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How Analytics Are Shaping Social Games
Data mining and customer tracking are familiar concepts from online advertising, but an article at the Guardian examines how metrics and analytics are becoming a big part of the social games people play as well. This merging of games and advertising sounds just as distasteful as you might expect:
"Whereas traditional games are about creating big macro-environments for player exploration, freemium is about micro-managing every step the player takes toward actually buying something. 'A developer can build 'funnels' that depict the player actions leading to a financial conversion like purchasing extra content or virtual merchandize,' says Justin Johnson, CTO of Playmetrix, another British company specialising in game analytics. 'It's then down to the developer to use this analysis to improve conversion by removing obstructions and bottlenecks that may be inherent in the design.' ... It's a strange business. In the free-to-play universe, every player action is a potential metric in a revenue model. In-game behaviour is an algorithm that needs to be unraveled and de-coded. Developers have to operate like a sort of secret police agency, effectively bugging players – the Playmetrix software allows them to embed 'call backs' into their game code that trigger when players do something of interest. This is all visualised via graphics and charts so activities become infographics.'"
a spokesperson of a game analytics shop says that game analytics are the next big thing? ...completely unexpected...
They can't afford to do this sort of research. In fact, all that indie developers can usually afford to do is focus on playtime and story. I can't imagine why they're so successful.
I just needed freemium, and infographics.
The article shows nothing new from an analytics angle, except how to apply common techniques to the online gaming industry. For quite some time, grocery stores to airlines to web sites have been modeling user patterns, and exploiting them by adapting the product to what works the best. Anti-churn algorithms and targeted educative emails are cool techniques that work. Not every company needs or can use this style of analytics. Some companies stumble upon "gut-feel" brilliance and just do everything right. Others have to work at success and modern analytic techniques make that possible. As the article points out, insight can be misused. Those that become overbearing will suffer, and others will take their place.
I understand that this AC "first post" troll is annoying, but after some serious thought about the topic presented in this article, I believe that "ANAL LICK THIS haha!!" is probably the most insightful response to the nauseating view of human "play" that this miserable article depicts.
I'm not kidding here or trying to make fun.
This is from the article:
Get that? "Every player action is a potential metric in a revenue model." Does that have anything at all to do with the notion that any of us has of playing a game? Don't we have enough of the "revenue model" in our regular lives that we want to spend our leisure time engaged in this ugly procuring? Honestly, how many of you are interested in spending the precious little time you have where you are not actively engaged in activities meant to ensure survival playing a game where you are constantly being hustled? Have we become so debased that instead of a challenge or puzzle or exciting exercise of hand-eye coordination or strategy we find pleasure in the empty promises of the online equivalent of prostitution, except without even the titillation?
No, at the risk of wasting a comment beneath a clearly down-modded troll, I have to agree: ANAL LICK THIS!! haha!!.
"Freemium"? Really??
You are welcome on my lawn.
I am disgusted by these; and as someone who actually likes to create games, I am even more disgusted. The only F2P model I really approve of is Team Fortress 2. Sales people need to stay out of the development cycle and focus on selling the game, not game content. And if you are a salesperson who analyzes these sorts of things, fuck you.
Boredom is bliss.
Seems to me (from a position of very little knowledge - I certainly didn't RTFA) that people who play these games may be getting exactly what they deserve...
Is slashdot a social game?
Something about money coming out of my pocket takes the fun right out of gaming for me. I had trouble with the decision to buy the mobile banking feature on my WoW account. I don't know how much fun I can have when I have to worry about if the last piece of my armor set is going to cost me gold or dollars.
Maybe I'm dense and some unsophisticated rube, but is there any gameplay in this time waster? I've looked, but it seems to be an exercise in setting alarms clocks, rather than any game.
the Playmetrix software allows them to embed 'call backs' into their game code that trigger when players do something of interest. This is all visualised via graphics and charts so activities become infographics.
Is this novel, or complex, in any way? Aren't aspects and business intelligence covered in the first half of CS courses?
Why is 'call backs' in quotes? They probably are just callbacks, nothing arcane behind it.
I guess venture capital and headlines really are all about the buzzwords.
I see this is becoming a trend right now, along with the rise of 'social media games'.
Just a few weeks ago I was in a game design lesson. The current theme this semester was about social media, because that's hot right now. This lesson was all about metrics and how to extract the most pennies out of gamers, including the whole 'funnel' idea. It made me sick.
Sounds like Xbox Achievements to me.
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I recently installed an Android game called Inotia 3:Children of Carnia, and on first glance, appears to be an honest old-school RPG without your fancy schmancy MMO tacked on. For once I thought I could play a single character game, moreover this was listed as free.
After entering the game, I found it has elements of free to play MMOs - that is, you can purchase additional items for real world cash. Still fine so far - I've played a few F2P MMOs in my time and the way they're designed you don't really HAVE to buy anything to progress.
Cut to the first boss fight in this game. I had 3 characters in a party, but the boss was ridiculously hard to beat. No matter what I tried, all 3 characters would die before 50% of the boss' health wore down. And when all 3 die - you get this lovely offer to purchase a resurrection scroll! I thought I'll still go ahead and see what this pay to play stuff is all about - for about $0.99 I was able to purchase scrolls, and get rid of the boss. Only to be catapulted into another boss fight 5 minutes later..which used up more of my purchased scrolls. So I defeated this boss too, after resurrecting, (and by this time my party had only 2 characters) only to have the game hang.
The next time I start up, I'm back at the boss fight, my progress is lost, and I AGAIN have to buy more resurrection scrolls?
Why not just charge for the damn game up front?
This is what gaming is turning into. Thanks, I'll stick with the oldies from the mid 90s and earlier.
"..One hosts to look them up, one DNS to find them, and in the darkness BIND them."