學齡前兒童電玩:任天堂的設計與研究過程
Computer Games for Preschoolers: Nintendo’s Research and Design Process

Max was not daunted by his failure.
麥斯並不因為失敗而感到氣餒。

My brother is keen to ride bicycle after work.
我哥哥熱衷於下班後去騎自行車。

Some of her cognitive functions have been impaired in the accident.
她的部分認知能力在意外中受到了損害。

We are studying how these two chemicals interact.
我們在研究這兩種化學物質是如何相互作用的。

The banana trees yield plenty of fruit this season.
香蕉樹這一季產了非常多香蕉。

The teacher divided our class into three groups.
老師把班上同學分成了三組。

He had sort of instinctive of sports, which makes him play well in all kind of ball games.
他身上天生的運動能力讓他在各種球賽都能有好的表現。

Most people have an intuitive sense of right and wrong.
大多數人具有基於直覺的是非對錯。

The engineer explained the plane's technical capabilities.
工程師解釋了該飛機的技術性能。

We need money and time to implement the program.
我們需要時間及資金來實行這個計劃。

Computer Games for Preschoolers:
Nintendo’s Research and Design Process

Designing computer games for young children is a daunting task for game producers, who, for a long time, have concentrated on more “hard core” game fans. This article chronicles the design process and research involved in creating Nintendo DS for preschool gamers.

After speaking with our producers who have a keen interest in designing for the DS, we finally agreed on three key goals for our project. First, to understand the range of physical and cognitive abilities of preschoolers in the context of handheld system game play; second, to understand how preschool gamers interact with the DS, specifically how they control the different forms of play and game mechanics offered by the games presently on the market for this platform; third, to understand the expectations of preschoolers' parents concerning the handheld systems as well as the purchase and play contexts within which game play occurs. The team of the research decided that in-home ethnographies with preschoolers and their families would yield comprehensive database with which to give our producers more information and insights, so we start by conducting 26 in-home ethnographies in three markets across the United States: an East coast urban/suburban area, a West coast urban/suburban area, and a Midwest suburban/rural area.

The subjects in this study included 15 girls and 11 boys ranging from 3 years and 3 months old to 5 years and 11 months old. Also, because previous research had shown the effects of older siblings on game play (demonstrated, for example, by more advanced motor coordination when using a computer mouse), households were employed to have a combination of preschoolers with and without elder peers. In order to understand both “experienced” and “new” preschool users of the platform, we divided the sample so that 13 families owned at least one Nintendo DS and the others did not. For those households that did not own a DS, one was brought to the interview for the kid to play. This allowed us to see both the instinctive and intuitive movements of the new players (and of the more experienced players when playing new games), as well as the learned movements of the more experienced players. Each of those interviews took about 60 to 120 minutes and included the preschooler, at least one parent, and often siblings and another caregiver.

Three kinds of information were collected after each interview. From any older siblings and the parents that were available, we gathered data about the buying decisions surrounding game systems in the household, the family’s typical game play patterns, levels of parental moderation with regard to computer gaming, and the most favourite games played by family members…