Jank Accounts: We Should Study `Broken' Games
summary
Argues that user-facing glitches and awkward mechanics often increase player situational awareness rather than only causing frustration, linking specific examples like clumsy controls, absurd physics and wooden NPC behaviour to HCI research on breakdowns; claims players sometimes treat such janky features with affection, proposes two research lines: apply breakdown frameworks to identify which failures foster reflection and test when broken immersion is tolerated, and compare intentional versus accidental disruption.
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