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Towards gameplay analysis via gameplay metrics

Published: 30 September 2009 Publication History

Abstract

User-oriented research in the game industry is undergoing a change from relying on informal user-testing methods adapted directly from productivity software development to integrating modern approaches to usability- and user experience testing. Gameplay metrics analysis form one of these techniques, being based on instrumentation methods in HCI. Gameplay metrics are instrumentation data about the user behavior and user-game interaction, and can be collected during testing, production and the live period of the lifetime of a digital game. The use of instrumentation data is relatively new to commercial game development, and remains a relatively unexplored method of user research. In this paper, the focus is on utilizing game metrics for informing the analysis of gameplay during commercial game production as well as in research contexts. A series of case studies are presented, focusing on the major commercial game titles Kane & Lynch and Fragile Alliance.

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  • (2024)On Video Game Balancing: Joining Player- and Data-Driven AnalyticsGames: Research and Practice10.1145/36758072:3(1-30)Online publication date: 30-Aug-2024
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cover image ACM Conferences
MindTrek '09: Proceedings of the 13th International MindTrek Conference: Everyday Life in the Ubiquitous Era
September 2009
254 pages
ISBN:9781605586335
DOI:10.1145/1621841
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Publication History

Published: 30 September 2009

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Author Tags

  1. computer games
  2. game metrics
  3. gameplay metrics
  4. user experience
  5. user testing

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MindTrek '09
Sponsor:
MindTrek '09: Academic MindTrek 2009
September 30 - October 2, 2009
Tampere, Finland

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Overall Acceptance Rate 110 of 207 submissions, 53%

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Cited By

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  • (2024)Advancing Mixed Reality Game Development: An Evaluation of a Visual Game Analytics Tool in Action-Adventure and FPS GenresProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36770558:CHI PLAY(1-32)Online publication date: 15-Oct-2024
  • (2024)On Video Game Balancing: Joining Player- and Data-Driven AnalyticsGames: Research and Practice10.1145/36758072:3(1-30)Online publication date: 30-Aug-2024
  • (2024)"Ah! I see" - Facilitating Process Reflection in Gameplay through a Novel Spatio-Temporal Visualization SystemProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642484(1-19)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
  • (2024)The Real MVP: Quantifying Individual Performances in Multiplayer Online Games2024 IEEE Conference on Games (CoG)10.1109/CoG60054.2024.10645665(1-8)Online publication date: 5-Aug-2024
  • (2024)Understanding Player Experience in Museum-Based Learning Games: A Mixed-Methods AnalysisSerious Games10.1007/978-3-031-74138-8_14(177-195)Online publication date: 7-Nov-2024
  • (2024)Real-Time Gameplay Data and Biometric Measurement Integration as a Data Source for Game User ResearchDigital Interaction and Machine Intelligence10.1007/978-3-031-66594-3_15(144-156)Online publication date: 15-Aug-2024
  • (2024)Timed Automata for Video Games and InteractionEncyclopedia of Computer Graphics and Games10.1007/978-3-031-23161-2_298(1879-1886)Online publication date: 5-Jan-2024
  • (2023)Balancing Video Games: A Player-Driven InstrumentCompanion Proceedings of the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play10.1145/3573382.3616097(187-195)Online publication date: 6-Oct-2023
  • (2023)Enhancing Engagement through Digital Cultural Heritage: A Case Study about Senior Citizens using a Virtual Reality MuseumProceedings of the 2023 ACM International Conference on Interactive Media Experiences10.1145/3573381.3596154(150-156)Online publication date: 12-Jun-2023
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