The Coffee Test
March 7th, 2009 by Caleb Booker
In the future, all virtual worlds will have to pass a simple test I hereby dub “The Coffee Test”. It’s quite simple: can a new user figure out how to drink a cup of coffee?
If they can’t without someone’s help, you haven’t made it content rich enough or simple enough. NPR gives us a good demonstration of this test in action:
NPR: Scott Simon Looks for Coffee in Second Life
I’m not sure there are any worlds, outside of perhaps “The Sims Online”, that can past this test. The real question: who will the first to pass it?
I love telling new people that they have to “wear” their coffee in SL to drink it.
Hah, good fun! I really felt for the guy in the video double-clicking the coffee, ending up in its properties, trying and failing to drag it onto himself… this is not the interface we’re looking for.
You know this morning VWN is carrying an article entitled: “[...] On The Importance Of Training Users For Marketplaces”. Wha? Training the USERS?? It’s that kind of thinking that ensures continued FAILING of The Coffee Test.