Work in Progress

I'm still moving things around on this website, but feel free to look while I update it with my latest projects! If you prefer an older, albeit complete portfolio have a look at this one: link to the cool website I coded

Research on Motivations for Ludic Engagement

Ludic Engagement

Electronics

User Research

Interviews

Interaction with novel devices

Methods and Tools used:

Research: Recruitment Surveys, User Interviews, Coding, Thematic Analysis, Quantitative Analysis

Development: Prototype design, 3D modeling, circuit design, C++, Arduino, RGB LEDs, PWM driver, accelerometer, touch sensors, LCD display

Team and Role:

Individual Research Project

Duration:

March 2023 - December 2023

And how did I do that?

Let's look at it in terms of design thinking

Stage 1: Empathize?

The idea of this research was not conceived because of some potential benefits to a product or a group of users, but rather the need to think of something to research on for my final capstone project. The only user to empathise with for this research was, well, ME. So what were my motivations for this study?

I'm bored and I can't just work/study all the time
I wish there was some thing fun to do outside of screens
My research has to be interesting, or I won't feel motivated enough to do it

So while I was contemplating ideas for my project I stumbled upon the work of W. Gaver in Ludic Engagement which felt interesting and fun enough to do more research on. The main reason I was interested was, why do people interact with this? I can see that it's fun, but what exactly makes it fun or engaging?

Stage 2: Research, Research & Research

1. What is all of this Ludic exactly?

"Ludic"

"of, relating to, or characterized by play"

Ludic Activities?

Ludic activities are not performed with a specific purpose or intent, they are just relaxing or playful and stimulate the mind. Like talking a walk or listening to music

Why does it matter?

We can't work all the time
It's hard to make things interesting
It makes a lot of money (like the gaming or music industry)

I wanted to understand what makes it fun so that I can make more things fun. (TODO: Text describing all the existing research into ludic and other playful engagement I looked into.)

2. It's related to play? Then what kind of play specifically?

How do you know something is playful and what are the different types of play? Researched into different types of play and what kind of play some of the previous research used. (TODO: refine text and explain in detail)

3. What is the definition of Engaging? and how do I measure it?

Most complicated thing. Hard to define, varying contexts and measurements methods. Weighed pros and cons of different types of methods. No idea which one works, so picked quantitative method on a popular theory and a exploratory interview style qualitative research method. (TODO: refine text and explain in detail)

Stage 3: Ideate

What features are important for Ludic Engagement?

Based on the previous research, here are some qualities that are important for ludic engagement, so if I'm planning on building something, I should keep these in mind ((TODO: refine text, add a list of all the features and references)

What should be the concept of the device?

Since childhood, I've always been fascinated by stars and I grew up listening to my grandma and my father telling me the names of different stars and planets. This fascination never really left me so I wanted to base my device on the concept of constellations. And since I did not want it to be something in a screen like an app or website, I decided to make a prototype that is physical and can be held for interaction. I'm also really interested in electronics and IoT and looking through some projects made using arduino, I found out about an LED cube. All these things shaped into the final concept of the device. (TODO: add the finalized features of the device to describe the concept, add any relevant images)

Stage 4: Prototype

Making a prototype

(TODO: explain what you did to make the prototype, add pictures of the work in progress)

Too many technical barriers!

(TODO: Explain a bit all the technical issues you faced and how you solved them)

Work in Progress

How to make things fun and engaging?

Research on Motivations for Ludic Engagement

Methods and Tools used:

Team and Role:

Duration:

What are the benefits of this study?

If something that has no utility can be made engaging, then something that is useful can be made more engaging and thus, differentiate you from your competitors

More closely, what do you need to keep in mind to gamify something

So then, what did I find out?

1. I did manage to make something fun, 73.3% of the users felt it was fun*

2. I found out 3 important factors for engagement

3. And for those who were not engaged, I found out why