At the beginning of the interview it's useful to start by asking broad, open questions. The intention here is to assess if the player knows the basics of the game before we delve deeper into specific features.

Let's begin the interview by asking the player about:

• Goals - “What is the goal of this game?” or “What is the purpose of this game?”
  
  

• Roles - "Who is your character?" or “What role do you play?”.
  
  

• Rules - “How do you achieve the goal?”, assess the game's systems and mechanics. This question has 2 purposes:
  
  

  1. Assess the core concepts - It helps you understand at a high level what the player knows about how the game is played. Do they understand the core concepts?
     
     

  2. Reveals feature and language awareness - It reveals what the player is aware of. You can then use their own language to direct questions (bridging).
     
     

With the fundamentals established, we have begun to reconstruct the player's mental model. You will now have an understanding of what they think they have to do in the game, and how they go about achieving it. It's important to note that if the player says something which is incorrect, do not correct them. Doing so will allow them to update their mental model of the game, whereas you are interested in interviewing them on the mental model they formed when playing the game.

We now have to continue reconstructing their mental model by delving deeper into specific topics of interest - our list of prioritised questions.

Key Takeaway

Starting your interview with broad, open questions is an ideal place to start. We can do this by asking about the the game’s goals, roles, and rules, beginning the process of assessing the player’s mental model.

Next: 48. Mode 2 - Bridging