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Where in the USA is this?

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Re: Where in the USA is this?

#131

Post by tasuki »

kylec wrote: post #118
bhaney wrote: post #60

The most interesting part of this to me is the UX feedback from the comments here. Many people, myself included, say they had no idea at first that the photos were all meant to be from the same location, even though the very first sentence of the instructions was "There are five photos from the same place." I'm pretty sure I read the instructions, I guess that just didn't register? An opportunity to reflect on how ha…

I got 19 miles away with my first guess, the map zoomed in and I thought "that's a weird bug", zoomed it out, and then proceeded to guess other guesses that were hundreds of miles away. Interesting concept, but poorly communicated.

> Interesting concept, but poorly communicated.

It was communicated in the very first sentence of the instructions. It's just that both you and me failed to read the instructions. We have no one to blame but ourselves.

Re: Where in the USA is this?

#132

Post by ethbr0 »

anonu wrote: post #89
bhaney wrote: post #60

The most interesting part of this to me is the UX feedback from the comments here. Many people, myself included, say they had no idea at first that the photos were all meant to be from the same location, even though the very first sentence of the instructions was "There are five photos from the same place." I'm pretty sure I read the instructions, I guess that just didn't register? An opportunity to reflect on how ha…

OTOH I understood the instructions immediately. This is a fundamental issue in UX. Some users will know right away and others will not. Maybe a better sentence structure? Maybe something like "Guess the 1 location where all these photos were taken" (?) From my experience, most people don't read the instructions or text notes anyway. So its possible that an even better UX is one where the user figures out what they ca…

> From my experience, most people don't read the instructions or text notes anyway.

This fascinated me ~90s computer gaming. There were clear camps of "people who always read the manual" and "people who never never read the manual."

Re: Where in the USA is this?

#133

Post by tuxone »

drsopp wrote: post #85
bhaney wrote: post #60

The most interesting part of this to me is the UX feedback from the comments here. Many people, myself included, say they had no idea at first that the photos were all meant to be from the same location, even though the very first sentence of the instructions was "There are five photos from the same place." I'm pretty sure I read the instructions, I guess that just didn't register? An opportunity to reflect on how ha…

My phone does not show those instructions. Firefox on iPhone mini 12.

Instructions do not show up again after the first visit. Try with incognito mode.

Re: Where in the USA is this?

#134

Post by tuxone »

bhaney wrote: post #60

The most interesting part of this to me is the UX feedback from the comments here. Many people, myself included, say they had no idea at first that the photos were all meant to be from the same location, even though the very first sentence of the instructions was "There are five photos from the same place." I'm pretty sure I read the instructions, I guess that just didn't register? An opportunity to reflect on how ha…

I see it as a combination of distraction and being eager to consume something. Everything in the page (and before that, in the link title) screams “this is a game” yet Start was pressed without reading the 33-words down the bold How to play. A U issue more than UX.

Re: Where in the USA is this?

#135

Post by actionfromafar »

tasuki wrote: post #131
kylec wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got 19 miles away with my first guess, the map zoomed in and I thought "that's a weird bug", zoomed it out, and then proceeded to guess other guesses that were hundreds of miles away. Interesting concept, but poorly communicated.

> Interesting concept, but poorly communicated. It was communicated in the very first sentence of the instructions. It's just that both you and me failed to read the instructions. We have no one to blame but ourselves.

This feels like morality vs outcomes reasoning.

“Morally”, no we don’t. (Me included.)

Say, if you are a games designer and want to get the message across, then you can start A/B testing ways to get your point (pun mostly not intended) across more effectively.

Re: Where in the USA is this?

#136

Post by actionfromafar »

ryandrake wrote: post #108
bhaney wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The siren song of a mobile-first UI

The UI is pretty bad. I have a nice 27" monitor, yet they constrain the entire game to a tiny 5" wide column down the length of my browser window. Would be great if web designers would stop imagining that I'm browsing the web with a tiny portrait phone screen.

They just stopped imagining that I’m browsing on a 15” screen!

Re: Where in the USA is this?

#137

Post by Anon4Now »

bhaney wrote: post #60

The most interesting part of this to me is the UX feedback from the comments here. Many people, myself included, say they had no idea at first that the photos were all meant to be from the same location, even though the very first sentence of the instructions was "There are five photos from the same place." I'm pretty sure I read the instructions, I guess that just didn't register? An opportunity to reflect on how ha…

My problem was the state lines. My first guess was somewhere in West Virginia, which happened to be right, but being from the west coast, I had trouble eyeballing where to click for West Virginia.

The game is great, but I'm shouting to the wind about the decline in quality of online maps. For example, I can barely see roads on Google maps any more. The lines are faint and low contrast. Zooming in doesn't help because the font remains tiny. Map makers hate middle-aged people.

Re: Where in the USA is this?

#138

Post by SomewhatLikely »

brezelgoring wrote: post #102
jb1991 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I must have missed the part in the instructions where all the photos are from the same place. Is that what you mean by triangulation?

Yes, you can use a ruler and the scale to get closer with each guess, regardless of what the picture shows. I use the built in drawing app on Linux Mint. Here is another attempt, with my triangulation circles written (don't judge me) Attempt: https://i.imgur.com/Hz3c37c.png

To help others understand, This image shows that there's only two possible locations left where all the circles intersect. Because the game gives exact distance to the target the correct answer must be on the circles.

Re: Where in the USA is this?

#139

Post by w-m »

Barrin92 wrote: post #84
w-m wrote: post #81

Got within 75 miles on the first try, even though I have only been to the US once in my life (and nowhere near there). Of course that’s partially just a lucky guess. But it made me ponder the giant influence of American TV and movies on my life. Playing the same game with China for example, I would have been completely and utterly lost.

don't think it's just a lucky guess, same for me. Only been to the us once, looked at it for five seconds and just thought 'somewhere near Pittsburgh' and got within 50 miles. The North-East of the US in general seems very recognizable. I sometimes play Geoguessr when I'm bored and it's always places in the South of the US that seem much harder to guess.

FWIW, today's puzzle seems particularly straightforward. I've since tried a few of the earlier ones, and sometimes was on the wrong side of the country altogether for the first try.

Re: Where in the USA is this?

#140

Post by ethanbond »

tasuki wrote: post #131
kylec wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got 19 miles away with my first guess, the map zoomed in and I thought "that's a weird bug", zoomed it out, and then proceeded to guess other guesses that were hundreds of miles away. Interesting concept, but poorly communicated.

> Interesting concept, but poorly communicated. It was communicated in the very first sentence of the instructions. It's just that both you and me failed to read the instructions. We have no one to blame but ourselves.

No, this is a design problem. The fact that so many missed it is just evidence of how subtly tricky good design is.
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