Big Data and Analytics define the game

[Injudicator]

I wanted to share my opinion on this (just some random Monday thoughts). I work in the Digital Industry and analytics have become an integral part of our planning and execution process.

 

Did you know your every move is tracked within the game? Bioware has exact data and can precisely estimate if a feature is being used, when, by whom and why. That means that they have the perfect data to see if something is a success or not, predict people's behavior and even influence it slightly.

 

No wonder we don't get more GSI missions. It's super simple to make a basic feature, test it out and decide whether to continue. That's why Galactic strongholds and Conquest seem rough around the edges. Every digital project is handled the same way: make a basic product/service > pilot it > test out with clients/users > analyse and evaluate how to continue.

 

Basically it will be super interesting to BW to see how many people use Strongholds and how.

 

Unfortunately this way of thinking actually might abandon features that people love. There can be a vocal community on the forum preaching this or that, but if the numbers don't add up BW would always go in another direction.

 

Oh and I forgot to mention, all this is done to support their business model, just some thoughts to help you understand why the game moves in a certain direction.

 

What can you do? If you love a feature you can get your friends hooked on it. Protest or support by actually doing or not doing it

Edited August 11, 2014 by Injudicator

[mokkh]

I wanted to share my opinion on this (just some random Monday thoughts). I work in the Digital Industry and analytics have become an integral part of our planning and execution process.

 

Did you know your every move is tracked within the game? Bioware has exact data and can precisely estimate if a feature is being used, when, by whom and why. That means that they have the perfect data to see if something is a success or not, predict people's behavior and even influence it slightly.

 

No wonder we don't get more GSI missions. It's super simple to make a basic feature, test it out and decide whether to continue. That's why Galactic strongholds and Conquest seem rough around the edges. Every digital project is handled the same way: make a basic product/service > pilot it > test out with clients/users > analyse and evaluate how to continue.

 

Basically it will be super interesting to BW to see how many people use Strongholds and how.

 

Unfortunately this way of thinking actually might abandon features that people love. There can be a vocal community on the forum preaching this or that, but if the numbers don't add up BW would always go in another direction.

Oh and I forgot to mention, all this is done to support their business model, just some thoughts to help you understand why the game moves in a certain direction.

 

What can you do? If you love a feature you can get your friends hooked on it. Protest or support by actually doing or not doing it

 

The emphasized part should be read over and over again, by many users of these forums. No matter how much something is important to me, the game is not here solely for my satisfaction. Pragmatism overrules whimsy every time.

[horrorfaneightys]

A really interesting post. Thanks for posting it.

[Kulyok]

Makes sense, thank you. Um... then again, I'd bet way too many people are playing class stories, and the company isn't adding anything to that.

[Warrgames]

Makes sense, thank you. Um... then again, I'd bet way too many people are playing class stories, and the company isn't adding anything to that.

 

ROFL Isn't like you can skip the class story. How many people never watched any of it? just mashed the spacebar till it broke to get through the cut scenes without ever watching it? I'll will to bet there was a large number when the game came out. Since MMO the general idea anymore is the game doesn't start till you hit max level.

[Aries_cz]

Makes sense, thank you. Um... then again, I'd bet way too many people are playing class stories, and the company isn't adding anything to that.

 

Because in addition to seeing how much people play certain content there are cost analysis and spectrum of other market research stuff. And sadly, full class stories are way too demanding on the amount of Resources™ Bioware currently has.

[Aries_cz]

ROFL Isn't like you can skip the class story. How many people never watched any of it? just mashed the spacebar till it broke to get through the cut scenes without ever watching it? I'll will to bet there was a large number when the game came out. Since MMO the general idea anymore is the game doesn't start till you hit max level.

 

Actually, you can skip class story. Well, maybe you cannot until you get the ship to be able to move around, but after that, nothing forces you to ignore it.

[Warrgames]

Actually, you can skip class story. Well, maybe you cannot until you get the ship to be able to move around, but after that, nothing forces you to ignore it.

 

Actually pigs do fly!!! If you place one in a catapult and launch it. If you want to get all technical. You can make it to max level without ever doing a quest.

 

But you clear missed the point of what I was saying.

[hadoken]

Makes sense, thank you. Um... then again, I'd bet way too many people are playing class stories, and the company isn't adding anything to that.

 

Yea they clearly aren't actually looking at everything.

[mortenpro]

I wanted to share my opinion on this (just some random Monday thoughts). I work in the Digital Industry and analytics have become an integral part of our planning and execution process.

 

Did you know your every move is tracked within the game? Bioware has exact data and can precisely estimate if a feature is being used, when, by whom and why. That means that they have the perfect data to see if something is a success or not, predict people's behavior and even influence it slightly.

 

No wonder we don't get more GSI missions. It's super simple to make a basic feature, test it out and decide whether to continue. That's why Galactic strongholds and Conquest seem rough around the edges. Every digital project is handled the same way: make a basic product/service > pilot it > test out with clients/users > analyse and evaluate how to continue.

 

Basically it will be super interesting to BW to see how many people use Strongholds and how.

 

Unfortunately this way of thinking actually might abandon features that people love. There can be a vocal community on the forum preaching this or that, but if the numbers don't add up BW would always go in another direction.

 

Oh and I forgot to mention, all this is done to support their business model, just some thoughts to help you understand why the game moves in a certain direction.

 

What can you do? If you love a feature you can get your friends hooked on it. Protest or support by actually doing or not doing it

 

Yeah... Adding bonus for decorating Stronghold to Conquest is a great example of their business model. This is really sad. I hope that money earned this way give them happiness.

Edited August 11, 2014 by mortenpro

[JouerTue]

i think i'll do a basic use of those, no grinding, no gtn, no CM.

conquest could be different..need to try it.

i was aware about the survey and business model, but that's not really something that influences how i spend my time ingame..i think i just count for dailies/events/raids and legacy gear ( a lot )

[Shevaresh]

Interesting post, and yes it will be interesting to see how Bioware will handle the data from GSH aswell. I do have some few things to add to your post though (From the perspective af scientific methodology)

 

Did you know your every move is tracked within the game? Bioware has exact data and can precisely estimate if a feature is being used, when, by whom and why.

 

Except for that last part this is most likely (mostly) true. I'd personally doubt that they accumulate entirely comprehensive data sets for all player behavior, rather than attempting to sample representive parts of the player base, based on the demography data they have from our account data. There isn't really a need to analyse everyone, just as various poll-surveys doesn't need to ask everyone, to get an indication of how an election has gone. The "Why" is directly false though, aswell as:

 

That means that they have the perfect data to see if something is a success or not, predict people's behavior and even influence it slightly.

 

If you attempt to claim this litterary. One cannot determine a "why" solely from a "what" nor achieve perfect data to ground ones beliefs on. Best case scenario would be that they'd gain a statistically significant data-set which they can use to analyse and interpret through the means of a theory of "why" the data-set looks as it does. In short, a very falliable proces prone to mistakes. Furthermore it would be a very time- and resource consumming proces that when done to such an extreme (trying to be perfect) most likely would not yield any results more beneficial than simply relying on statistical and theoretical premisses anyway

 

No wonder we don't get more GSI missions. It's super simple to make a basic feature, test it out and decide whether to continue. That's why Galactic strongholds and Conquest seem rough around the edges. Every digital project is handled the same way: make a basic product/service > pilot it > test out with clients/users > analyse and evaluate how to continue.

 

Indeed probably a product of constant analysis of the "comsumer-behavior", aswell as the internal logics of the game (its narrative and structure), the visions of the developers and longterm strategy for game (their "roadmap", I believe they call it). The consumer behavioral data is an important part of the interaction between the consumers and developers, and an excellent way for consumers to "vote with their wallet", but very unlikely to be the only one (again determining "why" from "what" alone, yields very unreliable results, and would most likely be attributable to personal bias aswell)

 

Unfortunately this way of thinking actually might abandon features that people love. There can be a vocal community on the forum preaching this or that, but if the numbers don't add up BW would always go in another direction.

 

This is an oversimplication. Consumer behavioral data would never be the sole reason for making decisions regarding gameplay. Furthermore than just the methodological limitations, remember that such a data-set only shows what people used to do, not how they'll react to a new feature. In short, you can tell if people really played a certain feature, but you can't tell whether they liked it/felt obligated to do it/feel that it's a valuable feature and so on. For this they'd need far more than just behavioral data, such as opinions voiced on the forums (Even if such aren't always accurate displays of the community feelings) In the end, why do you think Bioware (and other companies) host and maintain forums and websites for us to voice our opinions on, entirely for free, if not for (also) probing our consumer opinions and feedback? Just as Beta-invites aren't just given out to players because game-developers are "goody-two-shoes" that want to pamper their playerbase with early access, these forums are not just for us to vent our frustrations and elation

 

What can you do? If you love a feature you can get your friends hooked on it. Protest or support by actually doing or not doing it

 

Yes! Aswell as giving Bioware constructive and logical feedback on their forums, paying for the game so that they make money and so, you will be able to influence the developers. They are here to try and "reel" us in and play their game, so both your opinion and behavior is important to them

 

But a very interesting and valid post you've made. Knowing about and understanding the "grinding mechanics" that determine how developers "develop" does give the consumerbase better means of providing accurate feedback to the developers, which in turn (most likely) will "translate" into more enjoyrable gameplay

[Shoraan]

Just to give an example of why the answer to "what are people playing" does not yield the answer to "why are people playing what they are playing" is the analysis of two different ops. Let's say their data shows that EV is run twice as often as EC. They can clearly see that EC isn't as popular. But from a pure statistical value they can't know why it's less popular. Is EC too difficult? Is it too boring? Too long? Not enough or the wrong rewards? Those questions can only be anwered by listening to feedback (e.g. forums).

 

Yes, statistics are very important for balancing decisions. If they see one ability used much less than others, they'll buff it. If another is used a lot, they may nerf it.

 

Evaluating a feature in the game purely from the amount it's used or not only reflects the overall popularity but not the potential of the feature itself. Obviously I have only my personal experiences to judge from, but here is one example where statistics won't help at all:

 

I like the idea of the seeker droid (e.g. the randomness), but I hate using that droid in its current implementation, therefore I don't use it (neither for the GSI missions nor searching for the armor parts). No matter how great the armor looks I just don't like the way the seeker droid works. Bioware can only see "this guy is not doing seeker droid missions", but they don't know whether it's because the reward is too small or the mission is too boring, etc.

 

Another example would be bounty hunter missions. Again, it has some randomness to it and I always like things that are not the same every time. But it takes much longer to travel to the objective than actually killing it.

 

That is why I believe that Bioware is closely monitoring the forums, because it reveals what people think about an aspect of the game, not just what they do or don't do.

[Bluejayoo]

I too work in Data Analytics and AI, so I thought I would offer another perspective on the topic.

 

Bioware SHOULD be looking at everything, and I am sure they collect massive amounts of data. But I often find that my clients with existing analytic projects tend to only look at data in ways that confirms their hypotheses in areas that they are interested in. Many companies, even large ones that you THINK would have more extensive data monitoring systems in place, don't do a good job at determining 'what kinds of questions we should ask' in regards to their data analysis.

 

This is one of the problems with Big Data projects. Companies see it as a magical spell that will provide instant wisdom, but don't realize that analytics will only answer the questions you are asking.

 

In short, we don't know what they are looking at, so we don't know what they can or can't tell about how we play the game.

[Projawa]

This is probably why GSF is on the back burner- waning popularity.

 

I wonder if their metrics can support the development of cross server queues- dollars invested in a system that links queues to increase the pool of available players to help revitalizes old content yields more return than investing those dollars into developing brand new content.

Edited August 11, 2014 by Projawa

[Deewe]

Basically it will be super interesting to BW to see how many people use Strongholds and how.

Yes but when actually the core design is made that even the players deeply interested in housing find it non appealing the data will only say people don't care about it.

 

Which is wrong.

[Gwena]

Interesting point! I suppose it is similar to the idea that if something sells well in the CM, they will add more.

 

But then there is the mysterious cost/benefit analysis that they must do. Even if something is popular, that alone may not be enough to make it "worth it" for them to add more. For example, it seems like I can't go ten steps on Fleet without tripping over a Treek, yet we haven't had more optional Companions added since.

 

I sincerely hope that GSH doesn't flail and wind up flopping like GSF did, and that Bioware considers the "why" as well when looking at its popularity. "Minor" gripes like a 25 NPC limit and holo-Companions for armor display, especially when added up, have the potential to really drag down some people's otherwise great enthusiasm for housing.

[Drockter]

Great post OP.

 

I've said for years (in differing games), if you want to catch the attention of the Devs... you have to translate it into metrics.. PvP is a great example... in the games I play (I haven't played them all, so this is personal experience only), PvP has always had a minority of the player base population.

 

In the games that I saw more time being spent on PvP is when the PvP Community as a whole tried to drum up interest in PvP (player run tournaments, etc). They worked, tirelessly imo, to further their cause.. not only in the forums, but in game... expanding the numbers... becoming more visible on the metrics.

 

As the OP points out, if your claims are not backed up by the numbers they already have (game is dying, subs are leaving in droves for <insert flavor of the month MMO>, nobody will plays <insert mission here>).

 

They know much more than we do about what the general player base is doing.

[Sacriversum]

Pfft, how is this new? They take feedback and act on it. Big freaking deal. Let me know should they do something innovative for a change.

 

Not to mention that the Big Data BS is a purely reactive technique of establishing players' interests. There always has to be the first step, a leap of faith if you will, that they will have to take with new content. And that's where the community may be counted on to step in and provide suggestions. Creativity, vision, inspiration. That's what makes or breaks a game. Not number crunching. And some of you do that for a living? You must have some lively hobbies to make up for it...

[Projawa]

Pfft, how is this new? They take feedback and act on it. Big freaking deal. Let me know should they do something innovative for a change.

 

Not to mention that the Big Data BS is a purely reactive technique of establishing players' interests. There always has to be the first step, a leap of faith if you will, that they will have to take with new content. And that's where the community may be counted on to step in and provide suggestions. Creativity, vision, inspiration. That's what makes or breaks a game. Not number crunching. And some of you do that for a living? You must have some lively hobbies to make up for it...

 

It's hard to continue the creativity and x factor of an initial release. That's why most sequels/followups are terrible (games, TV, movies, books)

For MMOs, most of the visionaries move on to other projects after release because their talents are in building projects from scratch not being part of a maintenance crew.

 

Creativity and number crunching metrics go hand in hand. One without the other is a recipe for failure. The trick is balance. Right now I think SWTOR is too metrics based but that will never change because it's in cash machine mode full time.

Edited August 11, 2014 by Projawa

[Sacriversum]

It's hard to continue the creativity and x factor of an initial release. That's why most sequels/followups are terrible.

For MMOs, most of the visionaries move on to other projects after release because their talents are in building projects from scratch not being part of a maintenance crew.

 

Creativity and number crunching metrics go hand in hand. One without the other is a recipe for failure. The trick is balance. Right now I think SWTOR is too metrics based but that will never change because it's in cash machine mode full time.

 

Exactly true.* Hence my skepticism regarding the whole notion as presented in OP. I think those statistical techniques are valid and useful, but definitely shouldn't be the driving force of development.

 

* Let me qualify this: Exactly true when it comes to works created for profit and thus designed for mass appeal. Not necessarily true in cases when artistic expression first and profit second are the driving forces of creativity. Music industry comes to mind Sadly, not MMOs. Whole 'massive' component etc etc.

Edited August 11, 2014 by Sacriversum
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