A Usability Evaluation of Game-Based Approaches Assessing Risk and Delayed Gratification

Abstract

This paper presents the usability evaluation of two games that are built upon existing experiments, assessing risk aversion and delayed gratification. The games were created in order to elicit players' personality traits. The game scenarios were based on adapted validated experiments on cognitive psychology and behavioural economics. The purpose of these games is to enable the generation of predictive behavioural models, and thus design an adaptive and dynamic game promoting responsible energy consumption. Adapting the behaviour of energy consumers to follow environmentally friendly consumption patterns is a central challenge when seeking to address environmental concerns. To perform such adaptation, an understanding of an individual user's traits can allow for customised solutions to be delivered, increasing the likelihood of impact. To assess the usability of the games, domain experts filled in two QUIS questionnaires. The results showed a broadly positive reception of the games' usability; taking into account time, financial and other resources, though they also highlight some areas for future work. More broadly, knowledge generated has the potential to inform designs of similar games that adapt behavioural tasks to elicit an understanding of the user.