Like most big fans of Disney, when a new Disney themed app or game is released, I am among the first to download it.  Some have kept me entertained for a long time, while others I delete after only a few days.  There are multiple factors that contribute to me keeping or getting rid of each one.  For some, I have even kept coming back to, to give them another try, which typically always ends up in the same way: being deleted once again.

The apps I am focusing on are Disney Emoji Blitz Game, Disney Solitaire, and Disney Magic Kingdoms.  I have tried all three of these games throughout the years.  Disney Solitaire has been my most recent addiction.  It is a tri peaks style solitaire game that progresses through different Disney movies as the levels increase.  For Disney Emoji Blitz Game, I tried that once and never downloaded it again.  It is a candy crush style match game, with Disney characters.  The one feature that I did think was cool was that the emojis won from completing the various levels were available to be used on your phone’s keyboard in text messaging.  Finally, Disney Magic Kingdoms is one that I have tried a few times every so often, but it never seems to keep me attached to it for long.

A main point in user experience and design is taking the comments and suggestions of the actual users and using that to improve the product.  Nothing can be perfect on the first try and there needs to be changes (not even always improvements) to keep things up to date and relevant for those using it.  The best way to track the response of these changes is to look at the reviews.  If something is wrong, it will make itself known right away.  People are always less reluctant to post bad reviews, criticizing something, than good ones.

I looked through the reviews for all three apps, specifically looking for the positive, negative and suggestive ones.  Even though these games are so popular and rated just under five stars, while going through the reviews, I noticed a lot of problems mentioned across all three.  The tops ones were too many ads, too many in-app purchases, and takes too long to progress through the game.  Not surprisingly, once I was reading through all of these, I realized that these were the top reasons I got rid of Magic Kingdoms and Emoji Blitz.  I have also come across these same issues with Solitaire but that one keeps pulling me back in.

One point that I didn’t find true based off of the comments was that it is absolutely impossible to advance throughout the game without spending your own money.  I have never purchased any in-app purchases for a game in my life, and I refuse to do so.  If a game is free in the app store, I believe it needs to be free to play through as well.  I am currently on level 1,195 of Disney Solitaire without spending any money.  I do agree that it is frustrating that every other click is trying to get you to but something, but I just exit out of it and continue on.

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