Improving the Design of Web-based Games and Simulations through Usability Research

The Virtual Usability Laboratory (VUL) is a software tool developed to remotely capture and analyze a wide variety of usage data on Web-based educational games and simulations. The VUL allows for automated remote collection and integration of such data as user activity logs, on-line demographic questionnaire responses, and data from automatically triggered pop up questions at critical points in the software application. Collected data are stored in an integrated database system, allowing for subsequent data mining and ad-hoc querying by researchers. We illustrate the utility of the VUL in providing feedback to the designers of the educational game Trivia.