'Sensitivity' of Interfaces

A couple of months ago, a popular online game called League of Legends released a patch that would enable its players to change their UI to a new Colorblind Mode.

What this mode does is to change some of the colours of the game interface so that colourblind players would be able to better distinguish various objects on the screen.

How players affected by deuteranopia
(red-green colourblindedness)
perceive LoL without Colorblind Mode

How they perceive LoL in Colorblind
Mode

Even though the move was mainly aimed at attracting new colourblind players and enhancing the experience of current colourblind players, it has been very well received among both colourblind and non-colourblind gamers. Some non-colourblind players have even pledged support to the move by commenting that they would use it. Despite being a change that would benefit a relatively small group of players, it has had a positive impact on the entire community as a whole, enhancing the reputation of the game company, which in turn improves the experience of the user when using the product.

It is interesting to note how such a simple change, which improves neither the usability (for most users), nor the aesthetics, of the interface, can make such a strong positive impression on its users. I believe that one major reason for this phenomenon is that the change shows the ‘sensitivity’ of the interface towards its users.

It is quite uncommon to find a computer interface featuring customizability that is specifically catered to a unique group of users. Having such a feature would therefore not only create an impression that the interface is not ‘factory-made’ like all the other interfaces in the market, but also that the needs of every group of users, no matter how small or obscure, is considered in the development of the interface.

Added to this fact is that the new mode introduced in League of Legends was created to help a group of users that may be perceived, by some, to be slightly less privileged. It reveals a humanitarian dimension in the development of the interface, something that is, again, not commonly seen in other computer interfaces.

All these combine to give rise to an impression that the interface is sensitive to the needs of the user, that it is created for users by users, and not merely a tool for the user to interact with the system. It almost ‘humanizes’ the interface, adding an element of human touch, such that the user does not feel so much that he is interacting with a machine but with another person(this is mostly fluffy poop but there might be a tinge of truth in it).

This observation suggests that we could consider adding a touch of ‘sensitivity’ in the interfaces we develop. It also highlights the importance of understanding user demographics and their various needs in the development of an interface. That the user recognises the efforts made by the developers in creating an interface that caters to every user’s needs is equally crucial to its success.