One of the essential steps users need to take when running a multiplayer server is creating a new fleet. A fleet is a system that deploys and connects dedicated servers, allowing players to join a game session. To set up and run a fleet, users must provide several pieces of information and configure fleet specifications—one of the most important being region capacity.
The Problem
Shortly after I joined the project, we received feedback from users reporting that their fleets couldn’t deploy any dedicated servers. They reached out, unsure of what went wrong.
After investigating, we found that the root cause was missing configuration in the region capacity. Users simply left it blank, assuming it would be automatically managed. Unfortunately, this wasn’t an isolated incident—many users faced the same issue.
Key Insights
Our team delved deeper into user feedback and uncovered three main reasons behind this problem:
Assumption of Automation: Game admins believed that the region configuration was automatically handled by the system, so they left it blank.
Confusion with QoS Regions: Game admins mistakenly thought that setting up regions on the QoS Regions page was sufficient. In reality, QoS (Quality of Service) Regions are used to optimize network performance by selecting the most suitable server region based on latency, while region capacity specifically configures the number of instances available per region.
Lack of Guidance: Users weren’t sure what to do in the region capacity section, as the required inputs (like Min. DS, Max. DS, Buffer, and Region Capacity) lacked sufficient explanation, moreover with the big numbers that taken their attention away from filling the field. This uncertainty and confusement led users to skip the configuration entirely.
In summary,
Game multiplayer developers need clearer guidance and safeguards around region capacity configuration so they can reliably run and scale their multiplayer server fleets.
The Solution
After brainstorming with the team, we decided to implemented the following improvements:
Interactive Guidance: We added a small action prompt to guide users through selecting and filling in the required information, making the process more visible and approachable.
Contextual QoS Information: We included brief, informative text about QoS status for each region, clarifying its purpose and how it differs from region capacity.
Clear Explanations: We provided contextual information about the key configuration fields (Min. DS, Max. DS, Buffer, and Region Capacity) to eliminate ambiguity and guide users step by step.
Here is the final design solution that we bring to the table:
Internal Testing
Since this task was a hotfix and the team needed to push it to production quickly, we conducted a lean internal testing session. To keep the test relevant to our target audience, I collaborated with one of our internal game developers, as their workflow and mindset closely matched our primary user persona.
The testing scenario was framed as follows:
You are a game developer managing a game with a large player base in SEA and Japan. Create a new fleet to accommodate the demand in those regions.
Suddenly, new requests start coming in from US players. Update the setup to accommodate this case as well.
Testing Result
The session provided several valuable insights:
Error prevention is critical: Users need early visibility into potential issues so they can mitigate problems before they escalate.
Font size does not equal visibility: Larger text does not always draw attention. In some cases, smaller but well-placed labels were more effective.
Semantic naming adds clarity: Even technical users benefit from clear, descriptive naming conventions, as it helps align expectations and reduces misinterpretation.
The Impact
These changes significantly reduced confusion and support tickets related to region configuration. Users now better understand how to set region capacity correctly, and the frequent questions about this process have vanished.
As the users can run and scale their server fleets, this improvement also can leads to potential revenue as the their players use our multiplayer servers.
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