Dominating the World is Wreaking Havoc on My Relationship

I am just going to put this out there and it may shock some people…I am a 50-year-old woman…okay that part shocks me every day but that’s not the shocking part I am talking about. I am a 50-year-old woman who loves to play video games. I do! I have since I was a kid. Now grant you, when I was a kid, it was Galaga, Space Invaders, Pac-Man…you get the picture, simple, easy to learn and use 😊. As I got older, video games got a lot more complicated with complex control sequences that, honestly, I just couldn’t grasp. While the Wii was a breakthrough for people like me with the natural mapping remote, the problem with the Wii is that I have to dedicate specific time to be in front of my TV to use it which I don’t want to do at this stage in my life.

Enter the iPhone/iPad game era. When games started being readily available for the iPhone/iPad platform, that changed my life. That made playing games easily accessible as I always have my phone with me or my iPad near by when I am at home. It’s so convenient as I can play a quick game during little stolen moments — while waiting for the train, lying in bed before going to sleep, or waiting for something to boil on the stove (I don’t recommend this one, it has gotten me in trouble a few times 😒). Over the years, I have played so many different games, but they all were still pretty simplistic, like Yahtzee, word games, puzzle games.

Last year, I was really getting bored with all my games and wanted more of a challenge, something that would engage my analytical side but not make my brain hurt to learn. I started searching for strategy games. I tried a bunch, Age of Conquest, Civilization. I had the same issue with all I tried, there was so much to remember just for normal game play, the playing surface was much bigger than the screen so you had to move it around just to see everything, and most just weren’t intuitive on what you were meant to do to continue game play once the tutorial ended.

Then I found Dominations.

Wow, I fell in love fast…and quickly became addicted! To the point where it has almost ruined my relationship…several times! My partner will try to speak to me while I am playing and I’m like “I can’t listen to you (or come with you or insert whatever request) right now because I’m killing people!”

I play the game daily, multiple times in fact, and even plan out what I want to do .What is it about Dominations that makes it so addictive? I love how strategic I get to be on numerous fronts. I have to design my base to protect my resources and then learn where my weak spots are from being attacked and try to close those gaps. I have to strategize about the best way to attack a base. And I have to change my strategies as I go through the game because new elements are introduced throughout the game.

But the real reason I love Dominations is because it was easy to learn, and more importantly, easy to play after the tutorials ended which meant I actually would KEEP playing it. Looking at Dominations through a usability lens, it employs numerous usability heuristics that make it very satisfying and enjoyable to play:

· Learnability. The game does a great job getting you up to speed quickly on how to interact with various parts of the interface and what to do to keep advancing.

In the beginning, the game guides you along with an Old Wise Man who explains in simple, quick terms what to do, the properties of buildings and how to build your base. The game is easy to learn because of the consistency of how you interact with the game to build things, upgrade troops or get resources (click for info, tap to build/upgrade), so there’s limited learning even though there are a lot of components.

If a new building or troop type is introduced because you entered a new age or due to a game update, the Old Wise Man shows back up to quickly explain the purpose of the building or troop so you’re never left guessing.

When creating your base, all building types are kept in one place with buildings grouped by type. Each building has a quick note explaining its purpose and cost so it’s easy to understand why you should add something and strategize about where you should place it on the base.

· Consistency. The game is consistent in indicating how to advance elements by using a Green Button to “go ahead using resources” and a Blue button to “go ahead using crowns”. This is the same whether it’s a building, upgrading troops or researching.

· The game layout and functionality is consistent between devices and by linking devices, you can seamlessly switch gameplay between an iPhone and iPad.

· Help. If you do have issues, it’s easy to get Help by clicking on the gears to the right to email customer service and they are really good at responding with 24 hours.

· Memorability. The game minimizes the user’s load by making all of the interactions throughout the game similar and by making instructions easily retrievable if needed. For example, you can click on a building to “get info” for a reminder of its purpose.

· Error Prevention. The game does incorporate error prevention in some areas. For example, if you try to finish an upgrade on a building or troop before the allocated time has passed, the display shows a Red “No” button that is slightly bigger and more prominent than the green “Yes” button to help mitigate choosing the wrong option.

What can be improved

As much as I love Dominations, there is room to continue to improve the usability. One such improvement would be to allow the user control over the entire system. For example, currently there is no way to undo any action that happens by mistake. This leads to many frustrations.

There also is one area of the interface that I consider a “dark pattern”, a part of the interface that allows the game developers to potentially benefit from a user’s mistake. When you try to build something that you either don’t have enough workers or resources to do, the popup only has one button option, to use crowns, which you have to buy, to complete the request.

If you don’t want to continue, you must X out. This can easily be missed as this is inconsistent with the previous example I showed of when you try to finish upgrading a building or troop early and receive the No/Yes option.

The concern is that a user might not notice it’s a different message and click the green button because that’s what is consistent in the game, not .

Since there is no confirmation, this can end up using crowns the user has paid for in an unintentional way. That in turn might force the user to purchase more crowns to have available. Whether the game developers did this on purpose or simply overlooked the potential issue, I’m not sure. But this is certainly something they should look at in order to continue ensuring a good relationship with their users.

Overall, Dominations is a well-built game that is fun to play due to its well-designed usability. It continues to evolve through adding levels, new components and incorporating user feedback. It is a game that is sure to wreak havoc on my relationship for years to come. 😊