The first time a gamer logs into an MMOG, their initial impressions are
what truly drives word of mouth purchases. Like any piece of
entertainment, those opening moments - like the Fox Studios anthem
before Star Wars
or the first lines in J.R.R. Tolkien's style="font-style: italic;">Lord of the Rings -
are the what those individuals remember the most. Brand new games
operate the same way and there are a number of elements that catch our
eyes. Graphics are certainly high on the list, a nice introductory
sequence setting the scene is always appreciated, and superb character
creation is a must. But perhaps most important of all - and perhaps
least recognized - is the need for quality UI right out of the starting
gate.

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Irena
Pereira, Senior UI Designer for 38 Studios

Few development studios have really put a lot of emphasis on their
game’s UI construction, but future companies may finally be
learning the lessons of previous games and are beginning to put a high
focus on developing amazing UIs. With its recent hire of their new
senior UI designer Irena Pereira, 38 Studios has announced that their
team is dedicated to putting together a user interface that is
functional and aesthetically appealing at the same time.When I finally
got a chance to ask some questions of Irena, it was obvious that she
put a lot of faith on 38 Studios and is incredibly excited that she was
hired on so early in the development process.



"38 Studios is the first dev house outside of Blizzard that I feel has
prioritized UI appropriately," Irena said. "A user interface is to an
MMOG as a first sentence is to a novel.  It can draw you in or
turn you off. "



"There have been many competing games since the release of WoW and, as
I said before, they replicated a lot of its UI (some of them down to
the same color scheme for buttons and the like)," she
continued.  "While this, in and of itself, isn’t a
bad thing, these games have failed in terms of interface because they
didn’t go to the same level of polish of WoW, nor have they
understood the reasons behind some of the choices Blizzard made.
Blizzard makes a concerted effort to design from the perspective of the
player."



"38 Studios has made a commitment to having a great interface in
Copernicus," she finished. "I was brought on early in development so we
have as much time as we need to polish and refine.  Like at
Blizzard, the team here understands the importance of a good user
experience.  The goal isn’t to blow people away with
our UI.  Rather, it’s to achieve new methods of
letting the players enjoy the game for itself."



It isn't surprising that Irena thinks highly of the focus 38 Studios
has put on their UI is a priority. After listening to the UI
development team at this year's BlizzCon, creating an appropriate user
interface that combines aesthetics with functionality isn't a simple
task at all. Iteration after iteration of skins will be created,
scrapped, refitted, and retooled, until finally the last piece of the
puzzle will be put into place and the UI will be deemed a success. So
how did Irena end up at 38 Studios after her stint at Blizzard? It
seems like an interesting career step and a giant physical move;
Irvine, Calif., and Boston, Mass., are about as far apart as you can
get in the continental United States. I quizzed Irena about this fact
and wondered just how she got involved with the 38 folks.



"My introduction to 38 Studios is actually a bit of serendipity,"
Irena  explained.  "Two people heavily involved with
the project, Design Director Jason Roberts and Lead Mechanics Designer
Travis McGeathy, were members of a raiding guild I ran in EverQuest,
and we’ve been friends ever since.   We
always joked about how awesome it would be to make a game
together.  We went our own ways in the gaming industry,
working to be the best at what we do.  Fast forward a few
years to this summer, right after Travis joined 38: We were talking and
realized that this was our chance to do just that."  



Since almost every MMO developer is a gamer of some sort or another, I
decided to find out how Irena got her start in gaming, how long she had
been playing, and what's her all-time favorite MMO. Everyone's story is
different, and you can often tell what kind of developer a person will
be depending on the games that he or she has played in their lifetime.
Do they like the fast-paced combat or WAR? Or the more laid back pace
of EverQuest? Do they develop with a graceful nod to the PvPers, or is
it full on, balls-to-the-wall action all the time? I asked Irena to
find out.

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Irena's
first MMOG love was EverQuest.

"I played a ton of text adventures and ASCII games as a kid, though my
first exposure to gaming was in the dorms at USC," Irena
said.  "My dormmates and I broke the rules and ran cables for
an RJ-45 network along the ceiling of the halls to network all of our
386s to play Quake. Since I was also a BBSer in high school, online
gaming just clicked for me.  I’ve been playing video
games ever since."  



"When it comes to favorites--and I have a ton--my absolute number one
single-player game of all time has to be Diablo," she continued. "Talk
about replayability! That was the first game that really kept me up
until dawn, killing Diablo multiple times a night.  
I couldn’t get enough of it.  However, I
wouldn’t have loved it so much if it weren’t for
BattleNet."



"As for MMOGs my first love (and hate!) --  EverQuest --
definitely has a special place in my heart," Irena concluded. 
"I played for about four years, through Planes of Power, when I finally
decided it had become a second job more than a game.  However,
there were certainly emotional highs in EQ that no other game has been
able to emulate.  I think part of that was because it was so
punishing, but there was definitely an element of strategy that EQ
still has over other faster-paced MMOGs.  I miss that."



So with a fetish for Diablo and a love of the slow-paced EverQuest,
what does that make Irena? An adrenaline junky that gets her thrills
from interactive chat rooms? Joking aside, it's obvious that Irena has
played her fair share of games (even more than this editor!) and has
seen enough UIs to determine which strikes that perfect balance.
According to Irena, Blizzard's World of Warcraft wins in the UI
department, hands down.



"They’re certainly not perfect, but as illustrated by WoW,
they accept that and open up their games to modification in a way that
no other company has done," Irena said.  "I think
that’s part of their success.  11 million people
have a lot more brainpower than the 5 or 6 people talking about a UI
feature in a conference room.  However, Blizzard also has the
wisdom to take the multitude of ideas that are good and incorporate
them into the UI in a way that is understandable even for a customer
that never thought they’d have a need for that feature."
 



"There’s a lot of UI innovation out there in Dead Space, for
instance, with UI appearing contextually in game but so many of those
“cool” things just don’t translate nearly
as well as you’d think when designing from a perspective of
usability," she said. "Also, Fable 2 took a cue from MMOGs (quest
tracking, for instance), and simplified it for a single-player
experience.  There’s a lot we game developers can
learn from each other."



"I find that a majority of my inspiration comes from UIs that fail,"
she finished.  "There have been a lot of MMOGs attempting to
emulate what’s been done with WoW (some more blatantly than
others), and it’s a lot like the uncanny valley in it just
illustrates the differences more.  It’s those
differences, and things that feel weird or uncomfortable, that helps
define what works and what doesn’t.  If it
doesn’t feel right, a player is going to focus on
what’s wrong and get frustrated with the UI and not spend as
much energy on experiencing the world that’s been
created.  So, especially with MMOGs, I try to play everything
I can get my hands on to get perspective."