Defining Playability of Games:

Functionality, Usability, and Gameplay

Janne Paavilainen
BON Games, Tampere University

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Janne
Game developer, researcher, consultant

UI/UX Designer at BON Games

15 years of games research

Game Research Lab / Tampere University

Mobile, Casual, Social, F2P Games

Playability, Player Experience, Monetization
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Introduction

◂ Playability is often used but seldom defined fuzzy and

ambiguous term
◂ Various definitions have been offered, but they are vastly
different

◂ The purpose of this paper is to provide clarity on playability -

and player experience

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Introduction

◂ The paper presents a new definition for playability

◂ The basis is on games-as-systems approach and that the

designers cannot design experiences

◂ Game is a formal system and developers design playability

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Perspectives on Playability

◂ Dictionary.com

“The quality or state of being playable: The sound and

playability of vintage instruments depends on how well they
are maintained. Poor graphics and counterintuitive controls
negatively affected the playability of the video game.”

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“A game must be simple to play. This does not mean that it needs to be easy to
make good decisions, but the participants should not have to devote
considerable time and energy to learning the rules.

It requires skill and experience to abstract from the real world those elements
of major importance so that a playable game will result.” (Kibbee, 1961)
Perspectives on Playability

◂ Several authors have provided various definitions for

playability, e.g.
◂ Järvinen et al., 2002
◂ Fabricatore et al., 2003
◂ Kücklich & Fellow, 2004
◂ Egenfeldt-Nielsen et al., 2008
◂ Nacke, 2009
◂ Sánchez et al. 2009, 2012
◂ Korhonen, 2016
...
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Facets of Playability and elements of a video game
(Sánchez et al., 2012)

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[playbility definitions are] “abstract, confusing or otherwise obscure which does not
help in providing a clear view of what playability means in games” (Korhonen,
2016)

“A game has good playability when the user interface is intuitive and the gaming
platform is unobtrusive, so that the player can concentrate on playing the game.
Fun and challenge are created through gameplay when it is understandable,
suitably difficult and engaging.” (Korhonen, 2016)
Perspectives on Playability

Playability Player Experience

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Player Experience

◂ Player experience research has been more coherent, focusing on the player
rather than the game (and player)

◂ Multiple theories and approaches are present in player experience research

(flow, immersion, presence, enjoyment, competence etc.)

◂ There are numerous validated instruments for measuring player experience

with quantitative methods (IEQ, GEQ, PENS, GAMEFULQUEST etc.)

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Player Experience

◂ Poels et al. (2012) present a summary of game experience

dimensions with first-hand descriptions based on focus-group
interviews

◂ This model provides a good overview on concepts related to

player experience

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Game Experience First-hand descriptions
Dimension

Enjoyment Fun, amusement, pleasure, relaxation

Flow Full concentration, being in the zone, detachment from the outside world

Imaginative Immersion Being absorbed in the story, identification

Sensory Immersion Being fully drawn in, enjoying sounds and graphics

Suspense Challenge, tension, pressure, hope, anxiety, thrill

Competence Pride, euphoria, accomplishment

Negative Affect Frustration, disappointment, irritation, anger

Control Autonomy, power, freedom

Social Experiences Enjoyment with others, being, connected with others, empathy,
cooperation, teasing

Poels et al. (2012) 13

Playability Heuristics

◂ Wide range of playability heuristics have been developed for

evaluating games
◂ The creation methods vary, there are various perspectives, and
the models contain anything between 10 to 90 heuristics

◂ Some are more game design focused while others cover player
experience issues

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 A Games as Systems
Playability Definition

At minimum there are three components that form the playability of

a game system:
◂ Functionality
◂ Usability
◂ Gameplay

“Playability is the design quality of a game, formed by its

functionality, usability, and gameplay.”
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 A Games as Systems
Playability Definition
Functionality Usability Gameplay

● Loading time ● Information ● Goals

● Crashing, freezing ● Feedback ● Progression
● Bugs ● Audiovisual ● Rewards
● Performance ● Camera view ● Autonomy
● Error reporting ● UI layout ● Challenge
● Responsiveness ● Indicators ● Playing styles
● Navigation ● Conventions
● Terminology ● Repetitiveness
● Controls ● Consistency
● Help

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 A Games as Systems
Playability Definition

◂ Benefits of this approach

◂ This definition narrows the focus only to the game itself
◂ Thus is it focused only on things that can be designed into the game
◂ Recognizes that playability and player experience do not always go hand-in-hand
◂ Excludes fuzzy player experience concepts such as fun and enjoyment
◂ Compatible with various game design models such as MDA (Hunicke et al., 2004) and
A.G.E (Dillon, 2014)

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 A Games as Systems
Playability Definition

Additional components can be added based on the game type,

possible components could be…
◂ Multiplayer
◂ Mobile
◂ Context-aware
◂ Monetization

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Playability and Player Experience in
Games

◂ Tic-Tac-Toe - audience matters

◂ Barbarian - context matters
◂ DayZ - breaking the playability
◂ Clash Royale - playability in constant flux
◂ Pokémon GO - bad game, great experience?

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Closing Thoughts

◂ This definition provides clarity to the term playability

◂ There is no straightforward correlation between playability and player

experience

◂ Playability heuristics focused on the game rather than player experiences

◂ From the player’s perspective, playability could be seen as an affordance

(Gibson, 1979)

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Closing Thoughts

◂ Games-as-services paradigm is based on tweaking the playability

throughout the game life-cycle - and measuring the effect based on
metrics

◂ What is the role of music in playability? Or what if the game IS

the controller?

◂ What is the playability of toys? “Toyability”?

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Thank you!
Let’s discuss.

◂ @rojola
◂ janne.paavilainen@tuni.fi

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