Although websites and video games don’t often have the same goal, there’s a good deal of takeaways that web designers and even web design agencies can glean from the video game market. From the way video game players interact with games to the way they feel during the game, video game designers have a fantastic understanding of how to please their audiences and continue to create new games every year that result in fantastic ROIs.
Web design agencies want to create interactive, engaging, and useful web content that users will like. It is the reason, despite using a different medium, website designers can learn quite a lot from video game players’ experience and the way video game designers have generated it. From written to visual content, to the journey website users take, going from first-time visitors to converted customers, it requires a serious effort to mimic the success created by the video game industry. Think about what your web design business can take from video game development and gamers and apply it to your web design process.
Creating Immersive Websites
It’s not that exciting to save the world from demons, emerging from the Underworld, when you are too aware that you are just sitting in your bedroom, trying to avoid writing a research paper. The reason it’s easy to get caught up playing great video games is that they are committed entirely to your imagination. From every distinct audio and visual effect to the gameplay and background music, you feel like you’re in another world.
You must try and produce the same effect when people visit your website. From each small icon to the particular hex-codes. From the brand voice displayed in the content to the unique design concepts. You don’t want visitors to think about your competitors, their bucket lists, or the 20 other tabs opened in the browser. You don’t want users to think about anything else, except for your absorbing and immersive website.
Always Remember The User Journey
Just as any decent video game has narrative and purpose, your site must have a distinct purpose. In order to achieve this, game designers go backward together with a storyboard, creating each scene to set the stage for an engaging and ultimately fun game. By continually working backward, game designers are always one step ahead of the player and are able to forecast any possible pitfalls that would negatively impact the gameplay.
When you work backward from the end goal, you should think about the way every alteration you introduce affects the entire journey a user takes through your website. Which links take you to a dead-end? Should you explain this section? Does this video have to be here? Every detail will add up and constitute the user journey on your site and will ultimately affect their experience.
Every Detail Is Crucial
From graphics to menu and dialogue sliders to gameplay, there are so many things related to game design. One tiny detail could make the difference between just another game that’s forgotten within a month upon release and a Golden Joystick award laureate. As for web design, a slight change to the menu or the layout might make a viral success a total mess. It’s critical to work closely with the entire digital marketing team to create a site that gets the most views and recognition.
Gamification Increases User Engagement
Control is the main thing people love about video games. Whether you need to find a way to escape, want to just have fun or want to feel that you can finally control your character – it’s all about control. People must feel as if they are doing something with a particular purpose. By turning a website into a game-like screen, you are engaging with a user’s psychology. How often have you caught yourself absentmindedly shooting mad birds, crushing candy, and trying not to smash a frog on a car? The more interactive your site design is, the more engaged its visitors will be.
Think about the way you can display or demonstrate various parts of your site. How can the cursor transform when hovering above a menu option or an image? Look for unique ways to let visitors interact with your website, and you will be surprised at your traffic metrics.
Intuitive User Interface Is a Must
One of the simplest ways to get frustrated with a video game is running across a glitch. Something that shouldn’t be in the scene is disturbing the natural gaming process, preventing the player from succeeding, and pulls them away from the immersive experience.
When people visit your website, you need their experience to be seamless during their entire visit. Whether you simply require a constant amount of views or you have a particular funnel that you want the site visitors to go down, you can’t afford obstacles during this process without risking a bounce.
Just like a video game developer tests a new game for hours to make sure no glitches occur, you want to walk through your website many, many times. You are entering from various points, assuming the roles of different users, and removing any issues that might cause visitors to leave and go to your competitor that has a more reliable website.
Make sure that from the very first moment a visitor lands your homepage, everything feels natural. You want to supply enough information to users, so they can move ahead without suffocating from bulky or aggressive chunks of content. If a user has a question, they should be able to get an answer within no more than one click. Users should feel like there is an invisible tour guide on the website, taking them through your website to the ultimate goal – conversion.
The Final Thoughts
Although it’s perhaps unrealistic to create a website as immersive and addictive as a video game that has its players spending dozens of hours defeating villains and solving puzzles, the takeaway is still that your site must be captivating and entertaining. You need a web design agency to take care of your site for you. A reliable agency will gladly walk you through the entire process and will always be glad to provide you with an update on your website’s design process. And when you tell your agency that you want your website visitors to have a game-like experience when using it, it’s best that you meet the design team in person, so you can see their eyes gleam.
Herbert Merrick
UI/UX Design