Having run several arcades, each with particular defining features, and having had the chance to monitor the success and failure rate of user accounts, I’ve come to the conclusion that there are few cases in which user accounts actually serve a purpose. Some of those circumstances are as follows:

• That the user account provides the user with options that enhance his/her gaming experience (e.g. the ability to access premium or special content)
• That the user account grants access to an integrated social network (a forum, a live in-game chat etc.)
• That the user account offers the opportunity to take control of the gaming experience (e.g. the creation of a personal avatar, the ability to record game progress, to monitor site usage etc.)
• That the user account grants access to extra incentives (competitions, rankings etc.)

The functions in my list above describe user-side interaction at a high level. This is the sort of level that arcades such as Kongregate operate at; whereby the user actually benefits as much from the user account experience as he/she does from the gaming experience. Whatsmore the account and the games overlap and the objective is for both to be as seamless as possible. In this case creating an account is a meaningful and relevant action for the user. But in the majority of arcades, and my own included, it is far from meaningful.

The majority of arcades do not grant any of these functions to their users and yet they still offer user accounts. The most common incentives are to remove site-wide ads, to allow unlimited gaming credits, to set up a basic user profile, to record favourite games and to send private messages to other users. Based on findings from my own arcades, I estimate that 60% of users forget their passwords within the first week of having signed up. And nearly a quarter of all visitors that chose to sign up don’t validate their accounts. This has little to do with the sign up process being drawn out or complex, rather it is a reflection of the fact that the visitor intuitively senses that that the act of setting up a user account is based more on obligation than personal desire.

In my view, if an arcade cannot offer a unique user experience and adequate incentive and value in its user accounts, it should get rid of them all together. The problem is that most low to mid-level arcade scripts place user accounts at the core of their design. But they don’t recognise the fact that those user accounts are pretty meaningless. By eliminating the user accounts, not only do you make your arcade lighter, but crucially you don’t have to maintain the false pretense that creating an account will make your visitor’s lives better!

What’s your view on user accounts? Do they work for you, have you found a better way of using them? I’d love to hear your opinions and experiences so feel free to comment and I’ll happily respond.