The Elephant in the Room Reservation:
Provoking Change through Game Design
(Master's Thesis Project)
Project Focus: As a designer and researcher, I wanted to assess the strategies commonly used to prevent or reduce discriminatory behavior, in hopes of identify compelling approaches that will motivate change as it relates to biased behavior and perceptions of difference that negatively impact people from underrepresented populations. The specific focus on this exploration will be Airbnb.
My Role: Researcher, Game Designer and UX Designer
Responsibilities: Hi-fi designs (desktop), ux writing, design requirements, research (surveys, interviews, cognitive walkthroughs, and analysis
Getting Started:
A field experiment conducted on the Airbnb platform found that guest with an African-American sounding name were 16% more likely to have their reservations cancelled by hosts than guest with White sounding names. In light of that study, I wanted to assess the strategies that are currently in place to prevent or reduce discriminatory behavior, in hopes of identify compelling approaches to motivating change in host perceptions of and behavior toward people from underrepresented populations.
Originally my objectives for the user research were to better understand why people use the Airbnb platform, how the system currently prevents or creates opportunities for bias to occur, and what modes/mediums of information might motivate change in people. I started by looking at the influences that foster both positive and negative perceptions among people of different races, cultures, religions,and sexual orientation. Some of the strongest influencers I found were“experiences” and “perceptions” present in media (news), social networks and stereotypes.
Game Design
Given the social pressure that interviews sometime create, I felt that interviews might not elicit stories of bias on the between users on the site, so I decided to abandon traditional research methods. Instead, I felt that the best way to get people to talk about their own biases or their awareness of bias, is to access that information indirectly. From that premise, came the idea to design a board game to create dialogue about the social and economic impact of discrimination in society and to give players a chance to explore their own biases.
*City illustrations on the cards were all taken directly from the Airbnb website.*
Digital Design Solutions
In addition to the insights gained from using the board game as a research method or probe, I conducted a series of cognitive interviews that helped me identify areas where new design concepts/features could help address this issue. Below, I have included three design features derived from my research (Interest Collage Instead of Guest or Host Photos, Cancelled Reservations, and Rejected Reservations) followed by an expanded list of all ten design concepts and features.
Other solutions identified during this project:
show rejected reservation request
interest collage instead of guest photos
release image of guest 24 hours before reserved stay
design experience journeys for users
anchor host cancellations under in the review section or provide quick link for host cancelled reservations
replace instant booking with instant acceptance
mark dates as unavailable if hosts cancels a booked reservation
make policies more visible
card game for hosts and guests
ensure that design focuses on not creating barriers