Information about the Website:
IGN Entertainment hosts a wide variety of content related to video games and entertainment on its website. The IGN acronym is commonly used as shorthand for “In Game Name” which refers to a player’s character name in the video game world. The site provides a variety of resources to gamers by way of game reviews, top entertainment news, social media content, game walkthroughs and more. IGN.com has earned its popularity among gamers and has developed a reputation as a “go to” site for gamers.
Persona:
The persona the Gaming group chose to focus on is 17- to 23-year-old gamers who enjoy playing many genres of games, from role-playing, first-person shooters, and multiplayer online battle arena to puzzle, action adventure, and survival/horror. These individuals are middle class, attend some type of school (high-school, college, or trade) and have at least a part-time job to give them the means to purchase video games. Their experience level with gaming ranges from beginner to expert since IGN has a wide variety of content available ranging from reviews to walkthroughs.
Scenario:
A typical user in the 17 – 23yr/old range visits the IGN website to get information on the newest games soon to be released and updates in the gaming industry. This can range from insider news on game features and development to public beta releases of games such as Overwatch and occasionally, news on the entertainment sector such as Netflix or HBO announcements. In our scenario, the user wants to find out information on the popular game Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. They want to know if the game has any cool features and game modes as well as any updates on the new open-world gameplay. Also, due to the user’s demographic and income, they’d like to know if there are any advantages to purchasing the game on a disk or a digital copy as well as any in-game mechanical changes such as movement that might play an important role in the overall experience. This is also a special year because this holiday season is when multiple 1st party developers are also releasing a bunch of AAA games such as God of War. Because of this, our user not only wants to see reviews on Legend of Zelda, but also other games so that he/she can see which ones are worth investing time and money in.
User Tasks:
- We chose the specific task of accessing the Game of the Year awards for 2021 because the user is particularly interested in what’s trending in the gaming world. This user does not have a specific genre in mind for the games they would like beyond Legend of Zelda.
- Find a walkthrough for Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild to get an idea of how long the adventure will take to complete. With today’s top games at almost $60 each, many gamers do not want a game they can complete in a few hours. Gamers like to feel that they are getting their money’s worth.
- Look for reviews of the other Game of the Year contenders and see if any of their reviews are intriguing enough to warrant purchasing a different game.
These tasks should provide an idea of how easy (or hard) navigating the site is as well as how useful the search feature is.