Project Proposal and AnalysisAssignment

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The Marauder's Map

Group Members

Michael Grinich <mg@mit.edu>
Jana Yamani <jhy@mit.edu>
Salman Ahmad <saahmad@mit.edu>

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GR1 Project Proposal & Analysis

GR2:

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Designs

GR3: Paper

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GR1 Project Proposal & Analysis

User Analysis

Identify the characteristics of your user population. If you have multiple user classes, describe each one.
While the application is intended to be used by a more general population, logistically speaking it will initially be targeted towards MIT students as they are an accessible user population. They are smart phone-wielding students who coordinate their social activities almost entirely via technology.

A more detailed breakdown of our user population is show below.

• Age: 18-25
• Language: English (speaking and reading)
• Gender: N/A
• Education: N/A (although, typically college students)
• Computer / Technical capabilities: Fluent with new technologies. Heavy users of social media. Early technology adopters.
• Physical capabilities: Physically healthy and active.
• Motivations: Have fun with friends. Stay active.
• Work environment: Typically college students at MIT
• Domain requirements: Availability of a consistent network connection

Task Analysis

Determine the tasks of the problem you've chosen, analyze their characteristics, and answer the general questions about tasks we asked in lecture. Think about other questions you should ask that might be relevant to your particular domain. You should find and analyze at least 3 high-level tasks. If you can't find 3 interesting tasks, then your problem may be too small to serve as a good project, and you should rethink it.
Forming teams

• Why is the task being done?  
  • Forming teams is part of Capture the Flag game mechanics. It is necessary before a game can start.
• Where is the task performed? 
  • It varies. It can happen on location in the game field (like pickup sports games) or it can be arranged before hand. An MIT student that often plays pick up basketball games and ultimate Frisbee often said that he typically goes to games when he knows the other players that are there. Either they go together, or he is invited by another friend. Existing social networking solutions like Facebook and mailing lists are used to announce and organize events.
• What is the environment like? 
  • Again, it can vary. It could happen outdoors before a game or over a SMS conversation.
• How often is the task performed? 
  • Once per game. Generally forming teams is very quick relative to the duration of the actual game.
• What can go wrong?
  • Users may not know their teammates or have difficulty remembering who is playing and what team they are on
  • Some players may not show up or be late
• Who else is involved in the task? 
  • All of the other players

Sharing location information with team members

• Why is the task being done? 
  • To enhance the game experience and make it more enjoyable
• Where is the task performed? 
  • On the game field during the game.
• What is the environment like? 
  • Outdoors. Initially it will primarily located around MIT’s campus
• How often is the task performed? 
  • Depends on the team strategy. Although, it can occur very often. Team members often want to keep in sync with each other and know where they are.
• How is the task learned? 
  • It is generally learned by doing and watching others.
• What can go wrong?
  •  GPS tracking errors. This is particular true indoors where GPS locations are not nearly as accurate.
  • Loss of network connectivity
  • Delay and lag in location propagation
  • Users accidentally zoom out to the wrong level. Observing a user using map powered applications often spent a lot of time zooming to the correct level. This occurred when they were using iPhone apps like Yelp and Google Maps.
  • Users are looking at their map and walk into a car. A user that was interviewed mentioned that she was often scared using Google Maps when following directions in downtown Boston because it disconnected her from the environment.

Setup preferences for location sharing (how long? extensions?)

• Why is the task being done?
  •  Location information is generally private information that users typically do not want to be broadcast their location at all times.
  • Users will want to enable location sharing for the purposes of enhancing the game experience but then have it disable to preserve their privacy.
• Where is the task performed? 
  • On the playing field before the start of a game.
• What is the environment like? 
  • it will likely be outside before the start of a game.
• How often is the task performed? 
  • At most once per game.
• What can go wrong? 
  • A user may forget to turn off location sharing.
  • A game may take longer than expected and the application stops sharing a player’s location in the middle of a tense moment - impacting the outcome of the game.

Share status with the rest of your team

• Why is the task being done?  
  • To update the team with the player’s status. An MIT student player mentioned that playing in big fields has its disadvantages of not knowing exactly when any of your team members is in trouble or when the flag has actually been found. The strategy of the game can change drastically with these status updates and can accelerate the game.
• What does the user need to know or have before doing the task? It depends on the status, if the player’s status is:
  •  Tagged: Needs to have been captured by the opposing team
  • Captured flag: Needs to have captured the opponents flag
  • Scouting: Need to be looking for the opponent’s flag
  • Defending: Need to be protecting the team’s own flag
• Where is the task performed? 
  • In the game field
• What is the environment like? 
  • Outdoor fields at MIT
• How often is the task performed? 
  • Whenever the player changes status, notifications should immediately be sent to the rest of the team.
• What are its time or resource constraints? 
  • Should be done immediately after the player’s status during the game changes
• How is the task learned?
  •  Learned by trying it, or seeing others do it.
• What can go wrong? 
  • Slow internet connection can cause delays in sending these notifications.
  • Players can send wrong status notifications by mistake (user needs to confirm status changes before any update)
• Who else is involved in the task? 
  • All players in a team
• How can this feature be represented? 
  • each status update can be represented by either a color of image in the location of the player that is being displayed in the map.

Notify player of a team member’s status updates

• Why is the task being done?  
  • Knowing other team players’ statuses can optimize the player’s next steps.
• What does the user need to know or have before doing the task? 
  • Nothing has to be done by the user, the user is only getting a notification
• Where is the task performed?
  • In the field during the game
• What is the environment like? 
  • Outdoor fields at MIT
• How often is the task performed? 
  • Teams get notifications as soon as players change their status
• What are its time or resource constraints? 
  • Notifications should be received immediately after a player changes their status.
• How is the task learned? 
  • The task is not learned. The notifications pop-up while having the game application open during the game.
• What can go wrong? 
  • Slow internet connection can cause delays in receiving notifications.
  • Players can get wrong status notifications from others by mistake.
• Who else is involved in the task? 
  • All team players

Notify players of nearby opponents

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• To prevent players from being captured by the opponents

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• The player needs to be within a fixed distance or less from any of the opponents

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• In the field, during the game.

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• Outdoor fields at MIT

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• Whenever the player gets close to a new opponent

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• Immediately when an opponents reaches a certain distance from the player

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• These are notifications that the player received, they are not learn

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•  Slow internet connection can delay these notifications
• GPS tracking error

Prototyping

GR4: Computer Prototype

GR5: Implementation

GR6: User Testing 

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