AU3D2 by iA.IID

Having full respect and giving credits to Roblox Corporation, Lionly Studios (Among Us Crewmates), and InnerSloth for developing amazing games. All properties of the game, characters, and themes belong to organizations mentioned above.

The rights of the contents are all reserved to Chaerim Jeong (2019195014), Carissa Faith Potts (2019195184), and Juwon Jung (2020195085).

GREETINGS

Warm greetings. Hello this is TEAM ROB-

Information is everywhere nowadays. Many

LOX from information architecture course.

tasks we perform every day do not only re-

Thank you so much for joining us today.

quire us to move between different media

We are Chaerim, Carissa, and Juwon, who

but have us move from the digital to the

will be guiding you through AU3DS project.

physical environment and back. The channel

AU3DS stands for Among Us 3D Space. By

offers a cross-channel user experience, and

looking our netnography project on Rob-

it is more flexible than we can ever imagine.

lox and Amoung Us Crewmates, please take some time to think the power of metaverse and its relationship with people - in terms of forming a relationship, feeling a sense of inclusiveness, and communicating with others.

Spring 2021 Information Architecture Information Architecture is a major elective course of IID major in UIC. In this course, we explored pervasive information architecture and its application in real-world technology. By learning about five heuristics used in pervasive information architecture - placemaking, reduction, consistency, correlation, and resilience - we acquired how to conduct netnography research and heuristically analyze games.

Roblox Roblox is a global platform where millions of people gather together every day to imagine, create, and share experiences in an immersive, user-generated 3D world. The type of gameplay on Roblox are limitless; people can become either player or developer. Launched on September 1, 2006, by Roblox Corporation, Roblox has been operated for approximately 15 years, and now more than 150 million users worldwide enjoy Roblox. Highly sociable and communicable sandbox game, Roblox is known to be similar to Minecraft. However, it is different from Minecraft since it is a free platform where players can dip in and out of the virtual world to play any games of their choice. With strong support from Youtubers, it became even more popular, and there is even an annual event called ‘Bloxy Awards’ that nominates recognizable users for the artistic, creative, and social ability of its player base. As of June 2021, Roblox’s popularity still soars.

Among Us Crewmates Last year was frankly the hottest year for

Unlike the original Among Us, users control

Among Us. Developed by InnerSloth and re-

crewmates 3-dimensionally in Among Us

leased iOS and Android application in June

Crewmates. In the environment where users

2018, Among Us reached half a billion active

view crewmates in 3D characters, players are

monthly users by November. Among Us is an

placed under circumstances varying from

online multiplayer social deduction game.

the original game. By using five pervasive

Players can play from a minimum of four

information architecture heuristics - place-

players to a maximum of ten players - either

making, reduction, consistency, correlation,

with people you know or random players on-

and resilience - we did a gameworld heuris-

line. Many people believe Twitch streamers

tic evaluation. Furthermore, we integrated

placed Among Us on the popular stream.

secondary research to identify problems and suggest solutions.

Project AU3D2

Project AU3D2 stands for Among Us in 3-Di-

players’ interaction. Our project aims to de-

mensional Space. Upon this team project,

sign a more desirable UI that contributes to

we share our research findings and result in

the user’s convenient user experience and

Roblox and Among Us Crewmates. Roblox is

stimulates active engagement among play-

one of the most prospective metaverse plat-

ers. Unlike the original Among Us, users con-

forms in the game industry. The innumerable

trol crewmates 3-dimensionally in Among Us

amount of diverse games and growing com-

Crewmates. In the environment where users

munity of Roblox have shown the potential

view crewmates in 3D characters, players are

metaverse beyond entertainment. This is a

placed under circumstances varying from

project on redesigning the Among Us Crew-

the original game. By using five pervasive

mates game space and UI to offer interac-

information architecture heuristics - place-

tive game space. Through our research, we

making, reduction, consistency, correlation,

have explored Roblox game spaces in terms

and resilience - we did a gameworld heuris-

of place-making, consistency, resilience, re-

tic evaluation. Furthermore, we integrated

duction, correlation, and human interactions.

secondary research to identify problems and

Based on the research, our project aims to

suggest solutions.

advance and modify the Among Us Crewmates game elements. The game elements are communication, chatbox UI, game space map, player navigation, game plot, and some additional elements that could enhance

Netnography Research Design Netnography research was conducted in

What are some interesting and remarkable

the private and public servers of Roblox. The

interactions within the VR space that may (or

methodology to conduct netnography for

may not) be distinguished from free life in-

each server was divided in three ways. In the

teractions.

case of private server netnography, we recruited 3 participants from UIC to play “Ro-

What are the communication or game as-

blox Among Us Crewmates!” with us. The

pects that enable people to engage and form

session period was from 5.3 to 3.17 on ev-

bonds more actively, and enhance interac-

ery Monday via zoom. The participants were

tion.

given 10,000 won for each game session. For public server netnography, three of us joined

What are the communication or game as-

the public server together and observed

pects that hinder human interaction?

random players playing “Roblox Among Us Crewmates!”. Lastly, the individual netnog-

How does the platform or game help forming

raphy took place through individually ex-

a positive community that makes players feel

ploring popular games in Roblox. The main

a sense of inclusiveness/connectedness?

goal of conducting individual game play was to observe and record behaviors of random

What is the effect of open chances for col-

players. To sum, the overall goal of conduct-

laborative games on a sense of inclusiveness/

ing netnography was to answer the following

connectedness?

research questions.

Research Process

Netnography

Conclusion

[1] Define the research context

[1] Revisit research protocol

[2] Set up research protocol

[2] Evaluate data and conclude

Methodology

[1] Recruit members [2] Game Play Individual

Team

exploration and comparison of game features

in a team of three in the public server

in a team of six (with 3 participants) in the private server

[3] Tool Observational Study

Survey

Interview

Game Heuristic Evaluation

I. PLACE MAKING Wayfinding In Roblox “Among Us Crewmates” gameworld, players were able to move their avatar in the 3D space by pressing the keyboard, and using the mouse to change perspective. These were the five main wayfinding tools within the game. [1] tools that display the user’s current position Player’s current location is displayed on the map with a small icon of the avatar.

[2] tools that display the user’s orientation The game fails to provide tools that display the orientation of the user

[3] tools that log the user’s movement a yellow navigation arrow will be given to help players navigate themselves to the task area a yellow sign with an exclamation mark shows that the area has tasks to be done

[4] tools that show the user’s surrounding environments the map shows the overall shape of the game space environment

[5] guide navigation systems a yellow navigation arrow will be given to help users guide/navigate themselves to the task area

WAYFINDING TOOLS

map Sign

Navigation Arrow

Hodological space

Mixing five different base elements

Among Us Crewmates 3D game space separates each task room(Upper Engine, Reactor, Lower Engine, Med Bay, Electrical, Comms, Shield, O2, Admin, Weapons) with a wall. Each player is assigned different tasks, so that one person’s task room will not be functional to another player. Also task areas that are surrounded by three walls create a completely confined and isolated environment. These game design applied altogether creates a sense of individuality where players focus mostly on their task.

Path

In Roblox Among Us Crewmates gameworld, the hallway where the player’s walk and mostly navigate their avatar acts as a path.

Edges

Districts

Each task room (Navigation, Shields, Security, Med bay, Comms, Weapons, Storage, Electrical, Admin, O2, Upper Engine, Reactor, Lower Engine) is surrounded by walls. The walls separate each area, thereby acting as edges. As the walls completely separate some of the task areas from the other areas, what is happening in the area next to a player’s area is unknown and blocked. This creates more tension to a player who is alone in the task room, since there is nonone to help or protect them when the imposter attacks them. Nodes Players have to move from one task area to another to accomplish each task. Thus, each task area acts as nodes in this case

Landmark The emergency meeting button in the cafeteria acts as a landmark. Since it is located in the middle players use the cafeteria as a landmark to better navigate themselves.

The district becomes the meeting point where it can accomodate all the players. The cafeteria is relatively surrounded with fewer walls, thereby its environment is more open. In this area, ghost players would wander around for no particular reason, and crewmates will hold meetings and discuss who the imposter is.

II. Consistency Open coding with Interview/Observation Data Among Us Crewmates 3D game space separates each task room(Upper Engine, Reactor, Lower Engine, Med Bay, Electrical, Comms, Shield, O2, Admin, Weapons) with a wall. Each player is assigned different tasks, so that one person’s task room will n While we were conducting the Zoom session on our private server, we observed players having a hard time naming the place they were in when discussion took place to investigate the imposter. This issue happened among the players who have to prove their alibi to show that they are not the imposterThe players mostly recalled and said the location they were in, and the task they were doing. Not many players were able to say the exact name of the location nor tasks.

This was because the physical location of the task areas were randomly distributed, and the tasks that were allocated respectively to the task area had little coherence to that area. The players could not memorize or recall the name of the area and could not accurately name their tasks.

Players also showed discomfort when they were orienting and navigating themselves while looking at the map. Because of the game’s nature of being a 3D space, it is inevitable for players to look at the map and simultaneously navigate themselves. However, while observing the participants we found out participants were having a difficult time navigating thesleves due to the discrepancy between the visualization of the map and the actual aerial organization. This not only affects negatively on the wayfinding aspect of the game but also the map being consistent to the actual presentation of the 3D space. ot be functional to another player.

ㅆㅁTaxonomy

In order to solve the problems we have observed while the Zoom session regarding consistency, we felt that the taxonomy of the task area needs to be improved. The task areas where the task areas are randomly distributed, and there is no logical account to why the blueprint of the location was constructed in that way. Also, there is no order or account for why certain tasks are given, for example electricity tasks are given

not only in the “Electrical room” but also in other random areas with the name that has nothing to do with electricity. We thought that these discrepancy and randomness has created the problem among players not being able to remember and name their locations. Thus, the game will need reorganization of the task location, name and will need tasks that are coherent to the area.

ㅆㅁMetaphor Analysis

The game exactly resembles the original Among Us 2D mobile game, and the metaphor of it being a spaceship well resonates with the task areas. For example, since the game’s theme is a spaceship, defining the players as crewmates, and adding thematic spaceship maintenance tasks well suits the metaphor.

III. Resilience Information Seeking Strategies The social model of AmongUs has a strong impact on user behavior; as a result, individuals explore and complete tasks differently because the characterization of imposter or crewmate all have different goals and possess different reference models.

Searching: directed and active information seeking Crewmates use the “searching” information seeking strategy to actively find task areas to finish their tasks. They already know which area they should be going since it is marked with a yellow exclamation mark icon.

Browsing: undirected and passive information seeking The imposter will have to kill the crewmates and sabotage the spaceship, so he/she will be actively seeking for crewmates to kill. However, since all the crewmates are spread in different locations and one cannot expect their behavior, the imposter’s information seeking is undirected.

Monitoring: directed and passive information seeking While they are accomplishing their tasks, players are keeping an eye for evidence to find the imposter, yet they are passively seeking for the information.

When players are having a discussion on finding who the imposter is, they will actively search for evidence and prove alibi.

Being aware: undirected and passive information seeking

The principle of least effort: satisficing

Crewmates recall who they were with or the traits/colors of the players involved in the murder once they hold a meeting in the cafeteria. Before the meeting, this kind of information is directed to be remembered or seeked. This is where players face problems recalling information of their location and tasks they have been assigned.

When crewmates are doing their multiple tasks, most of them will do the task with a location that is closest to them rather than the order or the significance of the task. Also, while recalling what they have been doing when the murder happend, people would usually talk about the last task area and task they were doing at that moment.

IV. Reduction Complexity Problems One of the biggest complexity problems in this game is that there are many task areas, yet it lacks features that help players acknowledge where they are and recall the name of the space they were in. The space organization was too complex and the locations weren’t consistent and connective. This firsthand problem that relates to consistency has extended to the problem of complexity in the user’s experience. This complex organization of the task area location seemed to hinder pleasurable user experience especially when it comes to proving their innocence in the cafeteria and wayfinding. By relocating the task areas physically, and re-matching the tasks and the task area to a more coherent manner could provide a more coherent structure of the game that will provide a less burdening mental model of the location.

Scattered Map Areas

02 STORAGE ELECTRICAL

DRIVING FORCE UPPER ENGINE LOWER ENGINE REACTOR

CAFETERIA

BATTLE WEAPONS SECURITY SHIELDS

NAVIGATION

CREW WELFARE ADMIN COMMUNICATION MEDBAY

Scattered Map Areas

CAFETERIA

CAFETERIA WEAPONS

NAVIGATION

WEAPON

SHIELDS BATTLE

SECURITY

02 SHIELDS

ADMIN

AMONG US SPACESHIP

COMMUNICATION SHIP MAINTENCE

STORAGE

AMONG US SPACESHIP

STORAGE ELECTRICAL

MED BAY ELECTRICAL

ADMIN CREW WELFARE

SECURITY ENGINE

UPPER ENGINE

COMMUNICATION MEDBAY

LOWER ENGINE REACTOR UPPER ENGINE DRIVING FORCE

LOWER ENGINE REACTOR

Previous Wide Structure

Planning Deep Structure

Wide & Deep Structures We have decided to recreate the structure of the location depending on the deep structure. The original structure of the 3D space, task area organization was closer to being a wide structure. The taxonomy structure of the spaceship spatial structure was revised into a deep structure, where the task areas are clustered into one big topic and organized accordingly.

V. Correlation Our user generated content/tasks can be organized in mainly 6 ways.

1. Players using map visualization while they are discussing who the imposter is

2. Players sending friend request to another player in the Among Us Crewmates game world, and friend being added in the Roblox platform web page

3. Player taking a photograph of the gameworld moment that he/she would like to archive, and having it be saved in the Roblox game platform web page

4. Saving, organizing and editing the photograph post in the Roblox web page

5. Enabling players to share the game moment photography posts in other cross-channel media

6. Providing game elements that enable Ghost players to do additional free-to-do tasks, and adding features encouraging interaction between two players.

Project Result

The following pages lead to the project results. Please refer to the xd link for the detailed solution. We recommend to use PC for viewing the document.

USER TASK SCENARIO

ENVIRONMENT OR MEDIA

SCENARIO

TASK

TASK 1

TASK 2

TASK 3

TASK 4

TASK 5

TASK 6

Players share his or her pictures with other people

Ghost players are given additional free to do tasks, interaction is being made between players

Players discuss who the imposter is

Players send friend request to other players and make new friends

Players take a screenshot of a moment in the game

Players edit his or her picture in the Roblox Photo Album Archive

Among Us Crewmates Gameworld

PC/Other Devices

PC Among Us Crewmates Gameworld

Roblox Platform Main Web Page

Roblox Platform Main Web Page Instagram Facebook Twitter Kakaotalk PC File

PLACE MAKING CONSISTENCY

RESILIENCE

REDUCTION

CORRELATION

TASK 1 Players discuss who the imposter is

In this task players can use the visualization map to mark the place of the murder and where they were. The map will display the name of each task area which will help users in terms of remembering where they were. The map is also the same map provided while user’s navigating themselves in the game, thereby contributing to the consistency.

TASK 2 Player sends friend request to another player, and make new friends In the gameworld, players will be able to click on a desired player and acquire a bio about the player. If the player wishes to add friend, then he/she can send a friend request. If the player who received a friend request accepts it, then both player’s will have each other added as friend in the Roblox Web page. This will allow players to extend their friendships beyond the temporary relationship in the public server. Players can meet up again sometime later or even explore other games together.

TASK 3 Player takes a screen shot of a moment in the game

Players will be able to screenshot a moment in the gameworld. This photograph will be archived in the Roblox web page “Photo Album”. The photo album will organize the pictures according to its date, the place the photo was taken, and friends who are in the photograph. The categorization will contribute to resilience and reduction. Correlation is satisfied as the task is accomplished through crossing channels from the gameworld, and to the Roblox Web page.

TASK 4 Player edits his/ her picture in the Roblox Photo Album archive

A player can edit his/her photo and write a description about the picture and, hashtag keywords. The player can find the picture he/she desires to edit through various categorization.

TASK 5 Player shares his/her pictures with other people

Players can share his/her game photograph post at Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Kakao, and save as a file. Players can also copy a link of the post and send chat to their friends. Users will be able to share their moments in the gameworld just like we do in social media in our real world.

TASK 6 Ghost players are given additional free to do tasks, interaction is being made between players Ghost players are mostly left alone and their activity is limited. To solve this problem we have added additional free-todo tasks that will enable users to share their task activities to other players. For instance, players can microwave a pizza, make a drink and share it with other ghost players. This kind of element will open opportunities for players to interact and communicate with other players with the remaining time in the game round

XD Preview I

[1] Improving Map and Wayfinding tool

[2] New way to investigate imposter 32

[3] New way to socialize with others

[4] Taking a screenshot of the moment 33

XD Preview II

[6] Sharing my game play on SNS

[5] New plot for dead players! Pizza!

For more, please find the link below LINK TO PROTOTYPE

CONCLUSION Research Findings Among us is a non-place and the chatting

useless information that is irrelevant to the

option aided in that feeling of non placeness.

plot. The same can be said for this type of

Within this game the chat box is restricted

game because the goal of the game is to

to a time limit and heavily moderated. With

communicate to try to decide who is the im-

these conditions a unique sense of commu-

postor. Communication is a key aspect in the

nication was developed, a novel style com-

game plot, and it has a unique style to it that

munication. In novels authors tend to keep

is not typically utilized in day-to-day life. in

their audience on a need-to-know basis so

a regular conversation most people tend to

that way they are not overwhelmed with

insert information that is not necessary to no it is just idle chat. Another interesting aspect of the communication is the observational communication that is needed. because this game is based on trying to snip out who is the impostor many players must develop strong observation skills to pick out the difference in typing and player movement. because of this there is always a large amount of doubt because of the deceit embedded into the game and trust based on those observations made

on an individual level.Information is everywhere nowadays. Many tasks we perform every day do not only require us to move between different media but have us move from the digital to the physical environment and back. The channel offers a cross-channel user experience, and it is more flexible than we can ever imagine. The communication in this game is notable however it’s starkly different than the dayto-day conversations most people have, and this hinders the ability to developed long lasting relationships inside the game by stunting the ability of players to feel connected and included. Certain gaming aspects that word developed in this game is that rounds are continuous with these continuous rounds you have a higher chance of playing with the same people repeatedly getting more comfortable communicating with one another.

Learned The communication in this game cannot be

Covid-19 has not necessarily changed the

improved to the point of day-to-day con-

way people communicate within games, but

versation because of the plots of the game.

it has changed the amount of people seeking

unless our team were too greatly change the

this sort of entertainment. with a larger com-

way the plot of the game there is no logical

munity pool where people playing games like

way for this type of communication to reach

this and people seeking quick entertainment

a level of comfortable day-to-day conver-

or trying to make connections online the

sation as compared to the other games that

amount of people trafficking games and the

were explored. However, this game can be

Internet in general has increased as well as

heavily approved based on game heuristics.

the amount of time people spend online. To

By improving on game heuristics this will

an extent this can be connected to why play-

help improve the efficiency of the communi-

ers could warm up two others after playing

cation between players

two to three rounds with them. In our private server we were able to witness that by the last time we met for gaming there is a lot more joking and comfortable communication between one another. Even within public servers after playing four to five rounds with a few of the same players there was a lot more comfortable communication.

LINK TO ADOBE XD LINK TO YOUTUBE LINK TO OUR TEAM BLOG