Luke Iannone
Unilive
Project range: Sep. 2022 - May 2023
Research range: Sep. 2022 - Oct. 2023
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IxD Design project involving college students unable to fulfill 'member dues' for clubs on campus. Unilive is a livestreaming/broadcasting application that allows students to receive donations that can then be used to pay their member dues.
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Team: Luke Iannone, Matthew Waterhouse
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The research was performed on Farmingdale State College in the eSports Club.
Research Methods:
Surveys
To reach different types of club members, surveys were conducted online in order to gather the necessary information for the 3 types of users in this project. The 3 different user types were, Casual Club Members, Competitive Team Members, and the Club Board Members. Each survey consisted of 10 likert scale questions. The survey questions were pertaining to the quality of life within the club, what the people thought about the club and what their future in the club looked like. The surveys were distributed through the Farmingdale State College eSports Club’s Discord announcements page
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Interviews
Interviews were conducted with 5 different members of the eSports Club over Discord. We interviewed the eSports Club President, the eSports Club Co-Vice President, and the Super Smash Bros Coach, a B-Team Smash Bros Player and a former casual member turned Valorant team member. These interviews pertained to the interviewee’s personal opinion of the club, how it’s run, opinions of member dues and what could be improved overall.
“Our real, main, concerns right now are budgetary problems, the club growth in success vs member rate is tough is tough to handle. If we had a ton of money we'd help our players get better coaches and give paid positions to students.” -President
Survey Questions + answers
Casual Club Members
Members want to host and participate in fundraisers that would help the club run events, trips and projects. The SGA does not allow clubs to host fundraisers if they are receiving any of the school’s miniscule funding which causes many unnecessary roadblocks for the eSport club.
eSports competition is much like any other competition, in that it can be intimidating to join a real team without feeling pressure. This feeling is enhanced knowing that once you pay to stay on a team, there’s no getting your money back if you change your mind.
Competitive Team Members
Once more, the surveyees want to help their club by hosting fundraisers as having more money to spend on the teams is directly beneficial to them. If the club were to work off more than measly funding and member dues, it would be easier to host more events and plan more trips to events.
Competitive team members have seen how much work being on the board takes and aren’t necessarily interested in being a part of that team. If it were easier to get things done as a board member, maybe more people would become one.
Competitive Team Members
Once more, the surveyees want to help their club by hosting fundraisers as having more money to spend on the teams is directly beneficial to them. If the club were to work off more than measly funding and member dues, it would be easier to host more events and plan more trips to events.
Competitive team members have seen how much work being on the board takes and aren’t necessarily interested in being a part of that team. If it were easier to get things done as a board member, maybe more people would become one.
Personas
Based on our research surveys, we created 3 personas, with one representing casual club members, one representing competitive club members, and one representing a member of the student government, all belonging to the eSports Club on Farmingdale State College's Campus.
Prototype
Based on the research performed, and the personas formed from said research, we created Figma prototypes for a mobile app - a livestreaming/broadcasting service for students, where viewers have the option to donate to the students so they can find extra fees and dues for their clubs.
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https://www.figma.com/proto/sG6PoG8XxQ5Tod2sEduQ7X/Untitled?node-id=6-24&scal ing=scale-down&page-id=0%3A1&starting-point-node-id=6%3A26 (Note: If the prototype doesnʼt begin on the splash page, press R to restart.)
Interaction Model
Conclusion
Project Summary
After researching the different kinds of eSports Club members and finding out the challenges the club tackles from the board members themselves, we’ve come to a conclusion. The main factor that is limiting the clubs growth is more funding and resources, which would allow the club to take a step to the next level. Also having college students running a club of this size entirely with little cooperation from the administration, the student board members face a lot of stress in these positions. Not to mention members of the club teams have to pay nearly $100, just to deal with neglect from their own school. Members are disheartened paying the money when it’s known that there are easier solutions that Farmingdale State College has failed to let them see through. Since there is no clear solution on the administrative side of things, it seems the individuals in these kinds of situations have to innovate. With the college student centered streaming service we created, gamers that don’t have enough money to afford certain luxuries can get donations and form better relationships with people from their school who may watch.
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Problem Statement
​Using live broadcasting, video streaming, donations, and chat interaction, we will be able to connect students through a streaming service centered around students. The individuals will be able to both create and consume content tailored to different interests. Donations through the app allow students to gain more financial liberty, and like other streaming websites, individuals who grow their channels enough could even gain sponsorships. This could help motivate these hard working, student creators to keep making videos and stream while balancing schoolwork. The aforementioned app is will come with its own built-in mobile currency service, which allows users to easily add funds to their app’s account or transfer then to a bank account of their choice.