"Do Metaphors Influence the Usability of Access Control?": A Gamified Survey.

Abstract

Metaphors are often considered to be a useful tool in user interface design. They teach a user new mechanics via transferring knowledge from one domain, where the user is experienced, to a new target domain. Specifically, this is helpful in areas with advanced technologies, such as security with its encryption and access control mechanisms. At the same time, some controversy exist on the efficacy of metaphors in user interface design. In this paper, we present our study results on the role of metaphors in a user interface for an access control decision mechanism. We performed our evaluation in a form of a web-based game, obtaining in total 143 responses. The study compared two interface metaphors along with a no-metaphor condition. Our main result suggests that metaphors in user interfaces of security applications can improve user performance, but the observed effect is limited.