Tamagotchi Tamer Usuability Evaluation
User Goals
- Emotional Impact of Tamagotchi
- Would a sick tamagotchi motivate you to exercise?
- Tamagotchi Tamer Fitness vs Current Fitness App
- Would you rather use the Tamagotchi Tamer Fitness page or your current fitness app?
- What features would need to be added to consider switching from your current fitness app to the tamagotchi tamer app?
- Long-Term Playability of the Application
- Would you consider playing this app in the long run?
- What features would this app need to have to make you consider playing long-term?
Scenarios
Scenario 1: Emotional Impact of the Tamagotchi
The user will first be given a login with a normal tamagotchi and asked to explore the application for about 1 minute.
After that time is up, the user will be asked to login with a separate account which has a sick tamagotchi and will be asked to explore the app for about 1 minute.
If the user at any point asks about the sick tamagotchi and asks about why it is sick and how to make the tamagotchi recover then this would be considered a success. If they do not mention the change in tamagotchi state, this is considered a failure and feedback will be taken on how to make people notice and care about the sick tamagotchi. Should the user notice the change in the tamagotchi and not care then this will also be considered a failure.
After this test is completed we will have the user provide their thoughts on the sick tamagotchi and if it would motivate them to exercise.
Scenario 2: Reading User Fitness Info
Please open your preferred fitness/step app and tell me about the app and how you use it. If they do not have a preferred fitness app, have them open and run through their device’s default fitness app.
Once they have gone through their fitness app, the user will them be asked to log into the Tamagotchi Tamer fitness app and be asked to navigate to our fitness section.
Feedback will be taken on what features they most want to use/see in our app that is present in their preferred fitness app.
Scenario 3: Assessing Long Term Playability of the Application
In this scenario, we will have the user go to an app of their choice which they have used/played consistently (daily/weekly) for over a month. Once on the app, the user will be asked to walk through their daily routine with the application.
After they finish, we will then move to the Tamagotchi Tamer app where we will ask questions in regards to features they would like to see implemented in our app. Specifically, we would ask about any features that would keep them invested in our app for more than a month.
Once we go through both their preferred app and the Tamagotchi Tamer app, they will be given the question: “Would you download our app?”. Response will then be recorded based off their answer.
User Types
- Older generation (35-60)
- Most likely to have grown up with tamagotchis and would have nostalgia for the idea
- Late teens to early 20s
- Grew up playing mobile games and are both technologically literate and interested in mobile gaming
For the user types, while I think the major categories fall between the older and younger generation, I do believe that the user’s familiarity with mobile games should be kept in mind. The way that someone familiar with how mobile games work differs greatly from someone who doesn’t play mobile games at all. If this app is to have mass markability, I think considerations should be made to accommodate users both experienced and inexperienced with using mobile apps.
Recruitment
For the older generation, I can ask my mother and her friends for a few people. They are an ideal user group as they constantly play similar games such as Pokemon Go and other “exercise” games. I also know a few older professors and community members who can test the app and also fall into the inexperienced category of app users.
For the younger generation, I have a few friends that play similar types of games and would be able to give good feedback. I also think it is important to get people who are unfamiliar with these types of games to test the application. For these people, I will ask around my workplace for people who would be interested in testing the application. I also know a few people in the dorms that might be able to test the app.
Description of Participants
For the usability evaluation we ran, we had 5 participants. 3 of the 5 participants (A, B, and C) belonged to the older group whereas the remaining two participants (D and E) belonged to the younger group. Everyone who participated in the usability evaluation was familiar with mobile games such as Pokemon Go and Animal Crossing and have been playing continuously for at least one month. For participants A, B, and C their usability evaluations were done individually at my house. Likewise, for participant D their usability evaluation was done at my dorm on campus. For participant E, it was more convenient to do their usability evaluation at the library. For all participants, since they used iPhones, I decided to have them use my phone as the test device since deployment to Apple devices with a developer license is pretty difficult and time consuming.
Script
Introduction
“Thank you for helping out with the usability testing for the Tamagotchi Tamer mobile app”
“Before starting, please know that your responses will be recorded for the purpose of improving the app. If you understand this, please read and sign this form indicating that you give consent for your responses to be recorded.”
- “Do you have any experience with mobile games?” “Do you have any mobile games that you play everyday?” “Have you ever had a tamagotchi before?”
- Might follow up depending on their answers to the questions.
- “What type of device do you currently use? (iPhone vs Android)?”
- Depending on their answer we will either deploy the app to their phone (if they have Android) or have them use my personal device (iPhone).
- “For this test, we will walk you through three scenarios that we will go into later. Please provide honest and in depth feedback for the scenarios.”
Scenarios
The scripts will follow the prompts given in the scenarios section above.
Data Collected
Scenario 1: Emotional Impact of the Tamagotchi
- A: They expressed that they wanted more investment into creating their tamagotchi if they were to have an emotional bond with their tamagotchi
- Noticed that the tamagotchi was sick and did ask why it is sick
- B: They were undecided if the tamagotchi would motivate them to exercise.
- They did notice the tamagotchi was sick and asked why it was sick but upon further follow up expressed doubts about if the tamagotchi would motivate them
- C: They seemed surprised that the tamagotchi was sick and asked how to make it better.
- For this user, the tamagotchi would motivate them to walk more but they did express that more investment into tamagotchi creation would make them care more.
- D: They did notice that the tamagotchi was sick but laughed.
- Upon further questioning they mentioned that this would not motivate them to exercise.
- E: They also noticed that the tamagotchi was different and asked what was different.
- Upon follow-up they mentioned that they would not exercise because it looks like the tamagotchi was sleeping/being lazy.
Scenario 2: Fitness Page
- A: Add distance (miles/kilometers) to the bars so that they reflect how far someone walked in a day
- B: Does not use other fitness apps
- Upon follow-up they mentioned that they do not track fitness and things like step counts
- C: Sharing the same concern as user A they mentioned that distance should be added for the step count.
- They also expressed that users should be able to switch between miles and kilometers based on their preference.
- D: This user does not use a step tracker but does mention that there should be some kind of integrated widget to show the steps tracked through the app and also maybe show the tamagotchi health
- E: This user had the same concerns as above users that distance and other exact measurements should be displayed on the fitness page.
- They also brought up the possibility of time spent above a certain heart rate as a possible measurement of fitness.
Scenario 3: Long Term Viability
- A: Needs more investment into the tamagotchi to consider long term investment
- Would not download the app if they had the option
- B: They expressed the need for daily incentives to keep your pet healthy. The specific example they brought up was getting coins daily for keeping your pet healthy and getting less/no coins for a sick pet.
- Would not download the app
- C: Mentioned that there should be some way to earn coins for free to buy cosmetics for their tamagotchi.
- D: For long term usability, this user mentioned that they wanted some way to interact with friends through the app. Forming parties or other team based activities would help them stay invested in the app.
- Would not download the app.
- E: They expressed the feeling that using the app takes away from the time spent exercising. “If I wanted to exercise, I would just go out and exercise. Having so many features takes away from the exercise.”
- Would not download the app.
Results
- Set Up a Tamagotchi creation page where you can name your tamagotchi and set various information about it such as it’s birthday.
- Convert the steps to distance traveled and add it to the fitness page
- Gamify the app such as gaining coins daily for healthy tamagotchi