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How the attempt to find best practice examples for good user experience in a gaming arcade miserably failed.
You out there probably don't know, but we have a little competition running internally. We regularly draw teams that have the task of writing an article at a certain time. As if that wasn't difficult enough alongside ongoing projects, someone even came up with the idea of specifying the topic. "WTF!" So what does a young, hip creative team do? They try to come up with a killer idea by hook or by crook. But when the deadline approaches, there's no one left laughing. Because it's payday! And us? We paid and we messed up!
It all started out fun, with a few beers and quirky ideas. What if we do some real investigative research? Something none of us have done before! Maybe something we don't even know yet? A kind of Jenke-von-Wilmsdorff self-experiment. Oh yeah! Off to the brothel! No, off to jail! Hmm, no, off... off, I've got it! Off to the gaming arcade next door, where we've always wanted to go - but never have been!!! Yolo! We're so crazy. Totally explore what makes it tick, like Joy-Of-Use and Conversion Best Practice, UX, Animation in your face style... and collect other stuff like that!
... But once again from the top.
It's Friday noon 12:43. Actually, the perfect time to start the lunch break. But instead of ordering something delicious in the sun at the café across from us, we hear the sound of a two-euro coin clinking into a machine. The three of us are sitting in the Fairgame Casino on Venloer Street. Behind us, in the bleak and dark ambiance, stands a man, a questionable figure, who has his eyes on four of the six slot machines. The almost uncomfortable atmosphere is only surpassed by the smell and the voice of a woman behind a counter who makes it clear to us that friendliness and answers to our questions are not to be found here.
When we entered the place, none of the machines seemed to be occupied. Our thought: "Great, let's get on the first one," was quickly dismissed by the woman behind the counter. "It's occupied," she said curtly in an unfriendly tone. To us, as laymen, it indeed didn't occur that the questionable man was trying to control four of the six machines. He was successively feeding the machines with small coins that played the game by themselves. Sure, why would you play the game for the sake of playing?! The auto-start button and a creepy gameplay shatter this thought. So is it really just about the bleak hope of making some quick money?
But back to our task. We need to come to an essence, find a conclusion that does justice to our readers, our team, and the blog, or should it just remain a good-willed attempt? But what can be the conclusion of a casino that lures from afar, but with what... with nothing?
The plan to find an inspiring user experience in a casino around the corner seems to have already been shattered? Together we bring a good 50 years of digital and communicative experience. Yet we could neither understand nor find the game principles or the expected euphoria.
Indeed, in today's time, where there are great games on every device that convince with their graphics, gameplay, or concept, how can such a place still survive? Because it is not the atmosphere that builds the fun of playing - at least not here. By no means does it exude the charm one sees in their mind's eye when thinking of casinos: Las Vegas or Macao - grand buildings, glamour, and loud music. So what is it? In the end, is it just the addiction? We can neither understand nor answer it. It's that simple. Slightly messed up!
No luck, no fun, no fame - apparently, there are parallel societies of digital change out there that cannot be explained by Joy of Use and Conversion alone.
We feel a bit like the viewer in front of the TV when Kalkkofe and Rütten present "The Worst Movies of All Time" (http://www.tele5.de/a-z/schlefaz/home.html). Unintentionally, dozens of films find themselves here, whose intention was never to end up as such. And yet, through the new format, these films have been given a new charm, their own cult. Nevertheless, one inevitably becomes aware of how difficult it actually is to produce good films, which we take for granted from the perspective of the cinema seat.
All the more important it seems to us as a digital agency, after this short intermezzo, what we do every day anew. With a team of 30 digital creatives, we research, overcome, motivate, experiment, and play every day anew. Because we enjoy what we do and are spooked by what we "experienced" here.
And on we go,
Best regards from Team JFK - Jan, Flo, Kris!