WUX Team Ludo App Design - Personas

Date: 1st August 2022

Personas

I have constructed 3 personas based on research I have undertaken.

This research has found that the majority of the board game community are Caucasian men between the ages of 18-45. My personas reflect this demographic while also introducing more variety. I used UXPressia's definition of personality types to define user outlook and behaviour to add more nuance to my personas while retaining usability - https://uxpressia.com/blog/personality-type-uxpressia

Primary Persona

Name: Ethan Hawkings

Role: Board Game Enthusiast

Personality: Rational

Demographic: 18, Student, Male

Background: 

Ethan and his friends are students who meet often to play board games in a social, and sometimes competitive setting. As group members bring their own board games for each other to play and learn about, costs among the group are kept somewhat low. Recently, the group has grown tired of the same games being played day after day. To remedy this, Ethan has offered to find a new game for them to play, with the group pooling money to fund the purchase. As a board game enthusiast, Ethan knows what he wants, he just needs some help getting it.

Goals:

• To find new and interesting board games to play with his friends.
• To use platform to inform purchase decision.
• If buying second-hand, wants purchase to be complete, with no parts missing; so filtering listed items by this and other factors is important.

Motivations:

• Wants to explore niche board games that may be unfamiliar but still have a strong player base / knowledge base, willing to pay more for new experience - OR
• Wants game to be well-known / familiar, at a good price.
• In either case, information should be easily available, so that less time is spent teaching and learning the game.

Frustrations:

• Transport options are limited due to schedule - cannot pickup bought items, prefers to have them shipped / couriered.
• Lack of funds means every purchase counts - incomplete or low-quality board games are a pain point.
• Lack of information about listed item, either on platform or online / Google means a decision is harder to make.

Suggested Strategy:

• Provide review system of games listed on the platform, divided into different metrics (replayability, fun, value for money, quality) to allow the user an informed choice.
• Allow filtering of listed items by genre, number of players required / allowed, time taken to complete - other factors to be decided.
• Provide an increasingly granular experience for enthusiasts, while keeping the basic user experience accessible.

Secondary Persona - #1

Name: Steven Moore

Role: Date Night Organizer

Personality: Artisan

Demographic: 27, Web Developer, Male

Background:

Steven is organizing a date night for himself and his partner. Both of them have expressed an interest in spending less time on their phones / technology and spending more time together. Steven wants to purchase a new board game that doesn't take much time to learn, but is replayable for future date nights. As well as organizing other aspects of the date night, such as dinner, Steven wants to be able to buy a new board game, and then put his phone away while he enjoys time with his partner.

Goals:

• To have a great date night.
• Find a new experience to share with his partner.
• To find something familiar, yet not experienced before.

Motivations:

• To find a new experience that could turn into a new, ongoing hobby for himself and his partner.
• To avoid embarrassment / frustration on date night.
• To sort out date night in as little time as possible, leaving more time for fun and connection.

Frustrations:

• Delays - creates a lack of control over process
• Slow or unresponsive people and technology - lowers trust, increases anxiety
• Feeling mislead or misinformed - lowers trust, prevents a good experience.

Suggested Strategy:

• Keep the main user flow simple as possible, while still providing enough information.
• Keep the time between a user choosing to purchase and completing the purchase as short as possible.
• In case of a mistake / frustration during the purchase process, provide robust customer service tools as well as communicate what is being done to remedy errors.

Secondary Persona - #2

Name: Susan Baker

Role: Digital Detox Parenting

Personality: Guardian

Demographic: 44, Stay-at-home-mom, Female

Background:

Susan feels her children are spending too much time on their devices, and wants to find a way to get them to put down the devices and pick up something more 'real'. Already familiar with community groups and marketplaces on platforms like Facebook, Susan wants to see if there's a way she can introduce better play habits for her kids, while taking some of the strain of organizing it off herself - being a mum is already strenuous enough! 

She knows getting her kids on board will mean getting their input as to what options they would like to try, so she needs to be able to translate this input into how, and for what, she browses on the app.

Goals:

• Get her kids to put down their devices and play together as a family.
• Find something her kids would enjoy, make them less likely to resort to their devices when bored.
• Read reviews from other parents, see what has already worked.

Motivations:

• To spend time with her children
• To find what has worked for others and follow any advice given.

Frustrations:

• When her children don't listen to or engage with what she wants them to.
• When her children are disappointed or let-down by her suggestions.
• When she is unable to trust other peoples advice or guidance.

Suggested Strategy:

• Allow two kinds of review, one placed on users to track how trustworthy they are, this would show up on all of this particular users listings; the other kind of review would relate to the board game being listed, and would appear on all listings for that particular game.
• Allow feedback to be placed on reviews and advice, to show if it is useful / relevant.
• Introduce a more communal / community-minded focus to the user base of the app.

Research:

https://uxpressia.com/blog/how-to-create-persona-guide-examples

https://www.meeplemountain.com/articles/whos-at-the-table-board-game-players-and-communities/

https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.522.2823&rep=rep1&type=pdf

https://open.library.okstate.edu/learninginthedigitalage/chapter/board-games-and-learning-why-care-in-the-digital-age/

https://theconversation.com/why-is-board-gaming-so-white-and-male-im-trying-to-figure-that-out-179048