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	<title>Mafia Wars &#8211; Two UI Flaws &#8211; Terence Eden’s Blog</title>
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	<title>Mafia Wars &#8211; Two UI Flaws &#8211; Terence Eden’s Blog</title>
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		<title><![CDATA[Mafia Wars - Two UI Flaws]]></title>
		<link>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2009/04/mafia-wars-two-ui-flaws/</link>
					<comments>https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2009/04/mafia-wars-two-ui-flaws/#respond</comments>
				<dc:creator><![CDATA[@edent]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 19 Apr 2009 07:18:00 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[mobile]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[usability]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[games]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ui]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ux]]></category>
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					<description><![CDATA[I am greatly enjoying playing Zynga&#039;s Mafia Wars on the Cadbury&#039;s iPhone.  There are two fairly interesting UI flaws which I&#039;d like to point out...  The first is the screen which allows you to alter your stats - this is what it looks like.   However, this is what most people will see.  Can you spot the subtle but important distinction?  Proximity implies relation.  The word &#34;Energy&#34; is nearer to…]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I am greatly enjoying playing <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20090421040514/https://www.zynga.com/games/index.php?media=iphone&amp;game=mafiawarsiphone">Zynga's Mafia Wars</a> on the Cadbury's iPhone.  There are two fairly interesting UI flaws which I'd like to point out...</p>

<p>The first is the screen which allows you to alter your stats - this is what it looks like.
<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/Mafia-1.png" alt="Screenshot of the app." width="267" height="400" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-47564"></p>

<p>However, this is what most people will see.
<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/Mafia2.png" alt="Detailed screenshot." width="320" height="245" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-47565">
Can you spot the subtle but important distinction?</p>

<p>Proximity implies relation.  The word "Energy" is nearer to the number "102" than health.  Therefore, one would assume that they are related.  In this case they are not.</p>

<p>This error is compounded by the boxing.  The horizontal lines are, I'm guessing, intended to imply underlining.  They have the effect of creating boxes - our mental model of UI generally assumes that everything inside the box should be related.</p>

<p>The second UI flaw is much harder to show on a blog :-)
When the game starts up, it plays an animation with the sound of some reving cars and a barking dog.</p>

<p>When I'm playing the game late at night (or at work!) I don't want to disturb people.  You can set the sound options in the preferences <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">but this has no effect on the startup sound!</span></span>
<img src="https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/mafia3.png" alt="Screenshot with toggle switches." width="267" height="400" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-47566">
(Incidentally, notice the boxing on this screen.  The inconsistency between these screens will also confuse users.)</p>

<p>Fair enough, I'll use the handy switch at the side of the iPhone to switch all sounds off.</p>

<p>Except, it would appear, that applications can override this system setting.  This is a poor choice by Cadbury's.  They should know that silence is golden and that user-space applications should not be able to override system wide settings.</p>

<p>However, aside from these two flaws, it's an addictive little game.</p>
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