Sandbox Demo Analysis 2

9 min readFeb 2, 2021

Are you looking for a cool social network option to spice up your mundane, stale FaceTime’s? Do you want to play an intense, real-time game of UNO, Heads up! or Cards Against Humanity (Chips and Guac, as they call it) with your friends? Missing that thrill of post-work–Monday Karaoke night? Look no further.

Let me re-acquaint you with Houseparty… Yes, Houseparty is still alive and thriving!

Overview // Gameplay

Houseparty is a video chat, social networking-esc app that allows users to chat with each other, “wherever and whenever.” Similar to Facetime or Skype, the platform provides face-to-face connectivity, providing a social environment that feels natural and real. However, in addition to the usual features, Houseparty takes the concept of video chatting one step further. The program including a wide variety of features guaranteed to keep users constantly entertained and coming back for more.

To begin participating, users either create chat rooms and invite friends or join existing conversations. Once in the rooms, people have the ability to lock it (keep others from joining) or keep it open (allowing others to enter freely). Additionally, Houseparty has built in messaging features that allow users to ping their friends (called a “wave”) with an invitation displaying they are online via push notifications.

Houseparty has integrated a wide variety of games that gives users the ability to do something interactive while chatting. The offerings range from popular games such as UNO, Heads up!, Chips and Guac (Cards Against Humanity) and Trivia to Karaoke. For Fortnite enthusiasts, Epic Games acquired Houseparty in June 2019. After the acquisition, Epic incorporated the ability to connect Houseparty to Fortnite–providing a service for in-game chatting. Of course, Houseparty also includes their twist on many traditional video chat features including custom emojis, and unique backgrounds.

Accessibility

Houseparty is exceedingly simple to use. Not only is it available free “anytime, anywhere and on any device,” which make its extremely accessible to everyone, but the entire user interface is extremely self-explanatory. When you first open the app, a notification dashboard instantly pops up displaying all of your friends online. Additionally, the dashboard displays previous calls and allows you to invite friends to a new chat with one click. Once invitations have been sent, you’re immediately placed in the chatroom (or party room, as they call). All transitions are automatic and seamless

Once in a call, the UI is super easy to understand. There are five buttons along the top and bottom of the screen. Each icon provides a fairly obvious display of what the button leads to Along the top: the “+”, wave, and paper airplane are for sending invitations/notifying friends of a current chat; The dice and a microphone open games; the TV icon with an “F” symbolizes the Fortnite integration feature. Along the bottom: the camera button is for video features (background, changing front/back facing camera), the heart is for emojis, the lock is to lock the room and the iconic microphone is to mute yourself.

As mentioned above, Houseparty is available for free (with a few in app-purchases) seamlessly across multiple platforms. For mobile devices, the application is available to be downloaded through the app store of your iPhone/iPad/iTouch or Android. For PC users, Houseparty is available as a Google Chrome extension, which can be easily downloaded at houseparty.com. Additionally, by allowing Houseparty to sync with Facebook, Snapchat and phone contacts, adding friends is as easy as clicking a button.

Fortnite Mode is one more feature of Houseparty that’s fairly easily accessible. By connecting your Epic Games and Houseparty accounts, the user is able to cast your game to the members in your current chat.

Strengths // Weaknesses // Improvements

Houseparty is a phenomenal application with many strengths. While multiple group video chat platforms feel awkward and formal, Houseparty markets itself specifically as a “party” rather than a chat room. As mentioned above, the wide array of features provide a reason for users to continue to come back (other than just to video chat). The UI for the main chat rooms, games, and notification dashboard is extremely easy to use. Adding and inviting friends is also a seamless process (sometimes complicated on other platforms). The seamless integration of games provides a layer of immersion and engagement that is missing from many other video chat services. Furthermore, the actual creativity of game offerings is extremely unique: a) who would’ve thought there was a way to sing Karaoke with people over the internet; b) Integrating Fortnite[1] into the app was genius as it is currently one of the most popular games on the market; c) UNO, Heads Up!, and Chips and Guac (Cards Against Humanity) are classics that people can play for hours.

*Security/Privacy is also extremely important to note in an app like this (especially when children are using it). Privacy settings are easily found on the main chat UI and can be immediately turned off/on. According to Forbes[2], the only real major issue is the ability to join a room if it isn’t locked, which can be easily done by the user. Houseparty also put out a statement in March 2020 about data security[3]*

From my experience, Houseparty doesn’t have many weaknesses. Everything seems to work well, and I didn’t find any significant issues. However, one problem I did uncover is the inability to use Houseparty in Fortnite when playing on an Xbox. My assumption is because Sony invested $250 million into Epic Games[4] (which owns Houseparty) and won’t allow Epic to work with Microsoft.

According to a reviewer on Timeout.com[5], some concerns include a) people can jump into your chat if you forget lock it; b) If an individual has a large friends list, they could receive lots of constant notifications; c) the games can get a bit old; d) chats can be recorded by the host without alerting the entire chat. Many of these concerns seem to be fairly subjective and can be addressed within the app.

I would like to see the app be available as a downloadable application on PC because not everyone uses Google Chrome. Additionally, I think Houseparty should take the Fortnite integration approach and expand to other games; specifically, Minecraft. Minecraft, one of the most popular games in the world, would benefit greatly from a video chat feature. When I’ve played Minecraft, it was always challenging to chat with my server. Bringing Houseparty to Minecraft would not only bring voice chat to Minecraft (an option many Minecraft players would enjoy) but attract a massive audience to Houseparty. Houseparty could even charge a small premium to make money.

Intentions: Motivations // Leveraging Engagement // Emotions // Experience

When exploring the intentions of Houseparty, the major motivations that stick out are the ability “to connect”, “to participate”, “to entertain” and “to immerse” (Leveraging Engagement Model). These motivations perfectly mirror Houseparty’s intentions to be a, “face-to-face social network where you can connect with the people you care about the most.[6]” Through the integrated games mentioned above, users have multiple opportunities to easily participate within the program. Users also have the ability to be entertained when watching their friends play Fortnite. Additionally, relationships and social interaction is a part of Maslow’s New Hierarchy Model. Especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, people need an outlet for love and belonging, which is generated through intimate relationships. Houseparty provides an outlet for this need to be met in a fun, immersive way. As displayed through the motivations Houseparty provokes and needs Houseparty meets, the social networking app clearly achieves a sense of happiness (from Paul Ekman’s 6 Primitive Emotions Model).

After carefully analyzing my experience with Houseparty, it’s clear the app incorporates “Social” and “Entertainment” modes of experience (as defined by Gensler’s 5 Experience Modes Model). Houseparty provides a fun, immersive platform for community and social connection in an engaging and inviting way, practically a perfect example of the social and entertainment modes. Houseparty is an opportunity for users to escape, relax and enjoy time with friends and family!

Activations and the “Houseparty Persona”

As mentioned in our “Context Matters” lecture, in order to truly understand an experience, it’s important to assess the who/what/when/where/how of the platform. This is done through the “Four Stages of Activation.” Below is how I would describe Houseparty within the four stages:

Audience: Houseparty is built to be a multi-user social space. While the user itself might be alone while using the app, they are virtually with others in the chat room. The other people in the chat are probably friends or family.

Access: Houseparty can be accessed “anytime, anywhere and on any device.” Users have the ability to enable notifications to be pinged whenever someone jumps online.

Agenda: Houseparty can be used whenever someone has a break in the day. During a normal week, the app is probably used post-work/school to catch up and hear about people’s days. On weekends/during holidays, the app is probably used multiple times throughout the day to connect with friends and family.

Attractors: Individuals are attracted to Houseparty for a wide range of reasons. Some people love the games, many simply enjoy video chatting with their friends and others use the app to talk with their teams during a game of Fortnite. Additionally, companies, schools and clubs could utilize Houseparty as a great icebreaker when meeting new people.

When building a brief “Houseparty Persona,” I would create a 16–21-year-old boy or girl (lets name him, Mike and her, Sarah) that wants to stay connected with friends from sleep away camp or new pledge brothers/sorority sisters met at college (high school/college students). Mike and Sarah both are on their smart phones (probably iPhones) constantly throughout the day, using Houseparty for video chatting during lunch, after school and late into the night (during weekends and holidays phone usage will go up to 24/7). Additionally, Mike will use it to play Fortnite with his “Squad” or “Duo Partner.”

Reviews // Response

Houseparty has received some extremely positive reviews, especially recently, being such a great platform to connect people during the pandemic. It. Has 4.9/5 stars on the iOS app store and 4/5 in the Google Play store.[7][8] The only constant negative remark made describes the problem with people forgetting to lock their chat and uninvited individuals joining (discussed above how to fix). Everything else is extremely positive.

Conclusion

Ultimately, Houseparty is a fantastic and unique way to video chat with friends and family. The free model and cross-platform accessibility make the platform available to everyone. The easily navigated User Interface and seamlessly gameplay, make for an extremely easy, positive experience. The creatively integrated games provide a unique participation factor in addition to a regular video chat. Lastly, ability to utilize Houseparty as a chat feature within Fortnite brings a completely new audience to the platform. Houseparty is a perfectly packaged app for people that want to stay connected with friends and family and has a massive amount of potential to continue to grow in the future!