Overview

 

Board gaming is an intense and expensive hobby, which can easily get out of hand if you don't research properly.

In the board game universe, BoardGameGeek.com is the main online information source but it needs a boost on its mobile conversion rates.

I set out to find out board gamers' needs and preferences that would encourage them to explore the website's content and services on the go.

Assumptions

  • People want to use the BGG website on their phones and are upset that it doesn't have an app and/or a mobile version.

  • People would like an easier way to check the board games' ratings.

  • People would like an easier way to compare between similar games.

  • People would like an easier way to rate games on the go.

 

step 1: discovering

 

Business Analysis

 

BoardGameGeek is an online forum for board and card gamers and a game database that holds reviews, images, videos and links.

Major potential roadblocks:

The website isn’t responsive and doesn’t have an app version and might be missing traffic.

 
 

Competitive Analysis

 
 
 

Key trends:

 
 

  • You tube and Reddit are BGG direct competitors. People use it for board games reviews and run throughs. Reddit is specifically used for Q&As and comparisons between games.

  • Netflix and Spotify are good examples of content display, browsing and recommendations based on users’ history and preferences.

  • SkinCarisma, Amazon and GSMArena provide side-by-side comparisons between products.

 
 

User research

 
 

Methodology

In order to understand the users’ experience when using the BGG website, I set out to interview (1:1 and through phone) casual and heavy gamers, as well as people who work at board games shops (Mind Games, Good Games Melbourne, The Games Shop & Metro Hobbies).

Interviews and Contextual Inquiry:

The main questions I needed answer for were:

  • How do you usually buy board games?

  • What is your experience using the Boardgamegeek website?

  • Do you use it on your mobile? What device do you access it?

  • If i told you about a website called Boardgamegeek, what would you expect it to have/offer?

 
 

Step 2: defining

 

Affinity map

 
 

Pain points:

  • Users struggle to find a game that would fit a situation due to the limited filtering and sorting options.

  • Users want the website to translate their ratings and reading habits into a recommendation system that would provide game suggestions.

  • Users are bothered by the poorly-responsive website.

 
 

Persona

 
 
 

Problem Statement

 

Users need a more effective way to find games that will suit their needs and preferences for a specific situation because the website currently has limited search, filtering and personalisation functionality.

 
 

step 3: developing

 

Minimum Viable Product

The Minimum Viable Product should allow users to:

  • Provide enjoyable experience on mobile

  • Enable advanced game search using filters

 
 

How Might We <HMW> Statements

To helped turn the challenges into opportunities for design, I came up with the following questions:

  • How might we make the BGG website enjoyable to use on mobile?

  • How might we help users find the games they want more quickly and efficiently?

  • How might we provide tailored game recommendations based on the users’ preferences?

Storyboarding

Olivia's situation when trying to choose a game to buy:

Sitemap

After a few rounds of card sorting, I created the sitemap for the app. At this stage of the project, the focus will be on the finder feature.

User flow

User goal:

BGG member, Olivia wants to effectively search for a game that will work best for the game night she’s planning with her friends. The happy path is in yellow.

Sketching

Keeping in mind the HMW questions, I started sketching to create a paper prototype to test with users.

 
 
 

Step 4: Prototyping

 

Paper prototype

Wireframing

Iterations

After addressing the issues that came up after testing the paper prototype, I started wireframing using Figma.

I also changed how to input the playing time range and games’ categories/themes.

After testing with the wireframes, I upped the fidelity of the prototype, focusing on creating image-rich screens to highlight the BGG brand and the board games’ artworks.

High fidelity prototype

Version #1

Click here for the clickable prototype.

 
 

Version #2

After testing, I've made a few changes in the interface of the app:

 

Future steps & takeaways

 

Future steps

  • Users’ want a recommendation system similar to Netflix's and Spotify. I believe this would encourage passive users to rate and review games.

Takeaways

  • Board gaming can be an expensive hobby and users appreciate tools that help them making the right decision when buying games.

  • As a board gamer, keeping the distance and reminding myself that I’m not the user had to be reinforced at every stage of this project, which resulted in a product that followed an authentic human centred process.

 

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