How I conducted generative research that changed Juked's mission statement to "esports for everyone."
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Company / Juked
Role / UX researcher working directly with Juked COO
Tools / Figma, Miro, Excel, Asana, Zoom, Discord, Google Sheets
Timeline / 5 months (May - September 2020)
Reconnecting with Juked COO Chris one year after sharing research findings collected in a UC Berkeley Extension User Research class, I was brought onto the Juked team to initially conduct evaluative research that would help gauge the progress of their developing mobile application. After a round of user testing and survey analysis, I recommended Chris to further explore user needs in order to strengthen product market fit (PMF) for a minimum lovable product (MLP) release.
Mixed-method research conducted throughout the generative research process included a series of surveys, screeners, and user interviews. Information was collated through affinity mapping, interview coding, persona building, journey mapping, and survey analysis (qualitative and quantitative).
We found two unexpected findings: 1) users were fine using multiple platforms to discuss and watch their favorite games, and 2) users found esports discussion so toxic that they performed actions throughout the user journey to filter or remove engagement altogether.
In preparation for a mobile application launch, Juked stakeholders sought to strengthen its product market fit within esports fans' existing ecosystem of products and services.
Juked originally started as "the TV-guide for esports"— an aggregation website where esports fans can watch esports broadcasts and follow esports industry news.
Juked began its mobile application Spring 2021 after becoming one of the fastest growing campaigns on crowd equity platform Republic. Following an evaluative research round, I pushed Juked's stakeholders to collect generative research on how its upcoming mobile app can find its niche within esports fans' existing ecosystem of products and services.
"Retention and engagement has been my number one goal. We want to make sure what we're offering on our site is something people want to use consistently."
Chris Chan
Juked Co-Founder and COO
Does Juked's mission statement "the one-stop-destination for esports entertainment" resonate with esports fans' pain points and motivations for consuming esports content?
In order to collect a mix of participants representative of Juked's target user base, I classified participants' expertise based on their online frequency browsing esports content and engaging in esports conversation.
Browsing: Expert
Engaging: Expert
Browsing: Expert
Engaging: Novice
Browsing: Novice
Engaging: Novice
Survey questions inserted to categorize and screen prospective interview participants:
How often do you browse the following esports?
How often do you engage socially with the following esports?
What is your favorite esports moment of 2021 and why?
During the last month, how many hours did you use Juked during a typical week?
A few introductory statements to set consistent expectations at the start of every interview:
Me"During this session, I am looking to better understand your goals, needs, and pain points when consuming esports content."
Me"There are no right or wrong answers. I'm here to learn more about you, not what others do."
Me"Would it be okay if we record today’s session for internal note taking purposes? Everything here will be completely confidential."
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Chris interviewed 20 participants for this study. A chain of semi-structured I designed to probe users' past experiences with social media content related to esports:
ThemI love reading reactions to the esports matches I watch.
A generic claim.
MeWhen was the last time you read match reactions?
Let's talk about what actually happens instead of what usually happens.
ThemI used Twitter two days ago to read match reactions and also checked Reddit for postgame comments.
Recent examples!
MeCan you describe three recent triggers opening Twitter for esports?
Let's incorporate a diary study question to better understand how participants live with social media.
ThemI opened a postgame thread from a recent MSi match and it was filled with crying 12 year olds.
A passionate response which identified new insights for synchronous chat.
I used both inductive and deductive codes to annotate the who, what, when, and where of our user interviews.
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After I transcribed and coded the interviews in excel, Chris and I went to Miro and collated our findings into potential themes and sub-themes.
Combining our participant characterizations with goals, needs, and pain points resulted in our three primary personas: Henry, Sammy, and Rick.
"The Esports Hawk"
Expert / Expert
Browses esports content daily / weekly
Discusses esports daily / weekly.
"The Hardcore Lurker"
Expert / Novice
Browses esports content daily / weekly
Discusses esports monthly / yearly.
"The Water Cooler Casual"
Novice / Novice
Browses esports content monthly / yearly
Discusses esports monthly / yearly.
Following the thematic analysis, I combined the transcript codes, affinity map analysis, and personas together into a journey map demonstrating the challenges Juked's personas faced when watching, searching, and discussing esports content.
Interviewees were fine using multiple platforms to discuss and watch their favorite games. However, it was unexpected that people found esports discussion so toxic that they performed actions throughout the user journey to filter or remove engagement altogether.
Secondary research and online toxicity surveys were employed to better understand whether toxicity was a big enough issue in esports for Juked to invest and separate themselves from the competition.
People may behave negatively toward others if it is accepted as a group norm, thus believe they will not experience consequences for their actions.
Individuals learn toxic behaviors in games through social learning. Any pre-existing toxic gamer cultures will perpetuate toxicity.
Interacting on the internet while invisible and anonymous is the ideal space to push social boundaries with a sense of few repercussions
The more anonymous a person is, the more deindividuated they are, resulting in a greater probability of adhering to group norms.
121 responses were received in good-faith— 71 Henrys, 43 Sammys, and 7 Ricks. Screener questions like "Twitter handle" and "Have you bought any merch from an esports team" were inserted to weed out bad actors.
What is your definition of toxicity in esports?
A fourth of participants mentioned misogyny, racism, and homophobia when describing toxicity in esports. For esports communities to be open, inclusive, and diverse, it needs to address harassment and discrimination.
What three adjectives describe your experience on [social media platform] from an esports standpoint?
Participants characterized Twitter as informative yet toxic, Twitch funny yet spammy, and Reddit in-depth yet misguided.
What features would you deem most effective in curbing online harassment?
Henrys found proactive features the most effective— muting and blocking. Sammys found community the most effective— being surrounded by trustworthy people and content encouraging positive behavior.
Toxicity, harassment, and discrimination has become widely accepted in social media platforms due to anonymity and deindividuation, making esports hostile, unwelcoming, and fragmented. It's a challenging problem to fix, yet one the esports community sorely needs addressed.
28% said blocking toxic respondents allowed them to enjoy twitter as their source for esports.
36% identified esports subreddits as disjointed echo chambers filled with memes, not discussion.
Discord
54% claimed they only talked about esports in private Discord servers with friends.
Twitch
48% shared they hid Twitch chat in esports streams due to spam and toxic trash talking.
"Esports is for everyone. Juked is an anti-toxic social network bringing esports fans closer together."
Juked announced two new advisors on August 2021, one month after changing Juked's mission statement. Believing in Juked's new direction, ex-Twitch executives Kevin Lin and Jon Shipman joined as investors and mentors to help accelerate Juked's growth and brand strategy.
"Toxicity is a huge and difficult problem across the internet... I’m excited to join them in solving this important problem for esports fans."
Kevin Lin
Ex-COO of Twitch, Co-Founder
"I have always felt esports is disjointed and missing a great community destination focused on fandom and meaningful social interactions. I'm excited to join Juked in creating a solution for all esports fans."
Jon Shipman
Ex-EVP of Twitch, Founding Team
Juked announced its new partnership with Queer Women of Esports on October 2021, three months after changing Juked's mission statement. When Juked stakeholders connected with Queer Women of Esports, they were eager to help consult the product team on ways to create a safer social environment for underrepresented esports fans.
"When Juked reached out we were excited to consult and build a more open, less toxic environment for esports discussion... This has been long overdue in the current landscape and we’re thrilled to be involved."
Gillian ‘Kendryx’ Langland
COO of Queer Women of Esports
These solutions are just a starting point. As Juked scales up, the team plans to employ cutting-edge technical solutions like machine learning and natural language recognition.
I learned it's best to iterate quickly when needed in order to acquire the best sample of data. Don't be afraid to adjust the screener questions, moderator script, or survey questions early on. It's way better to get three-fourths of your participants answering your edited script than getting misleading data due to analysis paralysis.
Chris had the tendency to pitch ideas and ask users how beneficial a prospective feature would be. I often reminded him (and myself) to reign it back and probe users' experiences. If they encountered a problem, did they try to resolve it? If not, then the supposed problem did not merit development consideration.
I learned fairly quickly to survey browsing and engagement history in order for participants to categorize themselves into one of our three personas: Henry, Sammy, and Rick. Not only would we be able to identify trends specific to Henry and Sammy, but weed out participants that weren't Juked's target users (Ricks).
