A House Party called Houseparty
What is Houseparty? Houseparty is a face to face social network, where you can spend time with people you care about, offered on iOS, Android and Chrome. Houseparty allows up to eight people to video chat at once in a “room.” Users can have infinite rooms and easily float between rooms. Users can also receive a notification when friends open the app and can join chats with friends (and friends of friends).
Expectation. I am already an avid Houseparty user and have been using it for years now. This sandbox demo analysis gave me the exciting opportunity to truly explore the app and discover new things I didn’t know before. I was excited to see the ins and outs of an app I currently use on a daily basis.
Overview of my experience. Though I have been using Houseparty for some time now and am familiar with the basic aspects, I took the time to re-explore every aspect of the application.
Upon entering the app, you had to create a username and link it to your phone number to participate. From here, you’re able to add contacts and invite others in your contacts to chat with. Others that you wish to chat with must download the app as well. Since I already have Houseparty, I was able to “Sneak into the House”, a feature Houseparty has that allows you to come into the house without anyone getting a notification that you’re there, to explore the features. In the app, you can invite people to be in a room with you, and you can “wave” at them to let them know you’re wanting to talk. You can also join in on any open room in the house, while you must request for someone to let you in the room if it is locked. This may be a great comparison to “breakout rooms” you would find in applications like Zoom, Teooh, or Gather.town. Furthermore, if you drag the screen down, a fun fact comes up, like “avocados are poisonous to birds”. There’s a different fun fact each time you get on the app that you can share to others or use as a conversation starter, a very unique aspect of the app. There are toolbars at the top and the bottom of the screen. Going from left to right on the top toolbar, a TV icon allows you to connect games to Houseparty, like Fortnite, and to the right of that is a microphone, where you can play games with friends like Karaoke, Uno, Word Racers, Trivia, and more. On the bottom toolbar, the far left shows a video icon where you can change your background, kind of like Zoom’s background feature. Next to that, there’s a lock icon, where you can lock the room so that others don’t automatically join if you don’t want them to. This is because in the house, anyone can join your room — your friends and the friends of your friends alike. Next to that is a heart icon where you can choose from an array of emoticons to show your excitement, sadness, anger, etc.
Although I would rank Houseparty pretty high on my list of favorite apps, it’s definitely not perfect and could improve on the aspects listed below:
Aspects to improve on:
- Notification to all of your friends each time you enter the house if you forget to sneak in
- Safety concerns
- Houseparty doesn’t tell users if/when someone is recording the chat
Though Houseparty has had many safety concerns in the past, they actively work on getting the message out that Houseparty is indeed a safe application and becomes safer when you accept limited friend requests. Houseparty also has the “sneak” aspect that combats the issue of notifying your friends each time you enter. It’s only a matter of remembering the feature. Lastly, it’s important to always be careful what you say on the app as you may not know if someone is recording — something Houseparty might want to consider changing.
On the other hand, getting to explore this application made me realize how much I really do admire Houseparty. The positive aspects of Houseparty are listed below:
Good aspects:
- Conversation starters are a nice touch
- Ability to play games and connect outside games
- Very thought-out (“Sneak” feature and “Lock” feature come in very handy)
- Easy to navigate with clear toolbars and icons
- “Wave” aspect to let others know you want to talk without having to text them first
- Good (and many) choices in interactive games
- Adding a background if you’re in an undesirable space
Stages of Activation. In the context of immersive experiences in general, it’s important to recognize the 4 stages of activation so that it’s more understandable as to why people gravitate toward an application like Houseparty and the general context of the user. Firstly, if you pay attention to the actions and behaviors of the audience, they can be (and are usually) alone when they think of engaging in Houseparty, because they’re coming to connect with their friends. Secondly, it’s important to note that we are always connected — anytime, anywhere, and on any device. Considering most people have iOS, Android, or Chrome, people almost always have access to Houseparty wherever they go, whether that be via mobile device or desktop. Third, it’s extremely important to note the agenda of the typical Houseparty user. What stage of life are they in? What is their typical day like? Do they only hop on for special occasions or is it a daily thing? Speaking from personal experience, a lot of users are high school/college age that hop on a few times a week to just catch up with friends. And lastly, what are the attractors? Are there or do you have any recommendations for nice touches that make you feel welcome? Any that are novel or unique to pique your attention? A personal nice touch that I like is having a fun fact to read everytime I open the app. These activators are essential in learning about the user and why they want to engage in the space. Understanding this gives better insight into the success of the app, the pitfalls and what can be done to make it an even better experience.
Relevant concepts and relating sources. I didn’t realize before looking into it a bit more that other Houseparty users find the application a bit confusing. There have been several talks of users longing a better user experience. In an article written by Moritz Fischer, “Redesigning Houseparty — a UX case study,” the author mentions that there is no navigation, no home screen, vague icons (1,2,3,4,5,7) and duplicated screens. He also was quite confused about the targeted audience. He found all of this out by doing an experiment with friends and family and surveyed them, mentioning all the problems he has had with the app and asking for their opinions.
This article also helped me realized that there was something else I should be adding to the list of negatives:
“Plus, many were bothered that the camera was on by default when the app starts (the camera is actually on but hidden behind the UI elements, so you get surprised when you find out it was on the whole time). It makes sense for apps like Snapchat to turn on the camera by default. Here you want to try out the AR filters and you expect the camera to be on, but I don’t see a need for the camera to be on in Houseparty right away. In a world where people value their privacy this seems scary.” To learn more, refer to the article here: https://uxdesign.cc/houseparty-app-redesign-a-ux-case-study-f23469e1a88b
In contrast, Houseparty is still entertaining a generation in lockdown. COVID-19 has hit everyone hard, and during this time, users have shown to spend an hour on average in the app, no matter the negatives. In particular, “many are attracted by the spontaneity the format enables: in an effort to mimic an actual house party, where you might find friends chatting in different rooms, the app notifies users when their friends go into the app and shows who is talking to whom, with up to eight people permitted in any one group conversation.”
https://www.ft.com/content/c7ce2ad3-7276-4d8a-9deb-21acca871082
I believe one of the reasons so many users are utilizing the app and are highly attracted to the concept of Houseparty are the interactive games available while still being able to simultaneously video chat with friends. Tying into the stages of activation mentioned earlier, it’s important to understand why users want to play these games with their friends. According to Dr. Rachel Kowert, there are six universal motivations for video game play: action, social, mastery, achievement, immersion, and creativity. Though there are overlapping layers of reasons, “social motivations underlie all forms of social online game play — players are choosing to play video games in an internet-based community. For social game players, part of the enjoyment of playing comes from the fact that it is taking place within a social space and being shared with other players.”
Closing thoughts. Although I came across several negatives unravelling this virtual application, the platform ultimately has served as a fun space that has the ability to bring together all of my friends in one “room.” Certainly, you can FaceTime, something I find extremely similar to this app, but what about the games? The waving? The different rooms within the house that can be made private? All of these aspects are what makes Houseparty a unique environment to connect in. Having explored Houseparty a bit more, it’s safe to say that I’ll continue to use it with my friends and I encourage others to do the same. This time, I can look into mastering Word Racers to show up all of my friends.