Game metrics has become the new buzz word within the game industry. Tons of data about players, what they do, what they pay money for, as well as data on technical performance, NPC behaviors, etc., are all suddenly at the fingertips of the industry. However, the real question is: what can you do with this type of data? What is the real value of game metrics for designers, user researchers, community managers, marketing and management? In fact, how do you know you are collecting the right data or that you are analyzing and reporting it correctly and efficiently? This book aims to answer these questions by discussing techniques and methods that are currently used by industry professionals – and thus the book will be the first resource to go to that discusses the state of the art and future of telemetry and game metrics throughout the a game company production cycle. The book will draw from both industry professionals who use telemetry and metrics within their company, or researchers and industry professionals who work collaboratively on telemetry and metrics.
Book
Expression of interest deadline: November 1st, 2010
Chapter title and abstract deadline: November 15th, 2010
Acceptance of title and abstract: December 1, 2010
Chapter submission deadline: March 15th, 2011
Editors:
Magy Seif El-Nasr (Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada)
Alessandro Canossa (IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark)
Anders Drachen (Copenhagen Business School, Copenhagen, Denmark)
Katherine Isbister (New York University Polytechnic Institute, New York, USA)
The goal of the book
The objective of the book is to provide a comprehensive collection of the state-of-the-art techniques for obtaining game user telemetry data and putting it to good use, written by industry and research professionals. The book will describe the various techniques for collecting and analyzing telemetry data in digital games, how to analyze and/orvisualize the data and report results to various stakeholders, and how game metrics can be implemented in various stages of the production process and post-launch. The book will consider how user telemetry is obtained and utilized across game genres, from social games to first person shooters. The purpose behind this book is to (a) inform practitioners and researchers of the techniques that are currently being used in industry contexts and user-oriented research, (b) share knowledge and experiences of the advantages and
disadvantages of employing different collection, analysis, visualization and reporting techniques, (c) inform practitioners and researchers of the variety of use and value of telemetry data at different parts of the game lifecycle across different genres and production contexts, (d) inform researchers of the current open problems, stimulating the growing relations between researchers and practitioners, and (e) build the foundation for an emerging field of game user telemetry.
Target audience:
• Game user researchers, usability engineers and user analysts in game companies
• Game designers interested in applying game user telemetry to inform and enhance game design
• Game developers and programmers who are interested in applying user telemetry to track and analyze user behavior, manage virtual goods trade and online player communities
• Marketing, management and business intelligence personnel in game companies who are interested in applying telemetry to understand the users on the market
• Researchers who are interested in user-oriented games research
Potential topics:
• Uncover the mystery behind telemetry and game metrics:
o What is game telemetry data, and what techniques are used to abstract this data into game metrics?
o What are the different types of telemetry that companies are collecting and why?
o How are telemetry converted into game metrics and when are different indicators applied during the production process?
o How do you get maximal ROI from game metrics?
o How to set up a logging system (metrics suite), and determining what data to collect for your game
o Mixed-methods approaches: Combining game metrics with quantitative data from eye-tracking, psycho-physiological metrics and other game user research methods
o What are current open problems with metrics analysis?
• How to put game metrics to use:
o Analysis (machine learning, statistical techniques, question-led analysis)
o Visualizing metrics analyses for different target audiences
o Reporting the results of analyses to the stakeholders
o What game metrics can and can´t tell you
o Balancing metrics with other user-oriented methods – integrating game metrics with usability and playtesting practices
• What is the value of game metrics:
o Value to different people within the industry and how to elicit the needs and requirements from the different stakeholder groups: