Welcome to story time. We just met our users, now let’s figure out what’s really troubling them.
User Stories
- 1. As a user, I want to be able to make friends and groups that I can enjoy the game with, so I can appreciate the game to its full extent.
- As a user, I want to be able to know what Pokestops and gyms are close to me, so I can plan the most efficient route possible.
- As a user, I want to know what raids are going on where, so I can try and get all the special Pokemon that are available.
User Narratives
Narrative #1
Pain: Shelby has a good amount of free time every day between classes. When she isn’t studying, meeting up with friends, or participating in clubs, she likes to play a little Pokemon Go. However, since none of her friends play, she feels like she’s missing out on a huge chunk of the game. Over the past two years, she has seen the game expand and grow, but her mutually playing friend group shrink. Now there are all kinds of features that involve playing with friends— trading, sending and receiving gifts, even getting special friend bonuses when participating in raids. There are even items players can only get through the gifts they receive from friends.
Sure, Shelby could go on Facebook or Twitter and post her friend code there, but that wouldn’t change the fact that she would still basically be playing alone. She is too shy to go up and speak to other people she thinks might be playing, because she doesn’t really feel comfortable approaching strangers in person. But she’s tired of reading about all these new updates and events coming out that can utilize having friends that play. A trainer vs trainer battle update will be coming out soon, but what good is it to the player with no friends to battle? She has no one to get excited about it with. The longer Shelby goes without anyone to play with, the less and less willing she is to want to play. Soon, she’ll end up deleting the app, because what’s the point?
Solution: During the week, Shelby has a fair chunk of free time between her classes. While she does spend a lot of that time studying, meeting up with friends, participating in extracurriculars, or grabbing a bite to eat, she also likes to spend some time playing Pokemon Go. She likes that it’s not one of those money-grubbing games, where you have to pay for extra content or to unlock more stuff. She started playing with her friends two years prior when the game first dropped, but gradually over time, her friends played less and less, until she was the only person left playing. Shelby is always excited to learn about the newest features that drop, and tries to use them to get her friends to pick the game back up and join her, but to no avail.
However, one day, Shelby overhears two people talking about a new app that just came out called Pokemon Go Together, which apparently allows Pokemon Go players to link their accounts to it, and meet other players in their area that also play. While Shelby is too shy to go up and speak to people she doesn’t know, she is very interested to find out more about this app. After some research, Shelby finds that this new app does indeed allow people to find other players in their area, and chat over the in-app messenger. Shelby downloads the app and links her account to it, and instantly finds several people that not only are in her area, but also frequent the same stops as her. She reaches out to them via the app, excited to finally be able to participate in all the functions she wasn’t able to use when she was playing by herself.
Narration #2
Pain: Christopher works for the Dining Services at James Madison University. Since he doesn’t have a car, he normally walks or bikes to work. He has taken to playing Pokemon Go to pass the time, and to make it feel as though the walk is going faster. He used to play it just when he got to campus, but he recently discovered that there are a lot more Pokestops and gyms scattered around the area than he knew of. However, there are a lot of ways to get to campus from his apartment, with varying distances, travel times, and obstacles such as busy streets, an elementary school, and poorly maintained sidewalks.
He is unable to figure out what routes have the maximum amount of Pokestops and gyms that he can pass by, while also making sure he stays safe and doesn’t mess up his work clothes. It would take him weeks to attempt all of the different routes, and at this point, he feels as though his morning routine is about to become one of those annoying multi-step math problems. He wishes that there was an easier way to scout out all the routes and see where all the Pokestops and gyms are in his area, but the Pokemon Go app only loads up at most a block or two away. He eventually gives up and decides to just bike to work, bypassing any and all points of previous interest, deciding to simply start playing once he gets to campus.
Solution: Christopher works for James Madison University as a Dining Services Coordinator. Since he just got the job, as well as being just recently graduated, he doesn’t have a car, so to get to work he usually bikes or rides the bus, depending on the weather. However, Christopher is really into the game Pokemon Go, and has been since it came out. He has recently decided that he might start walking to work, as he doesn’t live too far, and he would like to get a bit more exercise into his daily routine. He decides that to help pass the time, he’ll play Pokemon Go during his walks to and from work. One of his main reasonings for this is that he just recently found out that there are a lot more Pokestops and gyms in his surrounding area between his apartment complex and campus that he had no clue about.
Christopher laments to his coworker about his plan, but also the fact that there are so many ways to get to campus from his complex, and he wants the most efficient route possible, with maximum Pokestops and gyms, while also not taking obscenely long or putting him in dangerous areas or situations. His coworker tells him about this new app he read about online called Pokemon Go Together. Christopher looks more into this new app and finds out that, while its main priority is helping people connect with other players, it is also linked to the Pokemon Go servers, giving access to full area maps, with every Pokestop and gym. Now, Christopher is able to check out all the routes and plan accordingly to both get to work, and have fun playing Pokemon Go along the way.
After learning all about these issues, let’s put our minds to the test and figure out some product and design requirements.
