

Playtesting Mobile Games at the DMV - jgrall
http://blog.getpatchmania.com/post/111671019307/playtesting-mobile-games-at-the-dmv

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gmays
Good idea. I build SMB products, so I have an older target demographic. I've
found jury duty a great place to get feedback as well due to the ages and type
of people that end up there.

It works well because it's scheduled and after going a couple times you know
how long you have until any given person or group has to leave. Just get to
the waiting room early, sit in the back, then start striking up conversations
as people who fit your demographic file in.

I've found people are more willing to chat at jury duty than the DMV. At the
DMV they typically have some (misguided) hope of getting out of there quickly.
At jury duty there is no hope. There's just a sort of quiet resignation that
they'll be there all day (or maybe even all week).

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jgrall
Jury duty! That's brilliant! The only other location I came up with was
hospital waiting rooms, but those have the disadvantage of being socially
inappropriate, in addition to exposing you to possible infection! For Jury
Duty, they don't check if you've been assigned to a case? You can just show
up?

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fsk
In NYC, when I was on Jury Duty, they checked my invitation slip at the
security checkpoint. Due to security paranoia nowadays, I doubt you would be
able to do it.

Jury Duty = judges and lawyers and important people, so restricted access

DMV = only peons work there, so you can walk right in

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gmays
Yeah, I can imagine in NYC things are different. I live in a town of about
50,000 though the courthouse is still a pretty good size with a couple hundred
for jury duty.

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mschuster91
Haha, that's cool. I wish our overcrowded DMV had charger sockets at the
seats, as you can't surf the internet in there because the building is lined
with steel and the windows tinted with reflective foil so the signal strength
is EDGE-only most of the time.

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rpo3po
How about the library? You'd have to whisper, or maybe have them read the
instructions, but you'd probably have wifi. Maybe even make a couple code
changes during downtime.

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rpo3po
And I bet there's a decent mall near you with some sort of lounge-type area. I
used to manage a retail wireless internet kiosk in a busy mall. We were near
the food court, so prime location; we had 1,000 people walking by on any given
day. Lots of people plopped down on the couches that were near us; something
similar would certainly allow you enough time - they'd often sit there for 20+
minutes.

~~~
jgrall
Could maybe work, but I tried this without much success. The problem with food
courts and cafes is that people often come with a friend or coworkers, and
came with a specific purpose in mind (getting food, getting a coffee, having a
meeting etc.) and so they're much less receptive to user testing in those
environments, especially if they have to break off from their group. Also, the
presence of any tables immediately makes it possible for people to use their
laptops to do their own work. DMV on the other hand offers no escape, and
you're stuck there for a long time until they call your number.

