Simone Kriglstein
ABSTRACT
With the rising interest in multiplayer gaming, gameplay statistics have become an increasingly important aspect of the overall game experience for many players. As a part of this trend, visualizations have gained great popularity among players, in particular heatmaps since they allow them to reenact the course of a game and to develop new strategies. In this paper we report results of a user study conducted with 29 players (i) to investigate how players use heatmaps and two further graphical representations that use clustering algorithms to interpret gameplay and (ii) to assess the three representations in regard to time efficiency, correctness, suitability, and player preference. Our results show that heatmaps were mainly used to detect hot spots while the cluster representations proved useful to compare variables, allowing the players to uncover relationships between them and in turn allowing a deeper insight into the gameplay data.
- Ashton, M., and Verbrugge, C. Measuring cooperative gameplay pacing in World of Warcraft. In Proc. of FDG'11, ACM Press (2011), 77--83. Google Scholar
Digital Library
- Bell, J., Sheth, S., and Kaiser, G. A large-scale, longitudinal study of user profiles in World of Warcraft. In Proc. of WWW '13 Companion (2013), 1175--1184. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Bowman, B., Elmqvist, N., and Jankun-Kelly, T. J. Toward visualization for games: Theory, design space, and patterns. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics 18, 11 (2012), 1956--1968. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Cleveland, W. S., and McGill, R. Graphical perception: Theory, experimentation, and application to the development of graphical methods. Journal of the American Statistical Association 79, 387 (1984), 531--554.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Drachen, A., and Canossa, A. Analyzing spatial user behavior in computer games using geographic information systems. In Proc. of MindTrek'09, ACM Press (2009), 182--189. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Gove, R., Gramsky, N., Kirby, R., Sefer, E., Sopan, A., Dunne, C., Shneiderman, B., and Taieb-Maimon, M. Netvisia: Heat map & matrix visualization of dynamic social network statistics & content. In Prof. of SocialCom/PASSAT'11, IEEE Press (2011), 19--26.Google Scholar
- Grant, S., and Betts, B. Encouraging user behaviour with achievements: an empirical study. In Proc. of MSR'13, IEEE Press (2013), 65--68. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Heyer, L. J., Kruglyak, S., and Yooseph, S. Exploring expression data: Identification and analysis of coexpressed genes. Genome Research 9, 11 (1999), 1106--1115.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Jakobsson, M. The achievement machine: understanding Xbox 360 achievements in gaming practices. Game Studies 11, 1 (2011), 1--22.Google Scholar
- Kosslyn, S. M. Graph Design for the Eye and Mind. Oxford University Press, 2006.Google Scholar
- Medler, B. Play with data - an exploration of play analytics and its effect on player experiences. PhD thesis, Georgia Tech, 2012.Google Scholar
- Medler, B., and Magerko, B. Analytics of play: Using information visualization and gameplay practices for visualizing video game data. Parsons Journal for Information Mapping 3, 1 (2011), 1--12.Google Scholar
- Nielsen, J., and Pernice, K. Eyetracking web usability. New Riders, 2010. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Pileggi, H., Stolper, C. D., Boyle, J. M., and Stasko, J. T. Snapshot: Visualization to propel ice hockey analytics. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics 18, 12 (2012), 2819--2828.Google ScholarDigital Library
- Rasmussen, J. Skills, rules, and knowledge; signals, signs, and symbols, and other distinctions in human performance models. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics SMC-13, 3 (1983), 257--266.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Saraiya, P., North, C., and Duca, K. An evaluation of microarray visualization tools for biological insight. In Proc. of INFOVIS'04, IEEE Press (2004), 1--8. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Seif El-Nasr, M., Drachen, A., and Canossa, A., Eds. Game Analytics: Maximizing the Value of Player Data. Springer, 2013. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Shamoon, E. How Call of Duty Elite evolved. http://www.polygon.com/2012/11/27/3682896/how-call-of-duty-elite-evolved, Accessed: September, 2013.Google Scholar
- Spence, I. No humble pie: The origins and usage of a statistical chart. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics 30, 4 (2005), 353--368.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Spence, I., and Lewandowsky, S. Displaying proportions and percentages. Applied Cognitive Psychology 5, 1 (1991), 61--77.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Thompson, C. Halo 3: How Microsoft Labs invented a new science of play. http://www.wired.com/gaming/virtualworlds/magazine/15-09/ff_halo, Accessed: September, 2013.Google Scholar
- Valve Corporation. Half-life 2: Episode two stats. http://www.steampowered.com/status/ep2/ep2_stats.php, Accessed: September, 2013.Google Scholar
- Vorderer, P., Hartmann, T., and Klimmt, C. Explaining the enjoyment of playing video games: the role of competition. In Proc. of ICEC'03, Carnegie Mellon University (2003), 1--9. Google ScholarDigital Library
- Wallner, G. Play-graph: A methodology and visualization approach for the analysis of gameplay data. In Proc. of FDG'13 (2013).Google Scholar
- Wallner, G., and Kriglstein, S. Visualization-based analysis of gameplay data - a review of literature. Entertainment Computing 4, 3 (2013), 143--155.Google ScholarCross Ref
- Zoeller, G. Development telemetry in video games projects. In Game Developer Conference (2010).Google Scholar
Index Terms
- A user study of different gameplay visualizations
Recommendations
What Players Want: Information Needs of Players on Post-Game Visualizations
CHI '21: Proceedings of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing SystemsWith the rise of competitive online gaming and esports, players’ ability to review, reflect upon, and improve their in-game performance has become important. Post-play visualizations are key for such improvements. Despite the increased interest in ...
A spatiotemporal visualization approach for the analysis of gameplay data
CHI '12: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing SystemsContemporary video games are highly complex systems with many interacting variables. To make sure that a game provides a satisfying experience, a meaningful analysis of gameplay data is crucial, particularly because the quality of a game directly ...
GameFlow in Different Game Genres and Platforms
Theoretical and Practical Computer Applications in EntertainmentThe GameFlow model strives to be a general model of player enjoyment, applicable to all game genres and platforms. Derived from a general set of heuristics for creating enjoyable player experiences, the GameFlow model has been widely used in evaluating ...
Comments