Gamification app walkthrough description

Question

We're creating a gamification application that uses crowd sourced data to track animals within a region. On the first page of the walkthrough, the product owner has stated that we should state the purpose of the app.

"Our government is spending a lot of money doing aerial surveys on animal population. Through the app, you can input information that becomes part of a larger database. This will then, allow us to continue estimating animal population, while reducing the costs of traditional aerial surveys. The app also allows you to post images and share with the community."

Is this information necessary in a gamification model? I thought hiding the rational of the app and just providing a gamification system will make it more "fun" and allow users to upload useful data.

Thoughts?

Answer 1

Apple's word isn't final when it comes to UI design, but they make it a point to talk about this in the iOS Human Interface Guidelines:

As much as possible, avoid displaying a splash screen or other startup experience. It’s best when users can begin using your app immediately.

The barrier to entry should be as low as possible for first-time users. I'm definitely in agreement with merqri that the message would be better suited for a separate "About Us" page.

Answer 2

Agree with both of the above answers -- get users right into the interaction and link off for an explanation of "How It Works".

Different context, with different constraints, but 23andMe does a pretty good job of minimizing what could be a really complicated explanation, see https://www.23andme.com/.