Design of a social coaching platform derived from the coaching practices of StarCraft II players

This study sought to identify effective design features that facilitate online mentorship matchmaking and fostering engagement between volunteer coaches and their learners. A design research study was deployed to experiment with different iterations of matchmaking between coaches and learners in order to determine how to effectively support connecting those eager to learn with those eager to teach. The study involved participants from the gaming community of StarCraft II, which exhibited robust mechanisms for matching novice players with coaches in an online environment, as well as providing metrics for player improvement to dictate clear goals for improvement.