Overview:

 

Project type

Internship project

My role

User Researcher

Timeline

May 2022 – Aug 2022

Tasks performed

1-on-1 interviews, thematic analysis;

Survey construction, quantitative analyses (descriptives, t-test, ANOVA)

 

Background:

Riot Games’ Player Platforms pillar wants to improve players’ in-game social experience, these include:

  • The experience of playing with strangers

  • The experience of playing with friends

  • The interaction with the broader Riot player community outside of game

  • Etc.

The team already has a list of features in mind that could potentially improve player social experience, but the team’s unsure as to which features to prioritize over the others, or if new features are needed at all.

Research Approach:

One-on-one interviews

I asked 27 NA players to tell me about their social experience playing Riot’s games

Performed thematic analysis to define the top social pain points that players are facing

 

Screenshot of interview codes (blanked out for confidentiality).

 

Quantitative survey

I listed the identified pain points and asked NA players (N = 5,000) to rank order them (weighted sample against NA demo)

Ran descriptive statistics to estimate the impact of each pain point

Impact:

Validated the team’s intuition

All the pain points aligned with what the team had in the mind; nothing else major was discovered during research

Allowed data-informed decision making on which pain points to address first

By referring to the estimated impact of each pain point; high impact = high priority

Offered recommendations on how to approach pain points

Outlined psychological motivations and important context observed behind each high priority pain point