So: UK Voted to leave the EU, the US Republicans have accepted Donald Trump, the Democrats accepted Hillary Clinton and the Australians returned the their conservative Government, with a reduced majority.  If these results show anything at all, it is that you should not squander your right to vote, because you can’t rely on your fellow citizens doing what you might be expecting of them.

So… How did readers vote on their experience of multimodal NEXO knight experience?  Of course, half way through the process here, the world was swamped by Pokemon Go, possibly the ultimate phygital experience…

As such, responses were limited, but give an insight into how things are proceeding in my limited audience.

AIM

The goal of this survey was get gain an insight  into participation in the three pronged development of Nexo Knights: An animated series initially screened on Cartoon Network, A line of LEGO sets and a mobile App: where new attacks and defenses are gained through scanning elements featured in the LEGO sets, in the animated series, and also available through other marketing material.

METHODS

The survey was created using Survey Monkey survey tools (free account) and was available from June to July 30, 2016. It was accessible through the ramblingbrick.com web page,  was posted directly into a number of Australian LEGO fan pages on Facebook, and announced through the @ramblingbrick Twitter account.

The survey asked about awareness and user experience of all three primary arms, and looked to see if there was significant crossover between consumption of one arm as the result of another.  It asked about quality of user experience and finally looked at the demographics of respondents- age, gender and location.

RESULTS

Forty five respondents set out to complete The Rambling Brick’s Nexo Knights survey, with 39  marked as incomplete by Survey Monkey. Results were collated by hand and entered into a ‘Numbers’ spreadsheet to allow graphical representation of the results.

Eighty six percent of respondents were aware of the Nexo Knights TV series, and 28% had watched an episode. Fourteen percent were unaware that it existed.  Adult respondents were split as to whether they would watch it without children supervising them, while 6 wanted a refund on the time they had spent…Similarly, a significant portion of the sample group were unaware of the game: up to 59%. The game had engaged 23% for a short time and 18% for much longer.  38% had located shields, and scanned them. The majority of players were using an iDevice, with tablets being more predominant than phones.

The NEXO Knight sets were purchased for the minifigs, new elements and because these looked interesting. A third of respondents had no NEXO Knights LEGO sets.

Discussion

As are all opt in internet surveys, there are intrinsic flaws in the methodology to ensure a good balance of opinion, reflecting the actual uptake of the NEXO Knights product lines. Initial impressions would suggest that the majority of Australian AFOLs would prefer to build with their LEGO, rather than play a computer game, that involves chasing things down.  Especially given that new powers would require the purchase of additional sets.  The arrival of Pokemon GO, an augmented reality game that involves players getting out into the actual world, during the period that initial uptake was still important, may well adversely influence the audience awareness of the Merlock 2.0 Game.

Conclusion

This study has a number of flaws, intrinsic to the platform, HOWEVER there is still a relative lack of knowledge, and drive to explore the availability of the NEXO Knights app.  Despite up to 20% of packaging of NEXO Knights sets being dedicated to advertising its availability.  That said, many feel the game is distracting for a while, but does not necessarily possess the ‘buy in ‘ for long term loyalty.

Play Well