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Product Vision & Scope

Vision

The gamification exists to solve a specific, real problem: students practice DSA in inconsistent bursts before placements and then stop. A visible, persistent, competitive artifact — owned territory — is intended to sustain daily engagement.

Target Users & Scope

Target users are enrolled Thapar students only. Authentication is restricted to institutional email domains (e.g. @thapar.edu), verified via OTP at signup. There is no public registration path for external users, and no teams/clans in the initial version — competition is purely individual, 1v1.

In Scope (v1)

  • Authentication
  • Problem practice
  • Judge execution
  • Scoring
  • Map / territory system
  • Leaderboard
  • Anti-cheating
  • Real-time 1v1 contests

Out of Scope (v1)

  • Multi-institution support
  • Team-based play
  • AI-generated-code detection as a primary enforcement mechanism

Actors

Actor Role
Student Primary user — solves problems, earns territory, participates in contests
Admin / Faculty Reviewer Reviews cheating flags, manages bans, monitors platform health
System (Judge Service) Automated actor that executes code and returns verdicts
System (Anti-Cheating Engine) Automated actor that scores behavioral signals and raises flags

Representative Use Cases

  • UC-1: Student signs up with institutional email and verifies via OTP.
  • UC-2: Student browses problems filtered by difficulty and tag, opens one, and submits a solution.
  • UC-3: System executes submission via Piston and returns a verdict; on AC, scoring service computes a Performance Score.
  • UC-4: Student's score results in a new territory claim or upgrade, subject to the daily limit.
  • UC-5: Student A challenges Student B for a contested territory; Student B accepts; both enter a live 1v1 contest room.
  • UC-6: Anti-cheating engine flags a submission for an abnormal typing burst; on the 3rd flag, the user is auto-banned for 1 week and territory progress is reset, pending admin review.
  • UC-7: Admin reviews a flagged submission's stored evidence and overturns or upholds the flag.