Pokemons are frozen. How real reality affects augmented and mobile applications in general
The main HYIP on Pokémon has already passed, but they are a great example on which you can show and discuss all sorts of interesting things - for example, mobile application security issues . Or the principles of how to ride the wave of HYIP and promote your brand (Vyacheslav Grabchak had a very cool report on this topic). And today we will talk about how real reality (sorry for the deliberate pun) affects the augmented. And what can you do about it.
The winter has fallen imperceptibly both on the Russian snow removal services, and on Niantic, the Pokemon developer. The fact that they have at least something in common, in no way happy. Let's figure out what they could do to prepare for winter, and what they really did.
')
To understand the scale of the problem, it is enough to go to the reddit and read the winter topics. Players write en masse about instantly dying batteries, icy fingers, about the fact that they still caught them all - but they went to the hospital with pneumonia and other colds. More and more people prefer short rushes and cozy home games to stop the struggle in search of cursed creatures.
It would seem that General Moroz, who defeated the French, is unstoppable, and Niantic cannot do anything about it. But this is not so! Let us recall the university course of the theory of solving inventive problems and think of how we can, if not oppose the insidious nature, then at least soften its harsh cold breath. I will not say that I remember TRIZ well, but I learned from there that practically any physical contradiction can be resolved
A. The separation of conflicting properties in time.
B. The separation of conflicting properties in space.
B. By separating contradictory properties by using transition states in which opposite properties coexist or alternately appear.
Actually, it’s contradictory that a warm user should take out his tender fingers in order to play in merciless cold weather - and at the same time he becomes a cold and sad user.
Users freeze, it's enough to endure! You can just pause the game until spring. It is not necessary to turn it off completely, it is enough not to conduct events and not to introduce updates. At the same time, you can finally rewrite your curve code. This would be a good decision and showed loyalty to users, but ... This is a loss of money! Unacceptable. We celebrate.
All ingenious is simple. Let's declare the winter, and settle the Pokemon home! You can simply tie them to points where it will be warm and pleasant to catch them. Moreover, partners who obviously will have more buyers will be happy ... What is bad about this solution? Well, you have to do different behaviors for each location. Winter is not as severe everywhere as in Russia, and users of warm countries will reasonably be upset by this decision. But it is still better than method A.
My favorite method - the fun begins here! The problem is the cold and disgruntled state of the user. Ideally, we would make him contented and warm ... But let's be honest - if he is satisfied and enjoys the application, then let him turn blue.
What is the reason that the user is freezing? The fact that the gameplay consists of two basic actions that can last for a long time and that require fingers and precise gestures is a war for jims and the seizure of pokemon. You can approach this problem from two sides - you can change the state of the user, and you can change the gameplay.
It's no secret that many smartphones have a glove mode, and there are gloves that can work with ordinary screens. But accuracy leaves much to be desired. And this does not suit us at all in the case of Pokemon. That is, the decision to change the gameplay does not work ... Or wait? If you closely followed Niantic, you probably know that they have released special bracelets (Go Plus) for playing Pokemon go, which allow you to catch Pokémon and pick pokestop with one button. Unfortunately, they do not solve the problem of freezing during a wave for Jims ... But at least you can run and catch Pokemon! Which is enough for many players. That is, Niantic did use this principle. Perhaps not on purpose, and the goal was completely different - but still.
Well, now about the state of the user. Of course, it is rather difficult for us to warm it ... However, there are at least some options to make it a little warmer and more contented. Namely - to organize the seasonal sale of special winter equipment for catching Pokemon! Hats, thermos mugs, scarves, mobile chargers that allow you to play longer, gloves with special fingers and heated ... You can increase both user loyalty and brand awareness! But ... Alas, while Niantic did not. Although the recent news about a partnership with Starbucks makes you wonder.
And once again about the state of the user from the other side. Let him go cold ... But he still plays! It is necessary to increase his degree of involvement! Winter? No problem! Enough to create a strong enough incentive for the player to go out into the cold! Events! Changes! Shining pokemons! Pokemon children! Entering the second generation of Pokemon! Daily bonuses that will make you remember the game and take out your hands in the cold! And ... The sad thing is that Niantic uses just such an approach. Everything that was written in this paragraph, or was, or will be in the near future. Sadly - but, apparently, the money is not frozen. Unlike players.
And if you digress a little from the Pokemon, it becomes clear that the problem of using devices in the winter on the street is very global. And it affects a huge number of applications - from the music player, continuing with navigation applications, augmented reality applications and ending, for example, with applications for couriers or utilities services. And everyone has to do something with the fact that in the winter users simply do not want to freeze. I’m not talking about, say, Yakutia, where to take your hand out of the glove at -50 on the street is heroism, bordering on stupidity.
In the comments, it would be interesting to hear those who faced such problems - it is terribly interesting what else the external ones could affect, and how they struggled with it.
Formulation of the problem
The winter has fallen imperceptibly both on the Russian snow removal services, and on Niantic, the Pokemon developer. The fact that they have at least something in common, in no way happy. Let's figure out what they could do to prepare for winter, and what they really did.
')
To understand the scale of the problem, it is enough to go to the reddit and read the winter topics. Players write en masse about instantly dying batteries, icy fingers, about the fact that they still caught them all - but they went to the hospital with pneumonia and other colds. More and more people prefer short rushes and cozy home games to stop the struggle in search of cursed creatures.
Decision?
It would seem that General Moroz, who defeated the French, is unstoppable, and Niantic cannot do anything about it. But this is not so! Let us recall the university course of the theory of solving inventive problems and think of how we can, if not oppose the insidious nature, then at least soften its harsh cold breath. I will not say that I remember TRIZ well, but I learned from there that practically any physical contradiction can be resolved
A. The separation of conflicting properties in time.
B. The separation of conflicting properties in space.
B. By separating contradictory properties by using transition states in which opposite properties coexist or alternately appear.
Actually, it’s contradictory that a warm user should take out his tender fingers in order to play in merciless cold weather - and at the same time he becomes a cold and sad user.
Method A. Time Division
Users freeze, it's enough to endure! You can just pause the game until spring. It is not necessary to turn it off completely, it is enough not to conduct events and not to introduce updates. At the same time, you can finally rewrite your curve code. This would be a good decision and showed loyalty to users, but ... This is a loss of money! Unacceptable. We celebrate.
Method B. Separation in space.
All ingenious is simple. Let's declare the winter, and settle the Pokemon home! You can simply tie them to points where it will be warm and pleasant to catch them. Moreover, partners who obviously will have more buyers will be happy ... What is bad about this solution? Well, you have to do different behaviors for each location. Winter is not as severe everywhere as in Russia, and users of warm countries will reasonably be upset by this decision. But it is still better than method A.
Method B. The separation of the state.
My favorite method - the fun begins here! The problem is the cold and disgruntled state of the user. Ideally, we would make him contented and warm ... But let's be honest - if he is satisfied and enjoys the application, then let him turn blue.
What is the reason that the user is freezing? The fact that the gameplay consists of two basic actions that can last for a long time and that require fingers and precise gestures is a war for jims and the seizure of pokemon. You can approach this problem from two sides - you can change the state of the user, and you can change the gameplay.
It's no secret that many smartphones have a glove mode, and there are gloves that can work with ordinary screens. But accuracy leaves much to be desired. And this does not suit us at all in the case of Pokemon. That is, the decision to change the gameplay does not work ... Or wait? If you closely followed Niantic, you probably know that they have released special bracelets (Go Plus) for playing Pokemon go, which allow you to catch Pokémon and pick pokestop with one button. Unfortunately, they do not solve the problem of freezing during a wave for Jims ... But at least you can run and catch Pokemon! Which is enough for many players. That is, Niantic did use this principle. Perhaps not on purpose, and the goal was completely different - but still.
Well, now about the state of the user. Of course, it is rather difficult for us to warm it ... However, there are at least some options to make it a little warmer and more contented. Namely - to organize the seasonal sale of special winter equipment for catching Pokemon! Hats, thermos mugs, scarves, mobile chargers that allow you to play longer, gloves with special fingers and heated ... You can increase both user loyalty and brand awareness! But ... Alas, while Niantic did not. Although the recent news about a partnership with Starbucks makes you wonder.
And once again about the state of the user from the other side. Let him go cold ... But he still plays! It is necessary to increase his degree of involvement! Winter? No problem! Enough to create a strong enough incentive for the player to go out into the cold! Events! Changes! Shining pokemons! Pokemon children! Entering the second generation of Pokemon! Daily bonuses that will make you remember the game and take out your hands in the cold! And ... The sad thing is that Niantic uses just such an approach. Everything that was written in this paragraph, or was, or will be in the near future. Sadly - but, apparently, the money is not frozen. Unlike players.
Instead of output
And if you digress a little from the Pokemon, it becomes clear that the problem of using devices in the winter on the street is very global. And it affects a huge number of applications - from the music player, continuing with navigation applications, augmented reality applications and ending, for example, with applications for couriers or utilities services. And everyone has to do something with the fact that in the winter users simply do not want to freeze. I’m not talking about, say, Yakutia, where to take your hand out of the glove at -50 on the street is heroism, bordering on stupidity.
In the comments, it would be interesting to hear those who faced such problems - it is terribly interesting what else the external ones could affect, and how they struggled with it.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/400089/
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