Hello, I have a small, but probably easy to implement suggestion to change the "Sell Province" pop-up window. When the AI decides to sell a province, the player receives this pop-up window:
Some important characteristics are present, which I assume are purposefully meant to distinguish this prompt from the several different pop-ups the player may experience. First and foremost, there is a metallic border around the edge of the window, and a lack of "Scrolls" at the top or bottom of the window as well. Additionally, button placement on these types of prompts are typically two small buttons placed side by side at the bottom of the window. Two examples of this prompt that the player may see regularly are shown below:
A peace deal prompt. Note that the two buttons are small, placed side-by-side, and say "Go to" and "Fine!"
This is a prompt the player may see when the AI decides to sell their province to another AI. Note that the two buttons say "Go to" and "OK" respectively.
And this is an event pop-up. Here note that there is typically a large illustration, scrolls at the top and bottom of the window, a texture for both the foreground and background, and a bold title at the top of the page. Additionally, this pop-up may require the player to make a choice. This is represented by the options below the text and on top of each other. Each option is made as distinct as possible, and no two events have the exact same text. Even if a player memorizes the picture and the result of the options, they are unlikely to move so fast as to not see what the results of each option are. Additionally, the actual results are themselves given as a "mouse-over" pop-up. This is a long-winded way of saying EVENTS HAVE A UNIQUE AND DISCTINCT DESIGN TO IMPROVE THE PLAYER EXPERIENCE.
This is a clear sign that the intended theme for this kind of prompt is supposed to be informative, easy to understand at a glance, and require the least amount of reading possible. If this theme is continued, this is GOOD user experience and design at work. I admire the small details, but there is also a problem with this theme. Going back to the first image on the page, you may see that the player receives an "informational pop-up", but is actually given a choice. Unfortunately, this departs from the long standing theme elsewhere in the game to include a "go-to" option and a "confirmation" option side-by-side in game, and rather employs a simple "no" and "yes" option. This is a problem for multiple reasons. First, it ruins the simple theme that helps the player streamline their experience, and reduce reading fatigue while playing (which in a game like EU4 can really pile-up if you aren't careful). Additionally, this prompt is unique in that it specifies a particular province to be sold. Seeing this, the player is naturally going to want to see immediately, which province is being sold, instead of having to search for this themselves. The folly of this design, is that the player will instinctually press the "decline" option, because the game itself had trained the player to press the left button to "zoom-in" to a province. Since there is also no confirmation text, this will immediately close the window, and force the player to give up the valuable opportunity to buy the province from their neighbors. A better user experience would be to make the pop-up conform to a design better fitted to a "choice window", or redesign the pop-up so that "decline" is moved elsewhere and in its place "go to" is added. Additionally, having confirmations on the action would be very beneficial to reducing the chance the player makes a choice they did not intend.
Thank you for reading this post, I hope that it may be helpful in the future.
Some important characteristics are present, which I assume are purposefully meant to distinguish this prompt from the several different pop-ups the player may experience. First and foremost, there is a metallic border around the edge of the window, and a lack of "Scrolls" at the top or bottom of the window as well. Additionally, button placement on these types of prompts are typically two small buttons placed side by side at the bottom of the window. Two examples of this prompt that the player may see regularly are shown below:
A peace deal prompt. Note that the two buttons are small, placed side-by-side, and say "Go to" and "Fine!"
This is a prompt the player may see when the AI decides to sell their province to another AI. Note that the two buttons say "Go to" and "OK" respectively.
And this is an event pop-up. Here note that there is typically a large illustration, scrolls at the top and bottom of the window, a texture for both the foreground and background, and a bold title at the top of the page. Additionally, this pop-up may require the player to make a choice. This is represented by the options below the text and on top of each other. Each option is made as distinct as possible, and no two events have the exact same text. Even if a player memorizes the picture and the result of the options, they are unlikely to move so fast as to not see what the results of each option are. Additionally, the actual results are themselves given as a "mouse-over" pop-up. This is a long-winded way of saying EVENTS HAVE A UNIQUE AND DISCTINCT DESIGN TO IMPROVE THE PLAYER EXPERIENCE.
This is a clear sign that the intended theme for this kind of prompt is supposed to be informative, easy to understand at a glance, and require the least amount of reading possible. If this theme is continued, this is GOOD user experience and design at work. I admire the small details, but there is also a problem with this theme. Going back to the first image on the page, you may see that the player receives an "informational pop-up", but is actually given a choice. Unfortunately, this departs from the long standing theme elsewhere in the game to include a "go-to" option and a "confirmation" option side-by-side in game, and rather employs a simple "no" and "yes" option. This is a problem for multiple reasons. First, it ruins the simple theme that helps the player streamline their experience, and reduce reading fatigue while playing (which in a game like EU4 can really pile-up if you aren't careful). Additionally, this prompt is unique in that it specifies a particular province to be sold. Seeing this, the player is naturally going to want to see immediately, which province is being sold, instead of having to search for this themselves. The folly of this design, is that the player will instinctually press the "decline" option, because the game itself had trained the player to press the left button to "zoom-in" to a province. Since there is also no confirmation text, this will immediately close the window, and force the player to give up the valuable opportunity to buy the province from their neighbors. A better user experience would be to make the pop-up conform to a design better fitted to a "choice window", or redesign the pop-up so that "decline" is moved elsewhere and in its place "go to" is added. Additionally, having confirmations on the action would be very beneficial to reducing the chance the player makes a choice they did not intend.
Thank you for reading this post, I hope that it may be helpful in the future.
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