Soft key and hard key mobile input devices on player experience for mobile gaming

Abstract

Input devices come in different interaction modalities, structure, layout and controls on a mobile platform. However, there is limited information on the types of mobile input devices that affect player experience. Most of the information about the advantages and disadvantages of input devices are reported in isolation without involvement from mobile game application. This paper aims to explore player experience by comparing two different types of mobile input methods, namely hard keypad (HK) and soft keypad (SK), for mobile gaming. Interview was conducted and the results were analysed using content analysis as a way of understanding player experience of input devices for mobile games. The content analysis highlighted positive and negative feedback comprising of two main categories, Features and Effects. Overall, both qualitative and quantitative data collected revealed that HK was better than SK for mobile gaming. © 2013 Springer International Publishing.