What Mom & Catan Taught Me About Onboarding
Applying UX concepts to help my mom’s first time playing Catan
For the past few days after moving back to Thailand from San Francisco, I have been hanging out with my family that I haven’t seen in over a year. We did everything a normal Thai family would do — cooking at home, eating out at a shopping mall, lying on our couch watching soap operas, and driving around getting stuck in traffic.
We ran out of ideas to do things together, until…
I proposed playing The Settlers of Catan — a game that none of my family has ever encountered. The only board game we had ever played together was Monopoly.
To ensure that my mom would not leave the game half way and return to Candy Crush and Thai soap operas, I had to onboard her the right way — I only had one chance!
So, what does success look like?
For mobile app, it’s making sure that users come back to the app. For me, it’s making sure that my mom wants to play the next game with me. To achieve that, I borrowed a concept from Scott Belsky.
I needed to get my mom to understand three things:
- Why she’s here
- What she could accomplish
- What to do next
Why she’s here (playing Catan)
Before we began the game, I told my mom that the reason why she’s playing this game is so that she could spend quality time with my younger brother and me. It was less about the game, it’s about us!
That got her to put down her iPad mini and ditch Candy Crush for Catan.
What she could accomplish
Beside having a fun time together, playing Catan could be one of our new family activities. We wouldn’t have to leave the house and be stuck in Bangkok traffic. Most importantly, we would be together physically and mentally — she would have the attention of her sons who are usually busy looking at a laptop or phone screen.
Yes, that sounded convincing. Task 2 checked!
What to do next
This is probably one of the hardest tasks to get right. Giving her too much information, she would be overwhelmed and ditch us for Candy Crush.
So, I decided to only tell her what she needs to do right now and what she can do next.
Before the game starts
I asked her roll the dice without giving her too much information. So, what she has to do right now is rolling the dice, and what she has to do next is remembering the number.
Phew… she was able to do both and she’s still with me.
Selecting where to build the first settlements
She went last in building her first settlement. What she has to do right now is placing a settlement building, and what she has to do next is placing the roads next to it. I debated internally whether to explain the probability of her rolling the number.
“The users of your product don’t want to make choices, especially when they are in the first mile” — Scott Belsky
I decided not to give her too much information because then she would have to make some tough choices. I simply told her to just place it on a location next to any number in red (which has the best probability). She did it right.
Playing the game
I explained each step as the situation came up. I didn’t even tell her the goal of the game — being the first to score 10 points. This is because that’s not a reason why she is playing the game.
I am not helping her win the game; I am helping her enjoy the game.
End result
We shared a lot of laughs, my mom stayed focused throughout the game, and she enjoyed getting the help and attention from my brother and me, who were eagerly trying to win the game.
I ended up winning the game, but it didn’t matter to my mom. Her objective wasn’t to win, but to spend quality time with her children.
Right after we counted the score, my mom said… “let’s play another round, I now know how to play this game.”
Boom! I succeeded in onboarding my mom to play The Settler of Catan by focusing on her first time experience and motivation of playing the game in the first place.
The Takeaway
As we continue to build products and features, we often overlook the real objective of the users. I hope that the story of Catan and my mom will remind us think about our users—why they’re here, what they can accomplish, and what to do next.
What about you? Have you applied UX concepts to any family activity? Also, feel free to share your experience playing Catan or helping your mom doing something for the first time!
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