The UX of Pokémon GO : A Case Study
With a soaring 20 million daily users, Pokémon GO needs no introduction and if you haven’t played it yet, you witnessed how it took by storm the avenues and busy corners of the world.
At first glance the game doesn’t have a lot of depth to it. You have to go outside to catch Pokémon, battle for gyms and hatch the occasional egg. Still, Pokémon GO broke countless records and quickly became the top-selling mobile game of all time.
Innovative game mechanics and a long-running franchise certainly help to succeed, but is there something else to it?
I want to make a case for the psychological basis of the Pokémon GO user experience: I will show how it works, why it excels and where it could be improved.
PLAYER RESEARCH
“People’s behaviour makes sense if you think about it in terms of their goals, needs, and motives.” — Thomas Mann
Pokémon GO appeals to a diverse group of people. From couples well in their seventies (It’s true, I met them) to kids barely out of primary school, they all can relate to the game.
But what exactly do they get out of the game — and perhaps more importantly — why do they do it?
The obvious answer would be to segment the players by demographic variables like age, gender and go from there. While that may be useful, I decided to probe deeper and find answers to the following questions:
What are the behaviours and attitudes that different players have towards the game?
What are their goals and motivations while playing the game?
What are they most satisfied with and where do they struggle?
To tackle these questions I resorted to two essential research methods: empathy and immersion. I observed and listened to players, walked in their shoes and went through the ups and downs of their Pokémon-catching journeys. Soon I had over 700 testimonials collected through on-site interviews, contextual inquiries and online surveys.
I had data all right, but did I have meaning?
To derive insight from all the responses, I created six player personas that tell the stories of the different players. Right away three common themes emerged that help to position the personas against each other:
First, the Desired End State is the reason why players are driven to the game and it can be either social or competitive in nature. Are players motivated by the desire to compete or for the social experience that surrounds the game?
Second, the Degree of Investment is the amount of resources spent in the game (e.g., time, money and effort). Are players money-spending power users (high investment) or more casual weekend-only players (low investment)?
Third, the Temperament is the willingness for players to interact with each other. Are players gregarious and open to meet new people (extrovert) or do they prefer to enjoy the game by themselves (introvert)?
The PokéManiac
Experiencing the game, for the PokéManiac, is akin to travelling back in time, to the “good old days” of his childhood when life was easier and stress-free.
Early-adopters and consummated power-users, they have been waiting for a game like Pokémon GO their whole lives. And it’s finally here!
The call has been answered and now is the time to “be the very best, like no one ever was”.
When the PokéManiac is catching rare and powerful Pokémon, he feels the full breadth of the Pokémon ethos. Ash Ketchum traveled the world to defeat all the gym leaders and so does the PokéManiac, in his quest to “catch ’em all”.
This is a phenomenon psychologists call experience-taking and it’s a pretty cool idea. That’s why when you watch a movie you feel what the protagonist is feeling, for example.
Anyway, the PokéManiac is extremely competitive in nature and has invested a lot in the game. He’s on top of local online groups and always goes to Pokémon GO events.
Everybody knows who he is and he knows everybody too — everybody who matters, anyway. And that makes him so proud.
The game gives him a sense of accomplishment and recognition he probably hasn’t felt before. He’s on a mission and there’s no stopping him.
The Social Explorer
The Social Explorer is a different beast. She doesn’t take the game as seriously as the PokéManiac but she enjoys it as much.
She’s looking to catch the cutest Pokémon and explore the game with the help of her friends.
As far as the Social Explorer is concerned, Pokémon GO is the perfect excuse to be surrounded with friends and spend some quality time together.
Do you know what makes her day? Finding that a friend also plays the game and that they can now catch Pokémon together.
That’s because she takes great pleasure from the achievements of others and wishes the game had more ways to interact with her friends. She’s the perfect example of social learning theory — the idea that we learn a great deal from observation and contact with others.
The Double Team
A lot of couples play Pokémon GO together and they usually start as follows: Boy downloads app, boy falls in love with app, boy gently nudges girl to do the same. “See? I told you were gonna love it”, he says.
Next thing you know a weekend is not the same without Pokémon GO and the couple’s newfound ritual is on. Double the party, double the fun!
Pokémon GO has the perfect mix of cooperation and competition that reflect the couple’s own dynamics. The Double Team can be very competitive but they also have their supportive moments.
In the afternoon they may be out conquering gyms — fuelling their territorial and more dominant nature — and during the evening they may stroll through the boardwalk in the hope of incubating a powerful Lapras or Snorlax (talk about maternal connotations).
The Millennial Horde
“Poké what? You mean those dusty old cartridges stored in the attic next to that AC remote control?”, wondered the Millennial Horde. And boy, were they surprised. How could something so worn-out be the next “big thing”?
Even though they were shocked at first, they fell for the bandwagon effect and didn’t need further convincing.
They are the natural-born-Pokémon Masters. They live and breathe the game and every waking moment is another time they could be catching that elusive Dragonite.
PokéManiacs in training, they are very ambitious about their goals in game. And they know how to reach them, too.
They know the game’s hidden mechanics inside out — they learned from their PokéManiac friends — and use that for their advantage.
The Lone Trainer
The Lone Trainer is an ambiguous one. He wants to fit in but he doesn’t know how. He wants to be better at the game but, at the same time, he feels guilty about it.
Because of these contradicting thoughts playing Pokémon GO brings him a lot of mixed feelings.
So how can he solve this cognitive dissonance? He may think to himself: “Well, at least I’m walking and being active” or “I’m getting to know new places around the city so there’s no problem.”
As a result — and depending on the circumstances — he may become a PokéManiac and ignore the negative feelings or stop playing the game altogether.
The PokéFamily
The PokéFamily, on the other hand, are a high-spirited and fun-loving bunch. They too realise that Pokémon might be out of their demographic, but they don’t care about it.
Because the kids love it, they love it too. And after years of experts saying kids spend too much time at home, Pokémon GO came to save the day and parents can appreciate that.
It all started when the young ones wanted to play this shiny new game, but parents were concerned with leaving them alone in the streets. So they gave it a try — as it seemed fun and easy to learn — and before they could spell Pikachu, they were hooked.
The PokéFamily are the seasonal players who will stop playing as the weather grows colder, at least until a major update rolls out and the craving for Pokémon kicks in.
In any case they’ll agree that Pokémon GO is the best way to bond since SingStar.
We’ve seen how players differ from each other and how that affects the way they play the game. Now it’s time to look at the patterns that may emerge from all the diversity; the common denominators that bring all the players together despite their individual differences.
So, what drives players to the game?
Rationally speaking we can say players are curious about augmented reality and the location-based gameplay. It’s free and you only need a smartphone to play the game, so why not give it a try?
That’s only part of the story, though. The truth is that players arrive for rational reasons but they stay due to emotional ones.
That’s an interesting thought, right, but what exactly do I mean by that?
MOTIVATION ANALYSIS
“With the passage of time, the psychology of people stays the same, but the tools and objects in the world change.” — Don Norman
You probably heard of Maslow’s pyramid of needs: the theory of motivation that explains our behaviour based on the fulfilment of needs.
According to Maslow, when we wake up, a feeling of thirst forces us to grab a glass of water; in the evening, a desire to stay in touch with our friends drives us to meet at the pub and catch up.
The same motivational principles apply to the digital world: Instagram relates to our impulse to “capture the moment” and Twitter is linked to our need to communicate and connect to similar others.
Therefore it’s not surprising that we create habits around the things that matter most to us.
Research shows that the average user checks his phone 85 times a day and 80% of people check their smartphone within 15 minutes of waking up. These are powerful habits and successful companies sure know about it.
For Pokémon GO to be so popular it has to appeal to similar needs; something that draws players to the game and leaves them hooked.
The Hook Model, developed by Nir Eyal, helps us to understand how digital products are designed to create habit-forming behaviour and costumer engagement.
Nir defines an habit as a behaviour that we repeatedly engage in with no conscious thought and it can be divided in four components: trigger, action, reward and investment.
Trigger
Every habit starts with a trigger: an experience designed to connect the user’s problem with the companies’ solution. They are the internal or external cues that prompt users to pick up the phone and log in.
In Pokémon GO internal triggers can take the form of (1) the need to escape routine/seek adventure, (2) the need to have an active lifestyle, or (3) the need to connect with likeminded others.
External triggers, on the other hand, come from either social cues (e.g., seeing other people playing the game) or geographical cues (e.g., passing by an important location in-game).
Action
The trigger is followed by a series of actions — sequences of behaviours that are carried in anticipation of the reward.
Before setting foot outside players engage in a bunch of rituals to prepare for their Pokémon adventure: they need to pack a bag with snacks/water, choose comfortable clothes, charge the phone and power bank, etc.
When they are out playing all they need to do is a sequence of low-barrier actions that are simple and frictionless.
Players simply have to walk around, pick up the phone and start flicking PokéBalls at the critters. They may need to walk anyway so catching Pokémon is merely an enjoyable complement.
Reward
With these actions comes a likely reward. I say likely because habit-forming technology doesn’t imply a guaranteed reward.
They use what B.F. Skinner called a variable schedule of reinforcement — behaviours that are followed by a reward that you may or may not get.
Variable rewards leave players guessing — much like slot machines — if they will catch that unlikely Dragonite. It’s that uncertainty that keeps players coming back.
Rewards like these come in three types: Rewards of the Hunt, Rewards of the Tribe and Rewards of the Self.
Rewards of the Hunt
Gathering resources is detrimental for our survival and it greatly benefited our savanna dwelling ancestors.
Even though we don’t need to hunt for food anymore, today we seek other resources like material wealth, social status and information (or digital goods, like those in video games).
Fishermen catch big fish, bargain hunters search for the best coupons. Pokémon GO players walk dozens of miles to catch rare digital beasts. It’s not that different. I’ve even met fishermen who catch Pokémon when fish aren’t biting the hook. Go figure that.
The truth is that catching Pokémon gives players an adrenaline fix similar to that of hunting or fishing for sport (PETA’s not impressed).
And it’s not only the actual catch that gives players a hit. The anticipation of the fix or the thrill of the chase, too, releases dopamine and other neurotransmitters that regulate the pleasure centres in the brain.
For every Pokémon caught players bite the hook and leave hoping for more. And it’s this hope of catching powerful Pokémon — and the accompanying fear of missing them — that lures players to login and play the game.
Rewards of the Tribe
We are a fundamentally social species. In the past social exclusion meant certain death and so we associate feelings of belonging and social acceptance with personal gratification.
The way the game is designed amplifies this human need to feel socially accepted. Indeed, Pokémon GO is the de facto social game: you have to be physically surrounded with other players to play the game.
It’s common for players to congregate around PokéStops and take turns in activating Lure Modules (items that attract Pokémon to said locations) and each player catches a copy of the Pokémon.
When a rare Pokémon appears on the radar, players share its location and abruptly sprint towards the place. It’s total mayhem, really.
An anthropologist would have trouble distinguishing the racing crowd of trainers from an indigenous tribe stalking actual prey.
Rewards of the Self
In the same way that we enjoy ticking out emails from our inbox, players take pride in completing tasks and improving their skills in-game. That’s because capturing ever more powerful Pokémon gives players a feeling of progress and personal achievement.
Game designers have long used this type of reward to make games more pleasurable and create a sense of accomplishment among players. Pokémon GO is different because you have to be in the “real” world surrounded by actual players.
In stark contrast to the stereotype around gamers, numerous reports show that Pokémon GO is helping players overcome feelings of anxiety, depression and low self-esteem.
And despite the raging debate around the alienating effects of smartphones, Pokémon GO proves that augmented-reality technology can be used to improve the lives of users, connect them to one another and their physical environment.
Investment
After going through the hook cycle, it’s no surprise that players become invested in the game. So much so that 7 out of 10 people that download Pokémon GO return the next day.
One reason is that new players need to devote considerable effort to understand how the game works — in part because of the faulty onboarding experience.
As a Reddit user puts it: “Nothing is really explained, it’s a lot about discovery. However, once discovered, like [when assembling] a piece of IKEA furniture, you become attached to the game because of the effort you put in. Shitty but brilliant.”
It’s clear that Pokémon GO relies on several behavioural principles that are deeply connected to what makes us human.
The game’s user experience is certainly immersive and rewarding. However, it’s far from perfect. It’s time to put analysis to practice and see how it could be improved.
INTERFACE SUGGESTIONS
“Experience without theory is blind, but theory without experience is mere intellectual play.” — Immanuel Kant
Contrary to popular belief, knowledge is not power; it’s only potential power. We can use all the frameworks in the world and still have insufficient understanding of how things work.
To really understand user interactions it’s necessary to position the knowledge we have in the most practical terms and use it to find possible solutions for problems.
Recommendations From Research
Whilst conducting research players reported that server instability and irritating bugs were the number one concern. Second in the priority list was the addition of social features to improve interaction among players. Other ideas revolved around features to better organise Pokémon, the capture screen redesign and other minor UI improvements.
Challenge: The lack of social features to enable interactivity among players such as player profiles, friends list and group chat.
Opportunity: To expand the Rewards of the Tribe and the Self by allowing players to show off their progress to friends and feel more accomplished with their own results.
Challenge: Insufficient options to manage one’s Pokémon collection (e.g. organise, heal and transfer in bulk)
Opportunity: Providing players the option to select different Pokémon in their collection. Once selected, players can apply one of three functions to the designated Pokémon: mark, heal or transfer.
Challenge: Players need to tap several times if they want to, for example, throw a Razz Berry — an item that increases Pokémon catch rate — and then switch to a GreatBall to finish the catch.
Opportunity: Removing this extra bit of effort by displaying all the available items in the capture screen (without cluttering the interface in excess).
Other suggestions included quality of life improvements like a swipe affordance in each Pokémon card — as it is not explicit at the moment that you can swipe to switch Pokémon — and a button to ‘skip’ evolution animations (which, at the moment, are laggy in most smartphones and are an hindrance for players).
Recommendation From Analysis
It’s important to listen to users, no doubt about it. The problem is that they don’t always know what they want or don’t express it in the most accurate terms. Users (i.e., people) are rarely conscious of what drives them.
That’s because motivation begins with emotional needs and ends with logical reasons or rationalisations of what drove us in the first place.
Players said they wanted more social features to communicate with friends, but they never said they wanted to show off their Dragonite collection (which is arguably true).
As Henry Ford famously said: “If I asked my costumers what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”
The following recommendations go beyond user self-reports and build on the principles discussed in Motivation Analysis.
Challenge: Not allowing players to compare their effort to other players.
Opportunity: Increase the Rewards of the Tribe and the Self through, for example, displaying (1) player’s achievements in comparison to others and (2) a scoreboard of players that most increased a gym’s level.
Challenge: There are no external triggers that remind players to login.
Opportunity: Implement login incentives such as (1) a system of daily quests coupled with push notifications and (2) in-game reports letting players know that they lost control of previously owned gyms.
TAKEAWAYS
It’s easy to look at Pokémon GO’s success and see the obvious marriage between hot technology and an old-school franchise. However, the game’s success is not due to the inventive geocaching mechanics or the cute little pocket monsters.
It’s due to a fundamentally rewarding user experience grounded on social connection and personal empowerment.
The kind of underlying mechanics that make or break user experience. Structure, not content. Forces that are so fundamental, that you’d normally not even recognise them as part of design.
I’m talking emotion, identity, and motivation here. It’s the stuff poets have been talking about for millennia; what drives us to become better students, better friends or better parents.
Exceptional user experience is never about the latest technology or obvious formulas for success — it’s about fulfilling deep-seated human desires.
It’s about allowing users to craft new identities and become better versions of themselves. It’s about offering users a glimpse of who they could be: the photographer, the writer or even the hero they see on TV.
