Usability and Player Experience of Input Device for Mobile Gaming

Input devices for mobile gaming consist of hard keypad HK and soft keypad SK. Different interaction for both input devices have an impact on usability and player experience. Although there are publications that evaluate on input devices and game, little is known on how HK and SK affect mobile gaming. The implication to usability aspect is not fully understood and the list of recommendation on player experience is limited. The aim of this paper is to examine usability and construct recommendation list for player experience by comparing two different types of mobile devices, namely HK and SK. For usability, an experiment was employed to measure effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction. The studies conducted an interview after the experiment. From the interview, a list of recommendation was constructed to identify player experience of input devices for mobile games. Results of the experiment were significant for effectiveness and satisfaction measures where HK performed better than SK. The recommendation list revealed both devices most mentioned positive and negative comments.