I think I've said this before, but:
Goko is most likely aiming for a more casual userbase, ostensibly because there are a lot more casual players than tournament players. Casual players don't care if there's a log showing on the screen. Casual players don't need everything to happen instantaneously to get 5 minute games. Casual players want a nice-looking interface over a minimalist one. Casual players aren't going to want to play one-player games. So yes, iso can be considered market research, but not for the market Goko is aiming to sell to.
I think this is a load of nonsense, both in terms of how you describe Goko's target audience and whether their implementation of online Dominion actually provides a good experience for that kind of player. This will probably be a
lotlonger than it needs to be. Also, ten people probably already said it somewhere else, more concisely.
What is a casual player?
Some of your characteristics:
1. Prefers "Nice looking interface over minimalist one"
2. Doesn't want fast games
3. Doesn't want one player games
I don't know how you're so confident you've pinned down the aesthetic preference of the general population. I'm not convinced based on the reactions I've seen that Goko style visuals are preferred by more people (though I'll admit we've got a strong iso bias here). Official card art is nice, but official card art inside the Goko interface is like putting {nice thing} into {crappy thing}. I'm bad at analogies.
I think you're dead wrong about number two. Beginners might not initially want fast games, but the casual player definitely does. They're casual, the shorter the time investment between loading the application and getting the joyful experience the better. In the course iPhone Apps 101, there is probably an entire unit devoted to shortening the user experience into smaller chunks. It would be a big mistake to conflate beginners with casual players, but of course the ideal system is friendly to both.
I think number 3 is wrong because one player games are fast and low pressure while still maintaining the core experience. Casual players will eat this up.
The Goko interface is
not friendly to casual players. The lack of a side by side text log means that
more focus is required playing on Goko than on isotropic. This, I think you will agree, is not casual friendly. A "tournament" player will have a much easier time (relative to a casual) at understanding what is happening in a game based solely on animations. Because an experienced player basically knows what his opponent is likely to do based on the actions they played/direction of their deck. Of course a tournament player won't prefer the animations over a log, because one systems work a lot better. But I think the casual player will prefer a log as well. The wonky chat interface isn't friendly to anyone. This has been discussed a lot, but the pricing structure is clearly not in the range of other casual offerings.
Things I think a casual player might prefer:
1. Short time commitment
2. Simple (functional) system to interact with.
3. Cheap.
Last pointless paragraph: isotropic users are mostly "casual" and clearly a part of Goko's target audience. When I play on isotropic, I slouch down way low in my chair, I squint at the monitor and I pray to God that the Mint I just tried to buy wasn't a Mine. Sometimes I don't type gg because my hand is too far away from the keyboard and I don't want to move it. I don't hydrate properly, warm-up, stretch, and then get my game face on. When I'm bored I get on iso and I play a few games of Dominion. If the game is real exciting, I might sit up and count how many Provinces my opponent has to see if I can end the game with a win, sometimes I just cross my fingers and buy the card. It's pretty darn casual. I bet a lot of people play the same way. I happen to be bored a lot, so I play too much, and that leads to the thousands of games (also they are fast ya know). In general, playing at a high skill level (at least in Dominion) doesn't preclude playing casually. There's this whole community perception that we are Elite Dominion Players because, look at us, we're spending all this time playing Dominion and writing/reading stuff on Dominion Strategy forums, but I don't really buy it. There's a whole lot of talk, but I think it's mostly for fun and doesn't amount to a lot of real skill development. (This paragraph seems less and less relevant as I write it). Back on track, we are
people with money who like to play Dominion online, HOW COULD WE POSSIBLY NOT BE A PART OF GOKO'S TARGET DEMOGRAPHIC? I'm not saying we're the whole pie, but we're in the crust somewhere. Clearly our expectations/experience have some relevance to the proper design of an online implementation.