Duration: 51:11

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This talk will include an overview of the Games User Research Team at Blizzard and how being embedded in QA and it’s benefits. Dan will share what their team learned building a relationship with the WoW development team, successes, failures, lessons learned and still learning.

Viewers can expect to take away:
– Real world examples of how researchers attempted to build trusted relationships with game designers, producers, up to the director level on a large successful game development team
– The different research methods used, what worked vs. what didn’t (also what surprised us)
– Understanding potential pitfalls when attempting to insert research into a fast paced development process
– Impact of a respected QA department across all of these efforts

Dan Jenrette, Blizzard Ent.
Dan is a 10 year User Research vet, having worked at several large tech companies like Google and Expedia, to small startups such as DivX. Most recently Dan has spent his past 7+ years at Blizzard, conducting studies across a large and diverse set of methodologies: usability, playtests, surveys, diary studies, remote usability, interviews, eye tracking, accessibility, and many more. He also has gained a depth of experience researching Blizzard’s wide array of games (World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, Heroes of the Storm, Overwatch, Hearthstone, Diablo 3, Overwatch League) as well as numerous support teams (Web, Battle.net, Customer Support, Internal Tools, Esports, QA). Dan’s passion for research stems from his curiosity and desire to learn more about people. He really enjoys those surprises that inevitably happen when doing research.

#gamesUR Conference
Games User Research focuses on players’ psychology and their behaviour via techniques such as playtesting, analytics, expert analysis, and others. Game User Researchers aim to help game developers deliver players the best gaming experience possible.

The #gamesUR Conference is a biannual gathering of the world's top professionals in games user research. For more information visit www.gamesurconf.com