
PlayerShare.GG
Esport Stock Market
PlayerShare.GG
The Esport Stock Market
The Esports industry is booming in the last ten years. Millions of fans are willing to spend time and money on this new form of sports. Our client saw the need to invest the athletes and trade shares inspired by Fantasy Sports. They also wanted to incorporate cryptocurrency. However, it can be overwhelming for first-time players to understand how the platform works.
My Role
UX designer & Lead UI designer
Duration
Two and a half Weeks
Scope
Provide onboarding experiences and keep users engaged
Project Platform
Desktop & Responsive Web
What's the Context?
PlayerShare is gearing up for their beta release and wants to validate their preliminary designs through usability testing and further user research. In order to release their minimum viable product (MVP), users need to be able to create an account and purchase/sell shares on the platform.
The Challenge
This project is about using Cryptocurrency to invest users' favorite Esport Athletes inspired by Fantasy Sport.
Because of layers of layers of concepts involving in the platform, it is essential to create an onboarding experience from signing up to making the first transaction.
It is also crucial to keep users hooked, and make sure they come back to the platform from time to time, both in-season and off-season.

Desk Research and User Interview
​​It was the first time I worked with real-world clients, and it was also the first time I encountered a project with many complicated concepts, making sure everyone on the team was on the same page about the three key concepts: Esports, Fantasy Sports, and Cryptocurrency. After the meeting with the stakeholder, I had to do snowball recruiting, meaning to ask the interviewees if there is anyone they know that we can potentially reach for, in order to get enough amount of interviewees. In the end, we interviewed 14 people in total, and because some people are familiar with more than one aspect. We have 11 people talking about Esport, 10 people talking about Fantasy sport, and 9 people talking about cryptocurrency.
Personality
People follow esports players not only based on their performance but also their personality.
“It's a combination of their skill and the game, and balancing that with their personality, and the actual stream.”
Opportunity
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Take inspiration from the personality of players and put it into the platform (gamification around badges, tutorial, GG Score)
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Build a way for users to feel invested long-term in their favorite players
Duration
The longer a fantasy “season” ran, the more invested players felt.
“The dailys are more of an optimization problem where there are fewer constraints, the constraint is the money and how you spend it...it's a more math-based approach. I think there is more feeling in terms of a regular draft.”
Opportunity
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Lean into the feeling/personality provided by “Keeper” fantasy sports
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Reward users for staying invested with players
Information
Users need information to make decisions.
“I guess more specifically, it can be difficult to track stats for how good a sports player is.”
“Without news, you're not making informed decisions. You're just throwing darts at the wall.”
Opportunity
-
Provide stats (and their context) to players
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Provide news to players
Insights from Testing the Existing Prototype

What Worked
Concept (Macro level)
Excited to play
“How are shares established, and how many
shares are there?”

What Didn’t Work
Details (Micro level)
Challenging to understand
Need context to play
“It looks like an asset exchange, where it's listing different things you could potentially buy at their price and the change in real-time.”

Persona- Matt
Software Developer
25
Job
Age
Favorite Games

Matt enjoys watching football, participating in fantasy sports leagues with friends, playing esports, and watching people stream his favorite games. When watching a stream, Matt enjoys that he can interact in real-time, not only learning about the streamer’s in-game strategy but their personality as well.
Matt loves the social aspect of esports, and feels at home in the community, whether chatting online during a stream, attending a live event, or watching from a bar with other fans. Because he spends so much time with the game, he forms opinions about the players. His opinions are backed by research, statistics, and his “gut,” and he makes predictions on who will win based on information and intuition. He enjoys being right as much as he enjoys the trash talk that comes from discussing the game with his friends.
Goals
-
Stay up-to-date with players and the community
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Connect with others online and in-person
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Discuss individual games and the metagame
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Compete with others based on his player and game knowledge
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Feel invested in players long-term
Frustrations
-
Recognition for his knowledge/predictions
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Limited by regular fantasy sports roster play
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Waiting until the season begins to play fantasy sports
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Searching scattered news and data
-
Information can be challenging to evaluate

The Opportunity
Matt is new to PlayerShare and he wants to play.
How might we introduce Matt to PlayerShare and provide him the content he needs to get started and stay engaged?
The Solution
Create an account

Understand the dashboard

Know the marketplace

Place an order

The Iterations
1. Create an account
Prototype 1

-
Didn’t understand why integrations were required
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Didn’t understand what integrations did
“What’s a Civic Account?”
“This uses cryptocurrency?”
Prototype 2

-
Better, but some still needed more context about integrations
“I am confused because it asked me for the identity without showing enough or gaining my trust.”
Prototype 3 (Final)

-
Now has clearer explanations of:
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What integrations are
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How integrations work
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Why they should be trusted
-
2. Understand the dashboard
Prototype 1

-
Users easily understood the layout
-
Had questions about content/game mechanics
-
Loved the concept of Dividends
“It’s like you’re winning free money. It feels more like a game…I’m much more willing to play this because of the extra money and I don’t have to care so much about the stock market aspect.”
Prototype 2

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Once explained, liked GG Score
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Wanted more info on Activity (Names too long, info too brief, expected detailed transactions)
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Connect Achievements to GG Score
“Achievements do not have to be at the same level as shares/bonuses.”
Prototype 3 (Final)

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Provided more spaces and opportunities for activities, lived at the same level as Shares / Bonus
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Group achievement with GG sore since they are related concepts
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Sort for graph easier to use
3. Understand the marketplace
Prototype 1

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The market was overwhelming
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Wanted more organized info
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Wanted definitions of metrics
“This is very overwhelming. There is a lot of information and I don’t understand the terms.”
Prototype 2

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Instantly understood market was full of players
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Still questions about some terms
“How do things fluctuate? Everyone knows in a stock market set to buy low and sell high, but I don’t know how something gains value here. There is no context."
Prototype 3 (Final)

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Use the top banner to promote events like tournaments
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Needs hover-overs for terms (Supply, GG Value, Rank)
4. Place an order
Prototype 1

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Order concept confusing to some
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Everything was too crowded (especially for mobile)
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Trade from Dashboard confusing
“I want to sell the same way as I buy it.”
Prototype 2

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Drill down more on info (graphs for all financial and game stats)
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Add more information (coach, volume, team info)
“Having as much information for what you’re buying and selling is important.”
Prototype 3 (Final)

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Breathing room for all info and for placing orders
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All the info users requested is accessible, when wanted
User Flow Map
