The Cognitive Science of Skyrim
Case study
Cognitive science & UX
With my background in cognitive science and psychology, I wanted to take a deeper dive into where cognitive science and UX design intersect.
In this case study, I will be evaluating the ARPG game developed by Bethesda Game Studios— The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
Objectives
This is not a heuristics evaluation, but should ultimately function like one. This case study should:
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Summarize cognitive science principles that affect the user experience
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Highlight instances of good UX based on cognitive science principles
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Consider how UX can be improved
INTRODUCTION
What is cognitive science?
Cognitive science is an interdisciplinary field that studies the mind and its processes. This encompasses a vast multitude of topics spanning many disciplines, from abstract questions of human consciousness to more practical questions regarding the physical brain and its functions.
In user experience design, what we are particularly concerned with is the end-to-end journey of how we process information— from attending a stimulus, to perceiving it, and finally committing it to memory.
Attention
How do we narrow down enormous amounts of stimuli?
Perception
How do we sense the stimuli we are attending in a meaningful way?
Memory
How do we store the information we perceive for future recall?
Complex machinery
It's important to note that the brain is a complex mechanism that can't be separated into distinct categories. Cognitive functions almost always work together. These concepts are heavily simplified in this case study.
Now let's dive in!
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Attention
Exogenous vs. endogenous attention
Shifting attention can happen voluntarily (endogenous) or involuntarily (exogenous). Think actively searching for Waldo within a sea of people on a page, versus a flash of light that grabs your attention without your realization.
In UX and game design, it's important to consider which type of attention we want the user to use. Common mistakes are key notifications not being salient enough to draw user attention, or too many events happening simultaneously that all steal attention away from one another.
What is done well?
Skyrim makes good use of persuading exogenous attention. Blood splatters appear around the screen to indicate damage taken, and draws attention to an important game event without being overpowering.
Blood splatters appear as you take damage.
Useful field of view (UFOV)
The Useful Field of View (UFOV) is the visual area that a user can extract information from without head or eye movement. This is a vital concept in UX design, especially in video games, because it directly impacts what kind of information the user can reliably perceive on a screen.
Information on the far left and right of the screen that fall outside of the UFOV may require mutually exclusive attention from the user, causing information to be easily overlooked.
Usability problem:
With stamina and mana bars sticky on the far corners, it is difficult to attend both simultaneously. This is especially detrimental in combat, when it's necessary for the player to be aware of both bars as well as health.
Important elements (mana, stamina) are side aligned.
This issue is further exacerbated on wider devices.
Solution:
Relocating health, mana, stamina to the same section within the UFOV ensures that they can all be seen simultaneously. This reduces cognitive load by minimizing the need for glancing back and forth. This solution also addresses larger devices as well as users with smaller UFOVs.
Having a designated area for key information minimizes glancing back and forth.
Perception
Spatial navigation
Our understanding of where objects are in space can be expressed through two main frameworks: allocentric and egocentric. In everyday UX and in game design, understandability of maps is affected by whether users can use their preferred navigation framework.
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Egocentric
The location of an object is relative to you, the perceiver of the object.
Example: in Google Maps, the arrow spins to match your orientation
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Allocentric
The location of an object is relative to the other objects around it.
Example: reading a paper map
What is done well?
Skyrim accomodates both frameworks of spatial processing. The compass marker system displaying key features is an effective means of egocentric navigation while the full-screen map is a classic example of allocentric navigation.
Skyrim's compass marker system.
Mental rotation
When you close your eyes and imagine an apple, you are creating a visual representation of the apple that is separate from the object in real life. Interestingly, it can take proportionately longer to rotate an object mentally than rotate it in real life.
For example, while playing Tetris, it takes about twice as long to rotate a falling block in your head to anticipate how it will fall compared to rotating it in real life. This concept is directly applicable to map design.
Usability problem:
In Skyrim, the compass navigation forces the user to mentally rotate their character to align with the map, requiring additional cognitive load to find the direction of their goal.
The UI of Skyrim, with compass navigation at the top.
Solution:
The addition of a minimap would provide a means of allocentric navigation as an alternative to opening the full-screen map, which can be disruptive to gameplay.
Adding a minimap streamlines the navigation experience.
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Working memory
Working memory (WM) is a powerful cognitive system that temporarily holds information used in the execution of cognitive tasks.
For information to enter long-term memory (LTM), it must first be present in WM. The level of processing during WM dramatically impacts learning and retention. When it comes to tutorials and teaching important mechanics, understanding the limitations of WM is a must.
This is why learning by doing is so powerful— to learn something in a context that requires more cognitive resources will process it much more deeply than say, superficially reading through a tutorial text.
What is done well?
Skyrim implements an intuitive tutorial that teaches a mechanic, then reinforces it in memory by requiring the player to perform it. This encodes the memory much more powerfully.
The player is led through performing key mechanics.
Procedural memory
Also called implicit memory, procedural memory encompasses the performance of certain tasks below the level of conscious awareness. This might be movement based (like riding a bike) or perceptual (like learning to read).
When playing games, players unconsciously favor certain input controls they have committed to procedural memory. For example, the classic WASD or arrow keys for movement. Skyrim follows the standard practice of allowing the user to remap keys to optimize their user experience.
Usability problem:
In Skyrim, there is no option to invert camera on the x-axis. For users that have developed a strong procedural memory for inverted-x, the game controls are frustrating until they can adapt. Generally, we should avoid forcing the user to learn a new mental model.
Inverting axis causes the direction of view to reverse based on the input (for example, pan left → looks right).
Solution:
Adding an option to invert the camera on the x-axis would allow for a large population of players to enjoy the game without having to encode a new skill into their procedural memory.
Adding the option to invert along the x-axis as well as y-axis.
Cognitive shifting
Cognitive shifting describes our ability to shift conscious attention between two tasks. Shifting attention in this way always costs some amount of cognitive load, and the task of minimizing cognitive load falls to us as UX designers.
Usability problem:
When tracking quests, the user must shift between two interfaces— firstly the quest journal to see what quest they are pursuing, and secondly the world map to understand where they are going for the quest.
Skyrim markers all look the same. With multiple tracked quests, the cognitive load of needing to remember items is greatly increased.
Simultaneously tracked quest markers all look the exact same.
Simultaneously tracked quest markers all look the same. The only way to tell which quest is which is to hover over markers.
Solution:
Linking quests together using consistent color is an easy way of reducing the mental load in cognitive shifting. Just the right amount of context is carried over to effectively let the player know exactly where something is.
Although this small splash of color deviates from the game's design style, it's a reasonable sacrifice to make for the sake of good UX.
Consistent coloration between quests efficiently directs the player to what they're looking for.
FINAL THOUGHTS
UX, cognitive science, Skyrim
You may be wondering, why Skyrim? It's simple— Skyrim was my very first PC game back in 2014. There is a certain nostalgia attached to the joy of experiencing Skyrim for the first time on my crappy integrated-graphics laptop at 30fps.
In the process of understanding our users, it can be incredibly worthwhile to dive into behavior from a cognitive psychology perspective. This was an interesting and informative exercise in bridging my cognitive science knowledge with user experience on a deeper level.