhone, iPad, Google Instant Search, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Kinect. The unusual question: Surprisingly, it is a rare client indeed who asks the opposing question: why is an interface so engaging that users cannot stop interacting with it? This is a difficult question because it requires cognitive reverse engineering to determine what interaction attributes a successful interface embodies that result in a psychologically engaging user experience. This question yields to experience and professional usability analysis. The answer to this persistent question is complex but never truly elusive. The usual question: Over the past 40+ years as a consultant in the field generally known as human factors engineering (aka usability engineering), I have been asked by hundreds of clients why users don’t find their company’s software engaging. « Why Cisco flipped over the Flip Video Cam (and paid $590 million for a small dose of simplicity) - The Science Behind User Experience UX Design and Usability Testing » Why Angry Birds is so successful and popular: a cognitive teardown of the user experience
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