KICK: Live Streaming Research

January 2024 - March 2024

Gaming

Live Streaming

UX Research

A study conducted among users of the platform involving video streamers & consumers

KICK: Live Streaming Research

January 2024 - March 2024

Gaming

Live Streaming

UX Research

A study conducted among users of the platform involving video streamers & consumers

Context

Kick (Beta) is a gaming live streaming platform developed by Bijan Tehrani and Ed Craven in collaboration with Tyler "Trainwreck" Niknam.
Users may interact with their favorite live streamers through chat, following, and subscribing. As a new platform currently in beta, Kick is open to changing its rules based on user feedback to maintain an equitable community. Founded by internet personality, Trainwreckstv, the platform launched in late 2022.

Goal

Focusing on both the streamer and avid viewer side of the platform, our main mission was to indicate and evaluate the site from the ground-up. As mentioned before, the site (3/12/2024) is still in its early Beta phase.

As children who grew up as video gamers, we were fairly interested in the streaming space.

Research Process

During the testing phase, one of our processes was to create a set of 6 simple predetermined tasks in a way that would mimic the actions of both an avid chatter/viewer and streamer.

These tasks would range from clipping a funny moment of a live stream to banning a certain phrase in their chat. Between each task we timed the completion of how long it took to complete as well as the difficulty rating on a scale from 1 (Easy) - 5 (Hardest). This would allow us to formulate trends and draw up conclusions.

Each test was conducted and recorded via Zoom with a total of 6 participants.

Data Collection

After testing and gathering information, we collected the data into a google spreadsheet to visualize the data and recall any patterns or trends.

A Visual Representation

From our observations and feedback, the most difficult tasks were ones pretaining to navigating the Creator/Streamer Dashboard with the lowest times following viewer-related tasks.

Persona #1

Persona #2

Persona #3

Results

After collecting the necessary data and user feedback, we organized the numbers and impressions into a google spreadsheet to help visualize and recall any patterns or trends we might find. From our observations, the most difficult tasks were ones pretaining to navigating the Creator/Streamer Dashboard (tasks 5-6) with the lowest times being from the viewer side.

Reflection

After conducting research on Kick for a time span of 3 months, I felt I had greatly improved my assessment skills and figured out different ways of correctly evaluating a website. These methods range from heuristic evaluations to cognitive walkthroughs which help researchers determine even more ways to find issues or problems with an application. With this being my first ever UX research project, I still feel that there is so much more to learn and I am greatly excited for it!

In terms of future improvements, I feel that during the research process I could have done a better job at conducting the usability interviews. There were times where the participant I was testing did not understand certain tasks or may have taken too long to complete because I didn't specify things like who they should clip or the correct spelling of terms to search up. Additionally, I want to be more organized in the future with writing and formatting reports because I was unfamiliar with what I should or shouldn't add. However, I know that the beginning is always rough and I will only improve with more time and practice! It was a pleasure to work on a topic I am passionate about and I hope to do more research like this in the future!

Reflection

After conducting research on Kick for a time span of 3 months, I felt I had greatly improved my assessment skills and figured out different ways of correctly evaluating a website. These methods range from heuristic evaluations to cognitive walkthroughs which help researchers determine even more ways to find issues or problems with an application. With this being my first ever UX research project, I still feel that there is so much more to learn and I am greatly excited for it!

In terms of future improvements, I feel that during the research process I could have done a better job at conducting the usability interviews. There were times where the participant I was testing did not understand certain tasks or may have taken too long to complete because I didn't specify things like who they should clip or the correct spelling of terms to search up. Additionally, I want to be more organized in the future with writing and formatting reports because I was unfamiliar with what I should or shouldn't add. However, I know that the beginning is always rough and I will only improve with more time and practice! It was a pleasure to work on a topic I am passionate about and I hope to do more research like this in the future!

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