Nintendo Switch
online app:
adding a feature
Say hello to the
Nintendo Switch Online
App, reimagined
Introducing friend-finding and chat room features to promote positive community engagement
Project length:
4 weeks
Role:
UX/UI, Researcher, Prototyper
Project type:
Mobile app redesign; adding a community feature
Background
The Nintendo Switch userbase is primarily adult
Nintendo Switch Online App users use can voice chat within the app but have no real way to get there – mainly, finding and making new friends.
There needs to be a better way for users to
1.) connect and 2.) engage further within the app.
Feature ask
research
Users aren't satisfied with Nintendo's current
community resources
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
-
Understand the current landscape of social applications for gamers
-
Determine the role of chatting & friend-finding applications in the gaming community
-
Discover how much users would be wiling to pay for a chatting and/or friend-finding application
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
AmongChat
GamerLink LFG
Guilded Community
Chat
In order to understand what community-building solutions were currently being offered, I took a look at three leading applications designed to connect gamers.
COLLECTIVE APP STRENGTHS
-
Widespread positive reviews and ratings on the App Store
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Unique, group-chat-based organizational resources
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Small but mighty fanbases
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Support for wide range of game titles and franchises
COLLECTIVE APP WEAKNESSES
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According to reviews, poor chat moderation
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Poor expansion and growth over time; stagnancy
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Poor optimization; demanding to run on your device
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Constant comparison to popular competitor, Discord
USER INTERVIEWS
Participant recruitment
Ideally, I wanted to speak to Nintendo Switch console owners who have experience using the Nintendo Switch Online app.
This niche proved difficult to locate, so I widened my pool to all video game players with a preference for those who have experiences with the Nintendo Switch, and was able to speak with 5 people.
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SURVEY
Google Forms
Asynchronous
9 participants
I was able to widen my participant pool by conducting a survey, which allowed me to gather quantitative data concerning gaming habits, friend-making practices, and app satisfaction levels.
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22.2
Nintendo Online
Members who've
used the app
66.6
Users who think
community is essential for games
87.5
Users willing to pay
for NSO membership
if improved
USER PERSONAS
User interviews revealed that most gamers can be categorized into roughly 2 groups based on aspects such as personality type, gaming frequency, favored game genres, and existence of gaming friends.
Modern gamer
Classic gamer
PROJECT SCOPE
'Video game players need help finding and connecting with new gaming friends in a safe, secure, and tailored way because the leading social applications either lack the appropriate resources to match users altogether or rely on randomized interactions with unpredictable and unfamiliar strangers and group chats."
Problem Statement
-
How might we help video game players find and connect with new, compatible gaming friends?
-
How might we encourage video game players to increase their gaming community engagement and foster more meaningful interpersonal interactions?
-
How might we build a welcoming, supportive, and inclusive online community for all video game players - regardless of technological knowledge, gaming experience, or personality type
HMWs
project purpose
Inclusivity is one of gaming's leading issues
Inclusivity: A larger issue
It is difficult to continue discussing gaming without bringing up the question of online safety and discrimination. Inclusivity in gaming remains a difficult topic.
According to an aritcle by Forbes, in 2020, "...women accounted for nearly 41% of all gamers in the United States. And in Asia, women now make up 40-45% of the Asian gaming population."
proposed solution
Introducing community features to the NSO app
'FIND A FRIEND' USER MATCHING
This feature connects willing users using pre-set filters such as frequently played games, personality types, and hobbies to facilitate friend-making
-
Personal profiles with basic information including a short bio, gaming-related favorites, and personality tags
-
Formal friend requests and secure messaging that allows users to be in control of who has access to their inbox
-
Feature age-lock to ensure safety for younger players with access to the app
CUSTOMIZABLE CHAT ROOMS
This feature allows users to connect through personal and/or private chat rooms based on common interests, game titles, and discussion topics.
-
Open search by keyword, game title, and topic to find and navigate relevant chat rooms with additional filters for privacy level, activity level, and size
-
Chat room profiles with basic information including as privacy level, activity level, and short group bio
-
Community hub
-
All in once place for browsing + joining community discussions, news, and time sensitive information, events, and exclusive offers
-
OTHER FEATURES
wireframing + testing
Aligning with the expected Nintendo experience
Mid-fidelity find-a-friend flow
During the first two stages of wireframing and initial testing, it was important to me to
1.) Remain true to the design standards established by the app
2.) Aim for a consistent aesthetic (and make it Nintendo)
3.) Streamline the flows as much as possible
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TESTING ROUND 1
8 participants
FIND-A-FRIEND
Overall, the sizing of all text and buttons can be increased for improved visibility
PROFILE VIEW
Primary points of reference for friend-finding should be further fleshed out to reveal more personality (ie. bio, icons)
RESULTS
-
Validated the logic and clarity of the 'find-a-friend' flow
-
Confirmed the overall IA and hierarchy as being clear and straightforward
-
Determined that one of the biggest areas for improvement
visually is sizing/scaling
-
Understood that there's room for more creativity in the
smaller visual details (Ex. fleshing out profile bios, adding
sense of fun to icons)
High-fidelity find-a-friend flow version #1
Because the pre-existing whitespace was colored black, I felt that integrating light and bright pops of color would be an efficient way to treat visual elements such as cards and buttons. This first flow leverages light purple to bring a senese of creativity and interest to those looking for their next pal.
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TESTING ROUND 2
5 participants
PROFILE CARD
Before
After
Instead of placing profile CTAs near the bottom of the card, move them higher up so that users have what they need right away
CTA TREATMENT
Before
In place of treating the entire CTA module as a button, add an explicit CTA button within the card to convey its purpose
After
RESULTS
-
WORKED: Visual identity, UI, "Nintendo-ness"
-
CHANGE: Banner-like appearance of home screen buttons, lack of visual confirmation that friend filters had been applied, low placement of CTAs on friend and chatroom profile views
-
QUESTIONS: Why your personal profile information is displayed somewhere other than account settings, whether or not purple is too far out of the Nintendo visual realm, whether a lighter display might be easier on the eyes
-
IDEAS: Room for change in terms of home page hierarchy, altered level of information on the profile preview pages,
final result
impact
This project presented a valuable opportunity to explore larger questions of gender-based inequality and inclusion in the leading global market of gaming. One of this project's main challenges was understanding how to work with a pre-existing prodcut, and recognize that a complete overhaul of pre-existing standards is seldom the appropriate approach.
PROJECT OUTCOMES
-
Intentionally explored opportunities to combat gender-based inequality in gaming
-
Effectively implemented community features to a pre-existing mobile application and greater brand
-
Validated the importance of community to the overall gaming experience
NEXT STEPS
-
Conduct further user research to deepen understanding of marginalized gaming communities
-
Conduct high-level usability testing with Nintendo Switch fans worldwide
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Present findings and feature proposals to Nintendo directly