Classifying Players For Unique Game Experiences

togelius writes "Whenever you play a game of Tomb Raider: Underworld, heaps of data about your playing style is collected at Eidos' servers. Researchers at the Center for Computer Games Research have now mined this data to identify the different types of player behavior (PDF). Using self-organizing neural networks, they classified players as either Veterans, Solvers, Pacifists or Runners. It turns out people play the game for very different reasons and focus on different parts of the game, but almost everyone falls into one of these categories. These neural networks can now quickly determine which of these groups you belong to based on just seeing you play. In the near future, such networks will be used to adapt games like Tomb Raider while they are played (e.g. by removing or adding puzzles and enemies), so you get the game you want."

Comments

No thank you

[RemoWilliams84]

After seeing how Tivo and Netflix recommendations go sometimes, I'm not sure I want a game changing itself because it thinks I know what I want. Not to knock Tivo or Netflix, they are accurate alot, but sometimes they are way off base.

Besides, if it knew what I really wanted, everything would just end up having tits.

Thanks for the heads up

[NervousNerd]

Whenever you play a game of Tomb Raider: Underworld, heaps of data about your playing style is collected at Eidos' servers.

Thanks for the heads up, so I won't buy it. I personally don't like having everything I do monitored in some way on some server with a shady privacy policy.

Re:Thanks for the heads up

[mcvos]

Totally. This is yet another attempt by the government to monitor its drones and keep them in line, another little teeter down the slippery slope to an Orwellian future.

But by analyzing how you react to this, they'll be able to offer you the customised Orwellian future that you really want.

Re:Thanks for the heads up

[dkleinsc]

I think you guys have the wrong dystopia here: This isn't an Orwellian future that this sort of thing leads to, it's more of a Brave New World with perfectly customized soma for you.

Does it take nudity into account?

[broknstrngz]

How about the naked Lara Croft modders? Which slot do they fall into?

The four types

[nschubach]

In case anyone else was trying to figure out these roles... (page 6 last two paragraphs - > page 7)

Veterans = The power gamers, deaths usually only environmental.

Solvers = Die often (mainly from falling), methodical, slow.

Pacifists = Cannon fodder basically.

Runners = They run, they die, they run. The first thing that comes to mind here is a player that goes for the flag immediately in CTF.

Re:Well I don't think much of this

[Pulse_Instance]

This is them having faith in their designers. The designers are saying that they want the game to be the best for everyone and that if we can learn how people play we can get more people to like the game.

Great Data for the Single-Player Household

[RobotRunAmok]

...but how does it track when my 8-year-old daughter loads the disk and plays "Lara Croft: Monkey Chaser" ? I'm guessing they need a way to throw out that data, or else risk creating the new, bogus, player category of "Spastic Insomniac."

Re:So the game is spyware?

[Verdatum]

Could you imagine The Last Starfighter in this day and age? "We've been monitoring your progress in this thing you call a 'game', and we believe you may have what it takes to defend the galaxy!" "OMG Spyware! Screw you guys!"

Re:Foruc on different parts of game

[Minwee]

Just what we need... surround ourselves with ourselves. That will challenge us and cause us to grow into intelligent, tolerant and well rounded individuals.

I don't like hearing this kind of talk, so I'm going to mod it down.