Researchers

Sultan Alharthi

Visiting Ph.D Student, Planning Interfaces

Profile Video

Projects

SWaGUR: Saskatchewan-Waterloo Games User Research

Publications

Year 2019

" It Started as a Joke" On the Design of Idle Game

@inproceedings{spiel2019started,
  title={" It Started as a Joke" On the Design of Idle Games},
  author={Spiel, Katta and Alharthi, Sultan A and Cen, Andrew Jian-lan and Hammer, Jessica and Nacke, Lennart E and Toups, Z O and Tanenbaum, Tess},
  booktitle={Proceedings of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play},
  pages={495--508},
  year={2019}
}

With idle games, active withdrawal from the game comprises an essential part of gameplay as players wait for the game state to change over time. This mode of interaction is paradigmatic for the change of roles technologies have in our lives. However, the design elements of idle games are less well understood, particularly from the perspectives of developers. We interviewed six designers of six different popular idle games and inquired into their individual approaches. Via thematic analysis, we refine and expand on existing definitions of idle games as a genre, shed light on ethically charged practices of care in their design, and identify shared core characteristics between the games and processes. We then generate intermediate-level knowledge on the design of idle games. Our work contributes designers' perspectives on idle games and their design to a growing body of literature on the genre.

Do Cognitive Styles Influence Collective Sensemaking in Distributed Multiplayer Games?

@inproceedings{alharthi2019cognitive,
  title={Do cognitive styles influence collective sensemaking in distributed multiplayer games},
  author={Alharthi, Sultan A and Raptis, George E and Katsini, C and Dolgov, I and Nacke, LE and Toups, ZO},
  booktitle={Proceedings of the 2019 Collective Intelligence Conference, CI},
  volume={19},
  year={2019}
}

Effective teamwork is characterized by having a shared understanding of objectives and collaboration skills [Salas et al. 1992]. In distributed multiplayer games, players need to constantly coordinate actions with each other and collectively make sense of the game objectives to succeed as a team [Alharthi et al. 2018b]. This is achieved by players processing and exchanging information among team members through game interfaces [Wuertz et al. 2018; Toups et al. 2014]. To better support collaborating in distributed multiplayer games, we need to understand the human factors that influence how teams collect, process, and share game information [Alharthi et al. 2018a; Raptis et al. 2016]. Team cognition is one of the human factors that influences collaboration [Gutwin and Greenberg 2004]. Each team member, based on their unique cognitive characteristics, develops a specific approach to process information and engage in both individual and collective sensemaking activities [Weick 1995]. Sensemaking is a process performed in order to understand a situation and make decisions [Weick 1995]. The need for sensemaking arises in shifting environments, when new challenges, opportunities, and tasks are emergent [Toups et al. 2016]. Information seeking is an essential part of the process of collective sensemaking, in which information are collected, shared, filtered, processed, authenticated, and interpreted to extract what is needed to understand a situation and effectively work together as a team [Weick 1995]. Individuals develop different approaches to collect and process information in complex environments. Such different approaches are known as cognitive styles [Kozhevnikov 2007]. A well-known cognitive style is Field Dependence—Independence (FD-I), which identifies two extremes: field dependent (FD) – integrating information from surrounding context – and field independent (FI) – able to separate visual information from surrounding context [Witkin et al. 1977]. Considering that people with disparate cognitive styles process information differently, cognitive styles are expected to play an important role in the success of teamwork and how teams engage in collective sensemaking activities in distributed multiplayer games [Chujfi and Meinel 2015]. Based on our motivation and study of related work [Hong et al. 2012; Witkin and Goodenough 1976; Nisiforou 2015; Raptis et al. 2016; 2018; Michailova and Sidorova 2011], we expect people characterized as FI to be beneficial to teams playing games that involve seeking, processing, and sharing information, as they tend to deconstruct complex scenes faster [Witkin and Goodenough 1976], perform fewer but more accurate movements [Hong et al. 2012], adopt a more exploratory information seeking strategy [Raptis et al. 2016], be more engaged in enriched visual contexts [Raptis et al. 2018], and are less dependent on contextual cues and visualized guiding information [Michailova and Sidorova 2011].

Year 2018

Investigating the Impact of Annotation Interfaces on Player Performance in Distributed Multiplayer Games

@inproceedings{Alharthi2018a,
author = {Alharthi, Sultan A. and Torres, Ruth C. and Khalaf, Ahmed S. and Toups, Zachary O. and Dolgov, Igor and Nacke, Lennart E.},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - CHI '18},
doi = {10.1145/3173574.3173888},
publisher = {ACM},
title = {{Investigating the Impact of Annotation Interfaces on Player Performance and Collaborative Planning in Games}},
year = {2018}
}

In distributed multiplayer games, it can be difficult to communicate strategic information for planning game moves and player interactions. Often, players spend extra time communicating, reducing their engagement in the game. Visual annotations in game maps and in the gameworld can address this problem and result in more efficient player communication. We studied the impact of real-time feedback on planning annotations, specifically two different annotation types, in a custom-built, third-person, multiplayer game and analyzed their effects on player performance, experience, workload, and annotation use. We found that annotations helped engage players in collaborative planning, which reduced frustration, and shortened goal completion times. Based on these findings, we discuss how annotating in virtual game spaces enables collaborative planning and improves team performance.

Practical Insights into the Design of Future Disaster Response Training Simulations

@inproceedings{Alharthi2018b,
abstract = {A primary component of disaster response is training. These educational exercises provide responders with the knowledge and skills needed to be prepared when disasters happen. However, traditional training methods, such as high-fidelity simulations (e.g., real-life drills) and classroom courses, may fall short of providing effective and cost-efficient training that is needed for today's challenges. Advances in technology open a wide range of opportunities for training using computer-mediated simulations and exercises. These exercises include the use of mixed reality games and wearable computers. Existing studies report on the usefulness of these technologies for training purposes. This review paper synthesizes prior research and development of disaster response simulations and identifies challenges, opportunities, and lessons learned. Through this review, we provide researchers and designers with an overview of current practices in designing training simulations and contribute practical insights into the design of future disaster response training.},
author = {Alharthi, Sultan A and LaLone, Nick and Khalaf, Ahmed S and Torres, Ruth and Nacke, Lennart and Dolgov, Igor and Toups, Zachary O},
booktitle = {15th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (ISCRAM 2018)},
isbn = {9780692127605},
issn = {24113387},
keywords = {Training Disaster Response Mixed Reality Simulation},
title = {{Practical Insights into the Design of Future Disaster Response Training Simulations}},
year = {2018}
}

A primary component of disaster response is training. These educational exercises provide responders with the knowledge and skills needed to be prepared when disasters happen. However, traditional training methods, such as high-fidelity simulations (e.g., real-life drills) and classroom courses, may fall short of providing effective and cost-efficient training that is needed for today’s challenges. Advances in technology open a wide range of opportunities for training using computer-mediated simulations and exercises. These exercises include the use of mixed reality games and wearable computers. Existing studies report on the usefulness of these technologies for training purposes. This review paper synthesizes prior research and development of disaster response simulations and identifies challenges, opportunities, and lessons learned. Through this review, we provide researchers and designers with an overview of current practices in designing training simulations and contribute practical insights into the design of future disaster response training.

Toward Understanding the Effects of Cognitive Styles on Collaboration in Multiplayer Games

@inproceedings{Alharthi:2018:TUE:3272973.3274047,
 author = {Alharthi, Sultan A. and Raptis, George E. and Katsini, Christina and Dolgov, Igor and Nacke, Lennart E. and Toups, Zachary O.},
 title = {Toward Understanding the Effects of Cognitive Styles on Collaboration in Multiplayer Games},
 booktitle = {Companion of the 2018 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing},
 series = {CSCW '18},
 year = {2018},
 isbn = {978-1-4503-6018-0},
 location = {Jersey City, NJ, USA},
 pages = {169--172},
 numpages = {4},
 url = {http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/3272973.3274047},
 doi = {10.1145/3272973.3274047},
 acmid = {3274047},
 publisher = {ACM},
 address = {New York, NY, USA},
 keywords = {cognitive styles, collaboration, multiplayer games, planning, team formation, teams, user study},
} 

In multiplayer games, players need to coordinate action to succeed. This paper investigates the effect of cognitive styles on performance of dyads engaged in collaborative gaming activities. 24 individuals took part in a mixed methods user-study; they were classified as field dependent (FD) or independent (FI) based on a cognitive style elicitation instrument. Three groups of teams were formed, based on the cognitive style of each team member: FD-FD, FD-FI, FI-FI. We examined performance in terms of game completion time, cognitive load, and player experience. The analysis revealed that FD-FI cognitive style had an effect on the performance and the mental load. We expect the findings to provide useful insight for practitioners and researchers on improving team collaboration in different contexts, such as learning, eSports, and disaster response.