A Study of the Difference in Operating Performance due to a Gaming Joystick's Styling and Button Locations

In recent years, various types of operating interfaces for gaming have been developed accordingly due to the popularity of on-line games and gaming consoles. The psychological and physical burdens due to different types of operating interfaces are also different. Therefore, this study aims at the investigation of the difference in the operating difference of different styling designs and interfaces of gaming joysticks. The subject of ergonomics is to investigate the relationship between a user and the objects that he/she uses during his/her work or the environment from a human-centered point of view. It is required to pay attention to factors such as human capabilities, characteristics, and limitations for the design and application of an object. The ultimate goal is to guarantee the safety, efficiency, and comfort of people’s life and work. From the ergonomic standpoint, this study is to investigate the operating performance and fatigue and burden indicators of different joystick interfaces, button functions, and joystick styling via real gaming tests and investigation by interviews. It was found in this study that, the most adequate button locations are on the left and right sides and these include top-bottom-left and top-bottom-right configurations. The optimal joystick styling should meet the recommended location for holding a joystick from the experimental results so that the fatigue due to using a gaming joystick can be reduced. The results of this study indicated that the second joystick among the three joystick designs in Experiment #1 is the most ergonomics-compliant. Therefore, the second joystick was used for the investigation in Experiment #2 for the matching of the location of graphical user interface (GUI) and the evaluation and correction of performance. The results indicated that the degree of eye fatigue is higher. By excluding the visual stimulus from the screen, it was not easy for users to understand or memorize the interface matching locations. As a result, users might easily generate the feeling of fatigue and the operating performance is not good. Keywords—gaming joystick; ergonomics