Game Design Techniques in User Research Methods – A New Way to Reach the High Score in Development Teams

Abstract

Frequently, project teams who participate actively in usability tests show more trust in the results, but they also tend to build up some frustration during the process of conducting the study itself. In multidisciplinary teams, user research methods and the skills required are not used by every team member on a daily basis. Therefore, the felt ownership mostly lies within the roles of user researcher and/or interaction designer, who guide the teams through the process. SAP's central user research team wanted to enhance method literacy and empathic involvement in multidisciplinary teams. Therefore, we have introduced an emotional component into the process through applying slight modifications to user research methods by using game mechanics. In this paper, we want to describe the application of game mechanics to the method 'usability test' as an example for this approach. We elaborate on the prerequisites and considerations that led to the approach, describe the game that has been created and the experiences we made so far.