Playtesting Mobile Games at the DMV
blog.getpatchmania.comGood 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).
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?
It depends on your court house I guess. I typically just go in the back door so I can be in the waiting room before anyone else (the jury duty line in the front is massive). It's secured, so I just wait for someone else to walk in and follow them in or ask a passerby to let me in. They never ask to see the jury duty slip at the back door, just a metal detector/security search.
Also, there's usually other stuff going on in a courthouse aside from jury duty. For example, there's family law and other offices that you could say you have an appointment there. The key is to just look respectable (clean haircut, nice clothes, nice watch) and confidently state where you're headed. Besides, it's a public building, it's not like it's some secured facility that's illegal to enter.
If you're unsure just google your local courthouse and see if there's anywhere to make appointments, or at the very least see which offices are in there. Then go to the courthouse and if they ask for a reason say you're there to visit soandso (the name/office you got on the website). The worse they can say is no.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Public libraries can work but not as well. Problem is the presence of tables - people come to do work and read and don't want to be disturbed. You also don't get such a steady flow of new people as you do at the DMV. And at a library, if you're talking and disturbing visitors you'll quickly be asked to leave. Believe me, I tried it!