Guerilla Research

SXSW Interactive Panel on video game research - Observing Second Life user behavior

Transcript

1. Erica Firment Second Life - Ux Designer Guerrilla research: Here’s what we did Sunday, June 9, 13 You may ask yourself: Why was that panelist hiding in the audience? You may ask yourself: Why is there a frog here? The frog is my Second Life avatar. I’m Erica Firment. I work for Linden Lab, makers of Second Life. Why was I hiding in the audience? To prove a point. you don't need tons of $ to get great data I was sitting here collecting data about our audience. While sitting here, I learned: {Reveal something} Which brings us to our first Guerrilla technique...
2. Cheap, fast, deadly User Observation Sunday, June 9, 13 First Guerilla technique: User Observation First step to making it better...is finding out what is wrong Everybody lies, so watch instead You hear a lot about user observation in Funologist school. You can use a fancy setup. You can add a bunch of staff and structure. Or...you can hide in the audience. However you do it, do it.
3. To get great data You don’t need a ton of money Sunday, June 9, 13 In Second Life, it is easy to interact with our Residents. It’s one big world. There are no shards. There are places in the where new Residents appear. I go there... I sit on the roof and observe what new users do Nobody in your company can afford to be so precious that they won’t walk a mile in the users shoes.
4. They can’t sue Impose on your loved ones Sunday, June 9, 13 Guerilla Funology method #2: Record yourself and your loved ones Play video of my mom in a user observation. Setup: my mom having trouble with our old Orientation Island {PAUSE......after} Compelling video is worth a thousand bug-tracking tickets Cheap observations like this triggered a hunt for QUANTITATIVE data Quantitative data made the decision to remove the part that gave her trouble, but guerilla methods found the problem
5. They can’t sue Impose on your loved ones Sunday, June 9, 13 Guerilla Funology method #2: Record yourself and your loved ones Play video of my mom in a user observation. Setup: my mom having trouble with our old Orientation Island {PAUSE......after} Compelling video is worth a thousand bug-tracking tickets Cheap observations like this triggered a hunt for QUANTITATIVE data Quantitative data made the decision to remove the part that gave her trouble, but guerilla methods found the problem
6. Users shouldn't have to FA those Qs Read your own documentation Sunday, June 9, 13 Guerilla Funology method #3: Read your own documentation * You know that FAQ that your doc team makes? users shouldn't have to frequently ask those Questions. * If the problem is common enough to have documentation around it, THAT’S your game TELLING itself something * Does somebody blog about your game? Did someone write a book? READ IT.
7. Don’t hire someone to do a Google search for you Someone already did the research Sunday, June 9, 13 Guerilla method #4: Someone has already done the research * Consultants are great, but there’s a lot of information out there that is just sitting around waiting to be gathered. * I set up an RSS feed to watch several SL-related Flickr streams - I’ve found more bugs that way. * Find the top search terms in your website or forums * Find out what happens when you Google “YOUR THING HERE + problem” or “confusing” or “help” or “bug” * Set up Google Alerts - when someone talks about their experience online, you can read it and learn * Talk to the support people - who works the phones? who answers the angry emails? They have your user data.
8. Flow State Sunday, June 9, 13 must. condense. entire profession. into 30 seconds... gah Flow state. A psychological state. The goal of most video games.
9. Flow State  The balance between a Fisher Price toy & a Nuclear Submarine  Not insulting, Not impossible Sunday, June 9, 13  User realizes: she has  had to pee...for an hour
10. If it isn’t fun Nobody cares if it works Sunday, June 9, 13 To conclude: Big changes Take big time small changes can have a huge impact Thank you