This week we had to create a persona for one of our previous rapid ideations. I have chosen to create a persona for the COP-26 inspired game, “Alien Saves Earth”.
I created a few different user stories to start with which are below;
User Story 1
As an environmental activist.
I want a game to show the issues we’re facing.
So that people will take these issues seriously and make a change to help cut down on these problems.
User Story 2
As a gamer.
I want a fun game that teaches me something.
So that I can use that knowledge in my everyday life.
User Story 3
As a teacher.
I want a game to show my students some environmental problems.
So they can learn about environmental issues.
For me the teacher story makes the most sense because they can get their students to play it and then discuss each of the threats in further detail as part of a lesson.
An environmental activist will already know of the dangers so wouldn’t need to play the game to learn this and a gamer may not necessary play a game to learn as there are many reasons to play a game such as have fun or switch off.
Reflections
Creating a Persona has taught me to think more of the end user. I have been coming up with ideas and creating games based on what I think is fun, not anyone else. In future projects I need to make sure to do some user research and create a few persona’s so that I’m on the right track, which Faller (2019) says is a good way to use them. Perhaps creating Persona’s before each “Iteration/Construction” (Eby, 2016) phase in the project can be useful to divert it to the path it should be on for the end user. This will also help if people’s views have changed, they might not want the original product anymore so it will keep the end product relevant.
Persona
References
Eby, K., 2016. Understanding the Agile Software Development Lifecycle and Process Workflow. [online] Smartsheet. Available at: <https://www.smartsheet.com/understanding-agile-software-development-lifecycle-and-process-workflow> [Accessed 23 November 2021].
Faller, P., 2019. What Are User Personas and Why Are They Important? | Adobe XD Ideas. [online] xd.adobe.com. Available at: <https://xd.adobe.com/ideas/process/user-research/putting-personas-to-work-in-ux-design/> [Accessed 23 November 2021].
Richard Charles Ellis 