Tokens was a personal project of mine that combined my passion for video games and financial freedom to design for social good. Tokens helps gamers save money, shop smarter, and keep track of how much they spend on video games per month.
The Problem
As a gamer, it can be easy to get caught up in the excitement of purchasing new games and video game micro-transactions. According to a survey conducted by AT&T, Gen-Z gamers spend an average of $80 per month on video games/video game services. That’s more than $60,000 for their lifetime. While games are a fun way to pass time and stay connected with friends, many gamers find it difficult to keep track of their spending and budget, leading to overspending and financial stress.
Goals
User
Keep track of how much users spend on video games every month so they don't overspend
Product
Gamify the budgeting experience so users can accomplish their financial goals
Business
Centralize various games stores so users can do all of their game shopping in one place
Tracking
Tokens keeps a financial record of all of the games/game content you buy through the app. Users must enter their monthly income and Tokens will create a recommended budget. Users can choose to lock that budget or adjust it if needed. Additionally, they will also receive a breakdown of their spending habits and tendencies.
Gamify
To keep users on path to their financial goals, I created a goals and medals system that awards healthy spending behaviors such as saving a surplus, helping friends buy games, and returning games they don't play anymore. I also created a social feature that allows users and their friends to keep each other accountable. The social feature also helps users see what games they would likely enjoy to lower the chance of them buying a game that they wouldn't like.
Shop
Users have the option to connect various game store accounts to the app so they can do all of their shopping in one place. The best deals available will always be shown first to help them save money. Each page includes user reviews and video reviews, an option to add to their wishlist, and an option to return the game if the user owns the game and is still eligible for a refund. The shop also shows which games their friends actively play.
Research
I conducted user interviews and surveys as well as did secondary research to gather insights on the challenges and needs of gamers when it comes to budgeting and financial management. I chose to do both to gather the best qualitative data as well as quantitative data that I could.
Pain Points
I surveyed over 20 people (ages 18-35) who identify as gamers. I chose to interview 5 participants that demonstrated different spending habits. These were the pain points I identified:
Financial
Game prices are getting higher which causes them to overspend sometimes
Process
Most only want to buy video games if they have good reviews
Product
The majority of users don't have an easy way to keep track of their budget
User Stories
After identifying the key user pain points, I was able to pin down two types of users that I would be designing for, Jeremy, the social gamer, and Rachel, the saver
Jeremy
Banker
As abanker who plays games multiple times a week, I want to find reviews of games before purchasing, so thatI don’t waste money on a game I don’t like.
Rachel
Freelance Photographer
As a busy photographer who only plays games once in a while, I want to keep track of how much I spend on video games, so thatI can save enough money to buy new camera equipment for my work.
Usability Studies
Users were given a series of tasks to complete on a low-fidelity prototype. I focused on the main user journey for this study, I tested how easy it was to complete the onboarding steps, adjust a monthly budget, and buy a game from the shop. I asked them a series of questions regarding their experience and synthesized this data to create the high-fidelity prototype that I later used for a final usability study.
My findings from the first study indicated that on average, users had some trouble identifying certain icons and CTA buttons. They also showed interest in the product but wanted more emphasis to be put on the budgeting portion of the app rather than than shopping. There was little to no user errors navigating the app which meant that I could move forward with the high-fidelity design.
For my high-fidelity prototype, I made the home page always return to the budgeting page to further emphasize that Tokens was a budgeting-first product. Icon changes were also made to improve navigation.
Design System
My design philosophy for Tokens was to bring simplicity, calmness, and energy to finances which is typically a process that can cause a lot of anxiety. From the shop page to the budgeting habits, I designed the app in a way were users can see all of the important information without feeling overwhelmed by visual clutter. I applied these principles to the responsive web version of the app as well.
The Results
My pool of potential users are excited about the mission of Tokens. With the current rise of live service games, micro-transactions are more and more inevitable for gamers. Users explained that while finances can stress them out, they know they need something like Tokens to motivated them towards financial success.
100%
of users found the app/site easy to navigate and use
80%
of users said they would use Tokens to budget their game expenses
100%
of users would use Tokens as their primary game shop
"I think if you are intentional about budgeting, Tokens would help a lot with reducing game spending"- Matthew H.
I really connected with this project as finances and gaming are both topics I enjoy learning more about. If I were to continue working on Tokens, I would build out the social features a bit more as gamers typically listen more to their friends than other reviewers when deciding what games to buy. I would like to explore more ways to gamify the budgeting system as well.
