User Research & Personas

User Research (Surveys & Interviews)

For our project we needed to conduct user research to get a better idea of people’s needs and wants. As our project was aimed at a niche market, getting feedback exactly focused from that market was the most important thing. In order to properly achieve this feedback, we created an online survey and sent it to a number of people. We also posted the survey link onto Reddit, specifically the r/DnD and r/DnDNext subreddits.

As said, because our project was aimed at a niche market, it was important to directly to users who engage in that particular genre of tabletop gaming. In addition, we also carried out several interviews among those interested in tabletop gaming and those who already engage in it.

Overall, around 16 people took our online survey and 5 people were interviewed. Of those who took the survey, the age range was between 16-25 on average, with one user in their 40s. Of those surveyed, most organised their sessions through messaging applications such as Discord or Whatsapp and many did not even consider the possibility of using an app to look for locations that do tabletop game nights in their area.

Around ten of those surveyed said they would use such an app for face to face gaming sessions. In particular, those who are a part of the Dungeon’s & Dragons “Adventurer’s League”, an official session ran by volunteer Dungeon Master’s who cater to those that cannot commit or cannot find their own groups, said that they would consider using an app like this to find more casual games or ‘one-shots’.

Feedback from interviewed people was very positive and provided some points with regards to future development. One interviewee made note that it would be helpful for those on a tighter budget if the app could highlight bars or venues that were offering discounts or deals on nights where tabletop games were being held. Another piece of feedback was in regards to how the profile system could be expanded and integrated with additional features, but we felt that this was more for future development.

Personas

Once we received our feedback from both the interviews and surveys, we set about constructing our personas. To provide a more real, human experience, we described their background, their goals and problems and what they’re looking for currently. Our personas covered the type of people who would find general use out of the app. Both personas created gave an idea as to what someone who is only casually involved in the tabletop gaming genre would be looking for and someone who is more experienced.

Once we came up with the personas, we created a story for the users and scenarios in which they made usage of the app. Below are the two personas created representing the general user based on feedback we received from the survey and interviews.