MW: Diary Study w/ Creators

Background

🏅 Creators Invitational 2021 (CI 2021)

The product team organized a contest called the Creators Invitational 2021, open to creators and aspiring developers. The selected contestants were tasked with creating and publishing content on MapleStory Worlds.

🛠 Creator Experience

To make MapleStory Worlds more appealing to creators, the product team broadened its focus to the creator experience, moving away from the general user and player experience. Their goal is to provide a developer-friendly environment for creators.

Objectives

1️⃣ Understand how creators’ adoption process unfolds over time

We aimed to understand how their early adoption process progresses over time and in different contexts.

2️⃣ Identify creators’ pain points and the platform’s appealing features

Our second goal was to identify creators’ pain points and the platform’s appealing features, seeing how these factors influence the overall experience. — Later, we conducted focus groups to discover the root causes of any identified pain points.

Methods

📝 Longitudinal Diary Study

Participants were requested to document their experiences every week (spanning 11 wks). Additionally, we hosted a Discord channel to communicate with the participants, encouraging them to engage in the game on a regular basis.

Combining Quantitative 📊 · Qualitative Data 🗣

We planned to collect both quantitative and qualitative data 1) to maximize the reliability of the study as well as 2) to effectively narrate the story with the data that we collect.

• [Quant] Net Promoter Score (NPS), Satisfaction, Perceived Difficulty, Amount of Time Spent (self-reported + log data), etc.
• [Qual] What did you do this week on MapleStory Worlds?
• [Qual] Describe any unpleasant experiences you may have had.

Adoption Process Over Time 📈 · By Context 🏞

We explored and collected various types of data to improve the reliability of the study. Particularly with the diary study, we sought to analyze how participants’ experiences evolved over time and in different contexts.

👤 Participants

10 creators (general creators, influencers/streamers, etc.) were recruited as participants among all contestants, based on their proficiency level and level of engagement. They were then divided into two groups — group A consists of general creators, while group B comprises influencers/streamers. No need for group comparison as ‘group’ is NOT an independent variable.

Reporting

🛠 Group A. Creators’ Journey Map

No-code development enables quick onboarding with its low entry barrier, but they began to struggle creating multiplayer content and using more sophisticated features.

🎙 Group B. Influencers’/Streamers’ Journey Map

The Unity-like system offers an easy start, but the technical aspects of creating content, such as scripting and locating resources, posed significant difficulties for them.

Research Impact

👩‍🏫 Post-Project Research Readouts

• • Engaged the product team in conducting additional studies:
    • Further in-depth studies about the creator experience
    • Further studies about new features such as ‘Cocreation’
    • More studies about the players (spanning from the creators)

📌 Product Impact

• • ‘Resource Search’ has been improved:
    • Sparked discussions on improving ‘Resource Search’ leveraging creators’ feedback.
  • Scripting has been improved:
    • Related features, e.g., ‘Script Editor’, ‘Property Editor’, etc., have been improved.
  • Social features have been updated:
    • The development of new out-game social features, such as ‘My Home’ is in progress.
    • Social features, e.g., friends’ online status, adding friends, etc., have been improved.
  • Others:
    • Avatar customization features, e.g., ‘Closet’, ‘Shop’, etc., have been improved.
    • The concept of the ‘Cocreation’ features has been conceived.
    • The improvement plan for the onboarding guide has been defined.
    • ‘Instant Map’ has been improved (templates are created to help beginners onboard).
    • Sparked discussions on updating the multiplayer content testing.

📌 Strategic & Cultural Impact

• • Research findings were shared in a WIP meeting.
  • Research findings were presented in the management report.
  • Task forces were formed with a focus on feature improvements.
  • Encouraged the product team’s cultural buy-in about UXR.
  • Helped define strategic priorities for development.

📌 Internal Impact

• • Established the first case for implementing long-term collaboration with the product team.

My Role

In the beginning, MapleStory Worlds was merely an idea. I took the lead in research, identifying key needs and opportunities, laying the groundwork for its early stages, and fostering long-term collaboration with stakeholders.

1️⃣ Leading Strategic · Tactical Research

I managed a small team of researchers over a two-year collaboration with the product team. Our efforts encompassed diverse areas, including gameplay experience, content creation, and publishing, utilizing generative research and co-creation methodologies.

2️⃣ Uncovering Needs and Opportunities

In the early stages, we explored user needs and opportunities in first-mover metaverse and social platforms like Roblox, Minecraft, and TikTok. As the project evolved, we expanded our focus to include diverse user types—regular players, creators, and streamers.

Conclusion

📌 Early Stage · Long-Term Collaboration: How it all went

Wrapping up this long-term collaboration, I gave a speech at MCI22 (MapleStory Worlds’ Creators Invitational 2022) on the topic of ‘Co-Creating MapleStory Worlds with the User’. I highlighted our extensive co-creation and collaboration with diverse stakeholders and users, sharing various studies and insights gained from them.

Research Impact

📌 Cultural Impact

Initiated during the ideation phase, the early stage collaboration defined target users through personas, uncovering their needs and opportunity areas. This collaborative design thinking process, involving designers, developers, and users—including creators and streamers—helped shape the product’s go-to-market strategy.

📌 Product Impact

This approach demonstrated how early collaboration can drive long-term product success. MapleStory World achieved a successful launch and has since become a beloved service, now with 60K+ active players, continuing to thrive.

At the conclusion of the collaboration, user needs-based heuristics were provided as a lasting KPI for the product team.

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