Redefining the In-app Currency
2.3M+
Sales of In-app Currency
50%
Creator's Revenue
4.0
4.3
Increase of App Rating
Context & Overview
About game.tv
Through game.tv, creators can create gaming content, organise tournaments and build thriving gaming communities. Majorly, the traffic that comes to game.tv app is generated by esports tournaments organised by popular creators every day.
Objective
game.tv had a high rating of 4.6 on Google playstore in June 2021. But now in March 2022, the ratings of the android app has reduced to 4.0. So, based on the reviews on Play Store and feedback from the community managers, we decided is to redesign one of the in-app currencies - the gold coin. With this redesign, we aimed at bringing a solution to majority of the tournament related pain points.
PROBLEMS & PROJECT SCOPE
Problems
The obvious first thing that we observed are critical reviews on Play Store. Here are some of the main complaints that we received:
Fake tournaments - Many gamers complained about the creators creating fake tournaments or tournaments that are abandoned at the last minute. This results in wastage of time and energy for many gamers.
No or late disbursement of prizes - Sometimes the creators disburse no prize that was promised to the winners of a tournament. The current chat system with admin for disbursement of prizes is long and tedious for the gamers. This results in a lack of trust for the platform as a whole.
Gamers getting prizes that are not really useful - Many times, prizes that are disbursed to the winners have little to no value to them. For example, a android user might get a iTunes Gift Card which only works in an iphone. Sometimes, creators promise one type of prize at the start of the tournament but deliver something else at the end. Though the platform has a chat system to get the prize exchanged in these cases, the solution depends on the availability of the appropriate prize.
2.1 Critical reviews at Playstore
Business Goal
As a major objective, we want to retain our current user base by providing needed improvements in our tournament feature. The goal of redesigning the in-app currency is to eliminate the problems that both creators and gamers face when it comes to awarding prizes.
The KPIs for this project will be -
Increase in the sales of the in-app currency i.e the gold coins
The number of tournments organised.
The number of fan passes sold.
The weekly retention rate.
ROLES
My Role
Responsible for end-to-end experience design for the feature
Test the feature for its success
What I did
Ideation, Research, Interaction Design, Visual Design, Prototyping, Testing
Other roles involved
Product Manager - Communicated the requirements
Front End Developers - Worked on a daily basis to get features developed.
Support Team - Helped me understand the users’ problems.
Design Lead - Gave final sign-off for feature designs.
Graphic Designers - Provided the required graphic assets.
Role Responsibilities
Business
Tech
UX
What is the problem?
Why should we solve it?
How should we solve it?
What are our priorities?
How should we
build it?
Is it easy to build
and maintain?
What is the experience?
Is it scalable in the future?
Is it consistent?
Is it delightful to use?
PRODUCT REQUIREMENTS
Requirement
Based on the reviews on the play store and feedback from the support team, the requirements from the product management team are -
Wallet for Club & Gamer
Flow for topping up the club's wallet
Tournament creation: Define Prize in Gold Coins
Gold coins addition while creating the tournament
Showcasing prize gold coins(total) on the tournament listing
Gold wallet history for both users and creators/club
Payout request feature for creators
Notification for update of balance
Club Role definition and restrictions
Marketplace Integration: CODA and SEAGM
Inventory | Other options by users
Project Scope
At present, the application has 2 in-app currencies with a limited usage. Tickets - which the gamers use to participate in a tournament and coins - which are used by the gamers to buy fan passes and nfts. The coins can be converted into real money by the creators of the clubs, thus helping them achieve a steady monthly income.
By making the coins the central currency for both creators and gamers, we might achieve -
A simpler way to award prizes that is beneficial to both creators and gamers.
A reduction in fake tournaments, since the creator will be using coins for tournament creation.
Easy redemption of prizes through gold coins on platforms like Codashop, Seagm, or the upcoming rewards marketplace for game.tv, thus getting the prize they really want.
Research
Observation
For the research part, I did the following-
Based on the reviews we've seen on the Play Store, I've identified the core problems users face.
In order to observe how the admins and members interact with each other, I participated in tournaments and looked at the chats in various clubs.
I have had a number of meetings with the customer support team where we reviewed issues raised through email & tickets in our help center.
For further research, I examined severalother applications (primarily games) to find out how their in-app currencies are used.
Interviews
I interviewed the following people for a better understanding of problems -
Content Creators
Community Managers
New Users (primarily new employees of our company)
Analysis
Creators sometimes create tournaments and then cancel them just minutes before the start time. Sometimes the gamers were not even given prior information about it.
Many gamers register themselves for tournaments but never show up to play the same, leading to delays or cancellations of tournaments. The Fan Pass had partially resolved the problem in premium games, but this problem is still prevalent in free tournaments.
Getting prizes approved is a lengthy process for some creators. For others, it becomes cumbersome as some gamers want their prizes replaced when they find them irrelevant.
Gamers don’t get the prizes they want. Replacement of a prize is a lengthy process for them as well.
Sometimes tournaments were not organised well. Many times, the passcode is shared quite late. A second scenario involves gamers having to wait too long for the next round, causing them to waste valuable time.
USER JOURNEY
User Flows
Start
End
Scenario 1 (Creator) - Accessing the Wallet & Transactions
Landing Screen/Dashboard
View Wallet
View Club
Total Coins
Coins Detail Screen
Buy Coins
Payout Detail Screen
Request Payout
Total Income
Needs more coins
Needs
Payout
Yes
Yes
No
No
Start
End
Scenario 2 (Creator) - Creating a Tournament
Admin Dashboard
(Tournament Details Form)
Buy Coins
Total
Prize Coins
Enough?
Yes
No
Landing Screen
My Wallet
Start
End
Confirm Purchase
Reward Details Page
Game specific
Prizes
Top-ups
Subscriptions
Cards
Reward Marketplace
Buy Coins
Redeem Coins
Scenario 3 (Gamer) - Redeem Prizes
(Flow already
present in app)
IDEATION
Rough Ideation
A quick interface sketching to layout the required screens.
Features List (majorly needed)
Wallet
The admin & moderators will have an option to top up the balance of the club by adding more gold coins. Likewise, The gamer needs his own wallet for purchasing fan pass & NFTs with the transactions listed below.
Both the wallets has to be independant from each other(even when a user has both creator and gamer accounts).
Tournament Prize
While creating the tournament, the creator will be able to define the overall prize pool in terms of gold coins. If the club’s wallet doesn’t have enough balance, the creator will be asked to top up the gold coins to create the tournament.
Request Payout of creators
When the Club’s wallet will get the threshold amount, the host will have an option to request for a payout.
Reward Marketplace
The winners of a tournament will get the gold coins in their account and they will be able to use the same to perform any purchase inside the app.
FINAL OUTCOME
The Creator’s Side
1
Wallet tab(on Club Profile Screen): Shows the relevant information related to the wallet. Creators can access the club wallet from here as well.
2
Dashboard: Creators can access club profile & wallet from the dashboard
3
Total coins available(on club wallet): To be used in disbursing rewards in tournaments. Coins from the club wallet can be converted into real money.
4
Transaction history: All the transactions in coins.
5
Top-up Coins: Users can buy coins here by selecting the appropriate option.
6
Total income: Shows the total income through payouts. Users can request payouts if the total value of coins available is more than $25.
7
Payout history: All the real money transaction details(earnings of creator).
8
Payout request: Creator requests for payouts here. He enters the number of coins he want to get converted for the next payout.
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Chat
MY WALLET
25540
Total Gold Coins
$3000
Current Income (Apr)
MY WALLET
25540
Total Gold Coins
$3000
Current Income (Apr)
2
1
Relics Valiant
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View my club
Edit Club
View Wallet
Relics Valiant
Dashboard
Create
Content
More
44580
Use gold coins for in-app purchases, organise tournaments & disburse prizes
Transaction history
Total
Earned
Spent
XYZ Tournament Creation
9 Jun. 2021
8999
XYZ FreeFire Tournament Cre..
9 Jun. 2021
8999
Monthly Fan Pass
9 Jun. 2021
999
XYZ Tournament Creation
9 Jun. 2021
8999
View more
Coins
Payouts
Buy coins
Club Wallet
3
4
44580
Use gold coins for in-app purchases, organise tournaments & disburse prizes
Transaction history
Total
Earned
Spent
Processed on : 9 Jun. 2021
XYZ tourament creation
-G99
Processed on : 9 Jun. 2021
Monthly Fan Pass
+G999
Processed on : 9 Jun. 2021
XYZ tourament creation
-G99
Processed on : 9 Jun. 2021
Monthly Fan Pass
+G999
Processed on : 9 Jun. 2021
Monthly Fan Pass
+G999
View more
Coins
Payouts
Club Wallet
Top-up your Gold Coins
200
₹9
2000
Popular
₹89
2999
₹129
4500
₹179
7000
₹269
17000
Best Value
₹599
Balance:
44580
Pay ₹89
5
8
Club Wallet
Coins
Payouts
Current Income
$3223.98
Paid monthly if the total is at least $25
99%
Threshold : $25
Payout history
Requested: 6 Apr 22
Processing...
$1932.11
Requested: 28 Feb 22
Processed on : 9 Mar. 2022
$199
Requested: 8 Feb 22
Processed on : 9 Feb. 2022
$203.54
Requested: 26 Jan 22
Processed on : 9 Jun. 2021
$159
Requested: 18 Jan 22
Processed on : 9 Jun. 2021
$199
View more
Request Payout
6
7
Coins
Payouts
Current Income
$3223.98
Paid monthly if the total is at least $25
99%
Threshold : $25
Payout history
Requested: 6 Apr 22
Processing...
$1932.11
Requested: 28 Feb 22
Processed on : 9 Mar. 2022
$199
Requested: 8 Feb 22
Processed on : 9 Feb. 2022
$203.54
Requested: 26 Jan 22
Processed on : 9 Jun. 2021
$159
Requested: 18 Jan 22
Processed on : 9 Jun. 2021
$199
View more
Request Payout
Club Wallet
Payout Request
Enter the amount in coins
5000
Value in Dollars:
$25.45
Bal.:
44580
Submit
FINAL OUTCOME
The Gamer’s Side
1
Total coins(on Gamer’s Wallet): To be used to buy NFTs and Fan Pass.
2
Transaction history: All the transactions in coins(including reward history).
3
Search(on Reward Marketplace): Gamers can quickly find their preferred prize type in the marketplace here.
4
Filter(on Reward Marketplace): Gamers can filter prizes in terms of games, top-ups and other categories here.
5
Cards(Prizes): Prizes showcased in cards for easy access.
6
Sub-category of prizes: All the options of a kind of prize is listed here. Gamers can select and redeem the prize as per requirement.
7
Confirmation Popup: Final confirmation for redeeming the prize.
8
Top-up Coins: Users can buy coins here by selecting the appropriate option.
CLOSURE
Reception
The feature was well appreciated by the stakeholders as it ensured a steady growth of revenue for game.tv as well. The prizing process got simplified which helped to reduce the workload of community managers, moderators and the creators.
Implementation & Initial Growth
The feature was initially launched in the first week of April 2022 in Turkey only. The daily revenue of creators increased in Turkey and it surpassed that of India(the largest geoloaction in terms of revenue). Also, gold coin sales increased tremondously due to the ease with which the in-app currency could be rewarded.
Future Scope
A feature that allows gold coins to be transferred between club and manager/moderator accounts.
Incorporation of Quick games(a previously discontinued feature of game.tv) with game.tv to give an opportunity to gamers to earn gold coins. In this case, the goal is to increase engagement.
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