Users Feedback on CatchBob!

There is a lot to learn to hear the CatchBob! participants talking about the application and the interface. There is a gap between the user’s expectations and what the tool really does. This can lead to the lost of trust on the tool (it did not act like I thought it would have) and frustration (sometimes it refused to work).

• The unreliable network is sometimes not perceived as a disturbance but as a failure. A couple of users blamed the tool for the lost of connectivity.
• The positioning accuracy was not always understood and disturbed some players (i did not move physically, but I moved on the map. The proximity to Bob changed eventhough I did not move).
• Users where not used to write on a TabletPC. Some had a hard time adapting their writing, or they like to challenge the tool (writing as fast and small as possible).

Based on that, I prepared several improvements

• Demo tabletPC that could be used prior to the experiment for the players to get a feeling of the tool
• improved the refresh button feedback, to enhance the feeling of connectivity
• improved the look of the interface. Can trust on a system can be fostered via eye-candyness?

The polished CatchBob! interface