Gameroom Methods
-Research Conducted By-
Arial Garcia
Ashley Curry
Kristin Olinger
Ashley Davis
Table of Context-About The Project........................................1
Semantic Differential................................15
Fly on The Wall............................................3
Ideation Session.......................................17
Behavioral Mapping....................................5
Business Origami......................................19
Participant Observations............................7
Prototype Testing......................................21
Graffiti Wall + Survey.................................11
Final Conclusions.....................................23
Ideation Game..........................................13
ABOUT THE PROJECT METHODS
CONTEXT
The methods were split up into 3 phases: analy-
The context that we chose to research is the
sis, synthesis, and evaluation. The analysis phase
game room in the IUPUI Campus Center. This is
consisted of methods that help us understand the
the only game room on campus. The game room
context and the problems users may face within
consists of standing table games such as ping
it. The synthesis phase consisted of methods that
pong and pool, seated games such as board
encourage participants to ideate to come up with
games and card games, video games, arcade
potential solutions. In the evaluation method‌.
games, and outdoor recreational equipment such as Frisbees and sports balls.
Problem Statement: We need to understand the game room in order to pinpoint the issues the users might face within the game room? 1
Analysis Methods
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METHOD: Fly on The Wall Problem Statement: How might we better understand the overall experience of the IUPUI gameroom? For our first method, we used “Fly on The Wall� , which
environment, intereaction, objects,
invloved my group members and I inconspicuously
and users. We created a tool to help
observing the context. This seemed like a good way
us record information by designing
to get familiar with the surroundings of the game
a worksheet with the AEIOU system
room considering none of us really had any experi-
categories.
ence in the game room. Using this method alone did not give us any guidelines on what to observe and take notes on, so we chose to follow the AEIOU system while conducting our research. The AEIOU system involves observing and taking notes on the activities,
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AEIOU
Activities Environments Interactions Objects Users
FINDINGS... Activities Billiards/pool Air hockey video games Ping pong Lounging
Environment Pool area Ping pong area Arcade games Console area Music playing Red, black, & white color scheme
Interactions
Sitting/lounging Renting from employee Billiards/pool Talking Air hockey Laughing Card games Video games Friendly Competition
Key Findings • The game room shuts down when there is an event hap pening.
• The majority of the game room population is consisted of males from the ages 18-24.
Reflection of Findings
Our group made conclusions based on the activities, environment, interactions, objects, and users of the game room. We found that the game room is mostly used as a hang out for college students who enjoy games, most of them being male.
Objects
Football, kickball, frisbee Ping pong balls & paddles Controllers Board games Tables & chairs 2 Pool tables 2 Ping pong tables Air hockey table Arcade machines TVs Game consoles
Users
Mix of males & females More males than females Mixture of races College students ages 18-24
Reflection of Method
The AEIUO Method helped our group observe the context without interaction. Using the framework helped clarify what we were looking for and guide us in a good observational direction.
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METHOD: Behavioral Mapping Problem Statement:
How might we better understand the social environment in the game room?
Next, we chose to use the “behavioral mapping” meth-
atically document location-based observations of
od becuase it focused on how the users felt about th
human activity, using annotated maps, plans, video,
game room. Behavioral Mapping is used to system-
or time-laspe photography. We chose to use a camera, chart, and map to record our information. The
Video Game TVs
Zone 2
Seating
large video game tv
Help Desk Seating
chart helped us record the gender, race, age (educated guess), and interactions (what activity they are
Game Table
Air Hockey
participating in). The map was a layout of the game Pingpong
Pingpong 1
room that we recorded users’ movements to get a
Pool
Pool
Game Table
Seating Zone 4
5
Seating Zone 3
Pinball Galaga
Zone 1
sense of the traffic in the space within designated zones each of us observed.
INTERACTIONS OBSERVED... Zone 2 Zone Game people talkTVs without -The2majority aged 18-22 -Most Video
and male with the excep real conversation. tion of one female. -Solo players found at Seating least one other person to -There was a mix of races. large video game tv sit with. -Sports game players stay
Zone 1 -Going to help desk to browse or receive games.Help Desk
Seating
Zone 4
longer than other console games. -Playing orGame watching Table pool. -Smiling
Air Hockey
-Screaming (lost game/missed shot) -Hand shake/hug (to dismiss opponent) Pingpong
Pingpong 1
-Switch sides of table -Chasing ping pong balls -Returning balls to other tables Seating
-Sitting and observing/waiting Zone 4
-Eating a snack while watching pool.
-Walking around to see who is present and what they are playing. -Playing Pokemon on 3DS.
-Listening to ipod while Pool Pool watching pool.
-Chess
-Everyone was calm and quiet.
Table -Singing to the music played in the room.
-Players roaming around Seating between turns. Zone 3
Game
Pinball Galaga
Zone 1
Zone 3
Key Findings The game room participants are very sociable. They also move around...a lot. Most participants circulate the room in some fashion.
Reflection of Method PROS:
CONS:
• Discovered traffic patterns • Chaotic • Observed sense of • Difficult to effectively community track individuals
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METHOD: Participant Observations Problem Statement:
How might we act as users in order to gain the perspective of the users?
Now that we had an understanding of the game room and its activities, environment, interactions, objects, and users, we needed to find a method to begin understanding the areas that need improvement. In order to get the full-feelings of being game room users, our group played a series of different games and used our cell phones to take notes. This allowed us to take notes without other users’ real-
As full participants, we acted as users while observing
ization, which hopefully saved anyone from feeling
the challenges in the game room.
uncomfortable interacting with us.
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CHALLENGES... Game-Tops
Help Desk
- Rule Breakers (Food and Drinks
-One Jag-tag per item (user held liable) -Often Unattended -Hard to hear employee
Table-Tops
Consoles
- Hazardous zone - Unstructured queue - Cramped space
- Cramped space - No guidance for usage - Poor equipment quality
Key Findings • The rules are not often fol lowed or even understood
• Over crowding problem
Reflection of Findings
Reflection of Method
Game room users do not regularly follow all game room rules due to a lack of enforcement and clarity. There is no waitlist system for the games, food and drinks are brought to areas where they aren’t allowed, and it’s over crowded.
• Made sense of process •Experienced touch-points from users’ point of view
PROS:
CONS:
• Difficult to record findings in real time
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Synthesis Methods
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METHOD: Graffiti Wall + Survey Problem Statement:
How might we figure out the biggest problems for users in the Game Room?
In this method, we wanted to recieve feedback from
had gathered. Using the information that we gath-
the game room users. We knew that the users could
ered from our research, we composed a series of
provide us with more information than we ourselves
questions and a worksheet to pinpoint the trouble features of the game room: -How would you improve the game room overall? -What are your favorite vs. least favorite games? -Do you think that everyone gets a fair chance to play in the game room, why or why not? -Does the game room feel too crowded, why or why not?
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1/2 users exeprience
FINDINGS... 70% users think that the game room is too crowded.
equiptment failure
Favorite Games:
10%
10% Chess
40%
Air Hockey
Ping-Pong
20% Pool
9/10VLN users regulars M=ìare ë Éê ë =~ê É=ê ÉÖì ä ~ê ë
20%
Console
Key Findings • Almost all of the game room users are regulars.
• Most users think that the game room is too crowded.
Reflection of Findings The findings from this method allowed us to find out that most users are regulars, over-crowding is a huge issue, pingpong is very popular, and the equiptment is not very reliable.
Reflection of Method PROS:
•Honest opinions •The ability to compare method results
CONS:
• Uncontrolled # of outcomes • May not get as many details as wanted.
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METHOD: Ideation Game Problem Statement:
How might we enable game room regulars to create solutions for the crowding problem in an enjoyable way?
Next, we decided to create a game based on the
and every answer given to us. This method allowed us
over-crowding issue we had just discovered. The
to recieve several possible responses to help lead us to
game was similiar to Apples to Apples in which a
discover the big challenge in the game room.
prompting card is flipped face up and everyone responds to it with their own answer. The participates wrote their own answers on blank pieces of paper., then voted on the winner. This was considered one round. There were 5 rounds in one game and there were several games each with different participants of the game room. We kept record of the winners
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FINDINGS... 1/2
2/3
•want to add fans
responses
•want more tables •want time slots instead of white board ping-pong list •want active games seperated •want to better maintenance •want “Do Not Disturb” signal •want to remove old games for space
•want to expand the
gameroom •want renovation to the space •want to remove old games for space
8/9
cards
users want waitlists for all games
Key Findings • Users want a more effective waitlist
• Most users want more space
Reflection of Findings
Reflection of Method
The findings from this method allowed us to find out that most users are regulars, over-crowding is a huge issue, pingpong is very popular, and the equiptment is not very reliable.
•Gain more perspective •User perspective
PROS:
CONS:
• Participants aren’t available at the same times • Distractions/silly answers
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METHOD: Semantic Differential Problem Statement:
How might we enable game room regulars to create solutions for the crowding problem in the game room, while understanding their emotional reasoning behind it?
In this method, we created worksheets based differ-
in the game room. We asked questions about how
ent photographs of three diverse crowd situations
the users feel when looking at each image. At this point, we understood that crowding is the biggest challenge of the game room, however we still didn’t understand exactly how the users feel within each zone of the game room when dealing with different crowding situations. We also had a map attached to the end of this packet allowing users to re-arrange the furniture in the game room if they choose.
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RESULTS... gametop games
console games
tabletop games
confusion
crowding
Key Findings • Crowding and confusion are the main issues
• Tabletop games had the most negatives
comfort
Reflection of Findings
Reflection of Method
Gametop players generally enjoy their experience, but have issues with crowding and confusion. Console players have pleasant experiences overall, but comfort varies from person to person. Tabletop had the most negatives.
•Further explaination of challenges
PROS:
CONS:
• Majority of issues repeated
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METHOD: Ideation Session Problem Statement:
How might we recieve insights from the gameroom employees?
While conducting our research, we were approached by a couple of employees and a manager on multiple occasions. They were very interested in what we were doing and showed that they’d like to be involved in the process by allowing us to sit-in at one of their employee meetings. We decided to take advantage of this situation and prepared an Ideation Session method for the employees and ourselves. We pre-
tools and wrote their comments on the whiteboard in
sented our findings so far by showing the employ-
the room. Most employees were very willing to partici-
ees our tools/worksheets and explaining what our
pate and observe our findings.
research has shown so far. We passed out all of our
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FINDINGS... Compare & Contrast
additional seating
Personal Belongings Shelf
move a ping-pong table out additional game table
Key Findings • Empluyees and users agree on many topics. • Both agree on overcrowding
Reflection of Findings
Fans More Space
Unlimited Budget New Flooring
Ventilation/AC
Seperating Active Games
Moving A PingPong Table
Do Not Disturb Bracelet
Whiteboards
Getting Rid of The Pillar Game Rotation
Employees
Users
From this method, our group discovered that the gameroom users and employees both have several topics that they agree on. While they do disagree on some subjects, the majority of them agree.
Reflection of Method PROS:
•Gain more perspective •Sense of professionalism. •gained contacts
CONS:
• Limited preperation time • No writing surfaces.
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Evaluation Methods
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METHOD: Business Origami Problem Statement:
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How might we get feedback from the users on a potential solution?
We used the game room floor plan map tool that we
semble his or her ideal game room rotation. We also
created for previous methods, and created movable
asked and recorded their answers to these questions:
pieces that represent every movable object in the
How often should the game room rotation occur?
game room, and asked users to rearrange pieces to re-
and How would you like to be notified?
FINDINGS... “A rotation of games would create longer wait times for the games still available and would eventually drive EVERYBODY out of the game room.”
Game
Rotation
Key Findings • No one likes game rotation! • A digital waitlist could work
Reflection of Findings
This method helped us immediately discover that no one liked the idea of a game rotation. Everyone wants to keep everything except for the air hockey table.
Reflection of Method PROS:
•Interactive •Easier than pen and paper
CONS:
• No one was interesed in the solution
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METHOD: Prototype Testing Problem Statement:
How might we test an early prototype with the game room users?
Considering that no one liked the idea of a game rotation, we dove deeper into the idea of a waitlist. We created an app that allows users to sign-up for time slots and see what equiptment is rented out.
Low-Fidelity Prototyping
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Usability Testing
FINDINGS...
Low Fidelity App Screens -Users liked the simplicity and ease. -A map key was requested to make the crowd status easier to understand.
High Fidelity App Screens
-Changed to dark background for easier reading and interaction. -Color changed to blue for easy visibility. -Everyone loves it!
Reflection of Findings
Reflection of Method
Method 1: Feedback lead us to understand changes that needed to be made. Method 2: Feedback lead us to understand the changes that were made worked effectively.
Everyone respoded very positively and excitedly to the idea of our app. The method helped us get the responses that we needed to make slight changes and find a solution!
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THE SOLUTION...
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A SUCCESSFUL WAITLIST APP