Video Game Account Creation
Hunt
Project OVerview
The Problem
Video game account creation flows are generally very similar, a tried and true pattern.
They can demand strange requirements, ask for strange password account recovery questions, and confusing ‘humanity’ checks that impair users on their journey to playing their games.
The Goal
This project was for my Google UX Design Certificate
Design both an alternative account creation flow and a simple and clean, tried and true account creation flow with only the most vital aspects.
The Product
Hunt is a mobile game Battle Royale game for mobile devices. User age ranged from 18 to 30. The Hunt team attempts to add alternative account creation flows in addition to the current standbys.
My Role
UX designer and researcher from conception to delivery.
Responsibilities
Conducting interviews, digital and paper wireframing, low fidelity and high fidelity prototyping, conducting usability testing, and design iteration.
Project Duration
October 2021 - November 2021
Understanding the user
The first and guiding assumption was this: No gamer is actually happy to create a video game account, it impedes their true goal, to play whatever game has caught their attention.
From there I sought out the account creations of popular games focusing on: League of Legends, Free Fire, Fortnite and Genshin Impact to observe their account creations processes. These are highly popular games with deep pools of players. Their account creation flows were uniformly simple, to the point and without frills.
After taking a look at popular game account creation flows, I conducted user interviews to gather data.
My research shows that I was mostly correct and that the frustrations of account creation are often centered around ambiguity and rote memorization (in the forms of bot checks and strange security questions and passwords).
The most appealing account creation flows were those that were to the point, unambiguous, and provided security with minimal slowdowns.
Finally, I then took the interview data and plotted out a persona and user journey.
Pain Points
Humanity Checks
What exactly is the program looking for? Does this sliver of the desired icon count?
Why does it make me do so many of these?
The tug and pull of security vs speed
Security was recognized as important, but speed was often the primary concern of participants. Is there a way to offer tight security with speed?
Less creating, more playing.
Creations that offer too many upfront options are tiring. Account creation should be as truncated as possible
Meet William
William is a gamer who needs an alternative method that expedites the account creation process because he wants to spend as much of his limited time playing games as possible.
User Journey:
Persona: William Graham
Goal: To get to the game as quickly as possible
Throughout my interviews, not a single participant disagreed with my initial assessment. The overall desire was the same, fast completions so they could play, something I wanted to convey the most in this user journey.
Starting the Design
As part of the program, I was given free reign to address the topic I was given. I decided I wanted to create an account creation that could work for a web-based process and the potential for a mobile process. To this end I created a sitemap of Hunt and followed it up with some sketches, eventually settling on a single column layout that could work on a mobile or desktop platform.
Digital Wireframes
Password loss, account hacking, bots creating accounts. To address these problems, I designed a theoretical model that takes a user’s voiceprint and face as password and username respectively. The process of creating a “standard” account creation flow would be easy to mimic, so I tried a process that is more experimental.
Maintaining the single-column design was the focus. With a familiar design for mobile and web, the only thing left to alter were the sizes of components between web and mobile.
“Username”
In a system that would allow mobile and web usage, this page would access a webcam or a phone camera. Facial recognition software is already being used sparingly, so I hoped that this would be easier to navigate. Looking back at it, that’s a very biased thought, given that many users won’t have access to a phone with such a system.
“Password”
It comes after the facial scan, so it roughly parallels a password. I don’t have actual experience with vocal recognition software, but I had imagined a system that would require a wide range of user-provided phonemes, as it would generate a randomly generated word that users would have to say in order to log in.
A choice
I decided that more choices for the user can’t be a terrible thing here so I kept the standard account creation, linking your account to another system and the new account creation. Offering choices and not locking out users who may not have the necessary tools to use the alternate creation system.
Usability Study
During testing, users often questioned the experimental account creation process on a meta level, I.e what the company was doing with data, how they were going to keep it safe. This was something that I had considered somewhat, but had no real answer for at the time.
Despite that, users were curious and willing to attempt the alternate process.
FINDINGS
Click here for a link to the low fidelity prototype.
What are you doing with my data?
People wanted to know how the technology works, where it was being kept, etc. Adding options to explain what was happening and how data was being used is essential.
What if you’re not quite you?
Add a backup option for when users are unable or unwilling to provide vocal and facial information. The most common scenario was a sickness, a wound or surgery.
Research is one thing, user testing is another.
Providing traditional account creation is still necessary while alternate processes build up their reputations.
Refining the DEsign
MOCKUP
Click here to view the high fidelity prototype.
For this project I used assets and borrowed the aesthetic of the game Hunt: Showdown, using the game’s media kit and bleak color palette in the design of the mockups.
I decided that it didn’t pay to be subtle: I added a slide that explicitly brought to attention a FAQ button that appears on each stage of the process. In addition I gave the FAQ prime placement on the header.
I don’t normally adding an extra click, but for a more experimental process, I felt it was necessary to do so. It’s a blunt solution, as is the FAQ page, but I wasn’t able to create a simple, accessible alternative to these.
In the end, I couldn’t think of an alternate system as a backup that required no voice or camera.
The web-based home page for the game, the game’s gritty and bleak aesthetic meant I ended up using darker colors which is great for the stark white and blood red fonts.
Takeaway
impact
Users reported they were willing to try the new account creation flow given more information to work with. The flow itself seemed intuitive and simple enough for users, given that most gamers have more experience navigating account flows.
“It’s not a matter of the complexity, it’s if the technology is even there.”
What I learned
Designing a completely theoretical flow is filled with challenges that I haven’t dug into fully. For every problem this design solves currently, it brings up a whole slew of new problems that don’t have a clear cut answer because it’s not a fully explored space. What happens when a user’s voice has changed? Are there programs that can mimic human voices with high degrees of accuracy and if so, how do you plan around that? What happens to accounts created in puberty?
In the end, it was way more interesting to be in the weeds for something like this than just making the stagnant account creation flow currently used in games.
Next Steps
Conduct an in-person usability test that simulates the full system working.
The moderated usability test is good, but doesn’t get into the weeds of the alternate process’ true viability. I would have liked to conduct at least an in-person paper test, where I could simulate how a theoretical system would react to users.
Experiment with more active methods of transferring information, like a video pop up that elaborates on questions or even a chat bot that can ping an actual employee. FAQs are somewhat stale, people are used to watching videos on youtube, tiktok, or facebook. The chat bot simulates interaction, but I would also need to delve into how well users react to chat bots.
Discuss and ideate with security technicians on the viability of such a product. During testing, the theoretical nature of the process was touched upon and no definitive answer to the viability of the process were given. Determining what exactly is reasonable with current mobile and web technology is a must, especially because users deemed security as a high priority in account creation, only losing out occasionally to speed.