scholarly journals A Data-Driven Approach for Video Game Playability Analysis Based on Players’ Reviews

Information ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 129
Author(s):  
Xiaozhou Li ◽  
Zheying Zhang ◽  
Kostas Stefanidis
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Binary Classification ◽  
Game Studies ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Software Products ◽  
Data Driven Approach ◽  
Definition Of

Playability is a key concept in game studies defining the overall quality of video games. Although its definition and frameworks are widely studied, methods to analyze and evaluate the playability of video games are still limited. Using heuristics for playability evaluation has long been the mainstream with its usefulness in detecting playability issues during game development well acknowledged. However, such a method falls short in evaluating the overall playability of video games as published software products and understanding the genuine needs of players. Thus, this paper proposes an approach to analyze the playability of video games by mining a large number of players’ opinions from their reviews. Guided by the game-as-system definition of playability, the approach is a data mining pipeline where sentiment analysis, binary classification, multi-label text classification, and topic modeling are sequentially performed. We also conducted a case study on a particular video game product with its 99,993 player reviews on the Steam platform. The results show that such a review-data-driven method can effectively evaluate the perceived quality of video games and enumerate their merits and defects in terms of playability.

scholarly journals SOFTWARE PRODUCT AND PROCESS ASSESSMENT THROUGH PROFILE-BASED EVALUATION

2003 ◽  
Vol 13 (05) ◽  
pp. 495-512 ◽  
Author(s):  
MAURIZIO MORISIO ◽  
IOANNIS STAMELOS ◽  
ALEXIS TSOUKIAS
Keyword(s):  
Evaluation Model ◽  
Process Assessment ◽  
Process Maturity ◽  
Single View ◽  
Software Products ◽  
Software Product ◽  
Product And Process ◽  
Definition Of

Software entities (software products or processes) are characterized by many attributes, each one in its turn can be measured by one or more measures. In several cases the software entities have to be evaluated as a whole, thus raising the problem of aggregating measures to give an overall, single view on the software entity. This paper presents a method to aggregate measures, which works by comparing the product/process with predefined, ideal entities, or profiles. Profiles are defined starting from ranges of values on measures of attributes. The method is based on two main phases, namely definition of the evaluation model and application of the evaluation model. It is presented through a simplified case study that deals with evaluating the level of quality of an asset to decide whether to accept it in a reuse repository. A plausible way of how the method could be applied to process maturity assessment is also provided. The advantages of the method are that it allows using ordinal scales, while it deals explicitly with preferences expressed, implicitly or explicitly, by the evaluator.

scholarly journals Towards a “Filipino” Video Game: Teaching Filipino Culture and Identity for Video Game Development

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoffer Mitch C. Cerda
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Video Game ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Game Development ◽  
Video Game Development ◽  
Game Industry ◽  
Filipino Culture ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Game Developers

This paper uses the author’s experiences of teaching the Filipino module of a multidisciplinary video game development class as a case study in teaching Filipino culture and identity as an element of video game development. A preliminary definition of “Filipino video game” as having Filipino narratives and subject matter, made by Filipino video game developers, and catering to a Filipino audience, is proposed. The realities and limitations of video game development and the video game market in the Philippines is also discussed to show how the dominance of Western video game industry, in terms of the dominance of outsource work for Filipino video game developers and the dominance of non-Filipino video games played by Filipino players, has hindered the development of original Filipino video games. Using four Filipino video games as primary texts discussed in class, students were exposed to Filipinomade video games, and shown how these games use Filipino history, culture, and politics as source material for their narrative and design. Issues of how video games can be used to selfexoticization, and the use of propaganda is discussed, and also how video games can be used to confront and reimagine Filipinoness. The paper ends with a discussion of a student-made game titled Alibatas, a game that aims to teach baybayin, a neglected native writing system in the Philippines as a demonstration of how students can make a Filipino video game. The paper then shows the importance of student-made games, and the role that the academe plays in the critical understanding of Filipino video games, and in defining Filipino culture and identity.

scholarly journals Art and technology: archiving video games for humanities research in university libraries

2018 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 185-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelli Wood ◽  
David S. Carter
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Film Studies ◽  
Game Studies ◽  
Cultural Objects ◽  
Art And Technology ◽  
Past Half Century ◽  
Critical Issues ◽  
The University

AbstractOver the past half-century video games have become a significant part of our cultural environment, in part, by leading advances in both technology and artistic innovation. In recent years librarians and researchers have recognized these games as cultural objects that require collection and curation. Developing and maintaining collections of this fast moving and somewhat ephemeral media, however, poses challenges due to constantly advancing technology and a corresponding lack of consistent terminology. This article addresses the literature and critical issues surrounding collections of video games within libraries and presents a case study of the University of Michigan’s Computer and Video Game Archive (CVGA), one of the largest academic archives of its kind. Moreover, video games are situated in a humanistic approach to the field of game studies as the article draws on the relevance of methods from art history and film studies.

The Haunting Aesthetics of Tacoma

2019 ◽  
pp. 155541201989440
Author(s):  
Ashley P. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Game Design ◽  
Visual Analysis ◽  
Life And Death ◽  
Video Game Design ◽  
Complex Forms ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Relationship

Video games are well suited to exploring questions of philosophical intent through their construction and design. Exploring the layered and complex forms of video game design and aesthetics is a growing area of gaming studies that is pointing toward these larger and important questions, even changing the way gaming studies is being approached by scholars. This article examines the relationship between video games’ design and aesthetics and Derrida’s conceptual framework of hauntology. Using Mannon and Temkin’s definition of glitch aesthetics, I conduct a close visual analysis of Tacoma as a case study in how Derrida’s hauntology is present within video games. Tacoma’s aesthetic choices bring to light how video games play with Western understandings of presence, life, and death.

Tusslers, Beatdowns, and Brothers: A Sociohistorical Overview of Video Game Arcades and theStreet FighterCommunity

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 742-762
Author(s):  
Michael Ryan Skolnik ◽  
Steven Conway
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Moral Panics ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Historical Movement

Alongside their material dimensions, video game arcades were simultaneously metaphysical spaces where participants negotiated social and cultural convention, thus contributing to identity formation and performance within game culture. While physical arcade spaces have receded in number, the metaphysical elements of the arcades persist. We examine the historical conditions around the establishment of so-called arcade culture, taking into account the history of public entertainment spaces, such as pool halls, coin-operated entertainment technologies, video games, and the demographic and economic conditions during the arcade’s peak popularity, which are historically connected to the advent of bachelor subculture. Drawing on these complementary histories, we examine the social and historical movement of arcades and arcade culture, focusing upon the Street Fighter series and the fighting game community (FGC). Through this case study, we argue that moral panics concerning arcades, processes of cultural norm selection, technological shifts, and the demographic peculiarities of arcade culture all contributed to its current decline and discuss how they affect the contemporary FGC.

Waltzing on Rooftops and Cobblestones

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 34-55
Author(s):  
Ailbhe Warde-Brown
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Real World ◽  
World History ◽  
Interaction Model ◽  
Virtual Space ◽  
Open World ◽  
Integrated Approaches ◽  
The Relationship

The relationship between music, sound, space, and time plays a crucial role in attempts to define the concept of “immersion” in video games. Isabella van Elferen’s ALI (affect-literacy-interaction) model for video game musical immersion offers one of the most integrated approaches to reading connections between sonic cues and the “magic circle” of gameplay. There are challenges, however, in systematically applying this primarily event-focused model to particular aspects of the “open-world” genre. Most notable is the dampening of narrative and ludic restrictions afforded by more intricately layered textual elements, alongside open-ended in-game environments that allow for instances of more nonlinear, exploratory gameplay. This article addresses these challenges through synthesizing the ALI model with more spatially focused elements of Gordon Calleja’s player involvement model, exploring sonic immersion in greater depth via the notion of spatiotemporal involvement. This presents a theoretical framework that broadens analysis beyond a simple focus on the immediate narrative or ludic sequence. Ubisoft’s open-world action-adventure franchise Assassin’s Creed is a particularly useful case study for the application of this concept. This is primarily because of its characteristic focus on blending elements of the historical game and the open-world game through its use of real-world history and geography. Together, the series’s various diegetic and nondiegetic sonic elements invite variable degrees of participation in “historical experiences of virtual space.” The outcome of this research intends to put such intermingled expressions of space, place, and time at the forefront of a ludomusicological approach to immersion in the open-world genre.

scholarly journals Impact of Social Responsibility on the Quality of Company Governance

2019 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 21-29
Author(s):  
Ana Jurić ◽  
Aleksandra Zupanc ◽  
Tjaša Štrukelj
Keyword(s):  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Limited Liability ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Socially Responsible ◽  
Company Governance ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
A Company

AbstractThe central aim of the article is company governance, i.e., researching governance of a company that does not want to be only financially successful but also direct its governance toward socially responsible governance. The article begins with the definition of “theoretical backgrounds,” in which social responsibility in regard to company governance improvement in quality is explained. The article then focuses on the measurement of the quality of company governance; in the research, the selected tool chosen to evaluate the governance of the chosen company regarding social responsibility, i.e., SEECGAN index, is used. Further, the case study of a Slovenian public limited liability company is used. One of the important research findings is the recognition that the addressed part of the SEECGAN index needs to be innovated and further developed. Additional questions for the completion of the index used presents the added value of the article. This article has two limitations: 1) it focuses only on the tool chosen to evaluate the governance of the chosen company regarding social responsibility; 2) the case study is based on publicly accessible data.

scholarly journals On the Publishing Methods of Our Time: Mobilizing Knowledge in Game Studies

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve Wilcox
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Game Studies ◽  
First Person ◽  
Academic Interest ◽  
Middle State ◽  
The University

There is a considerable amount of academic and non-academic interest in the production and reception of video games. At the same time game scholars encounter questions such as, “are video game academics irrelevant?” In this article I connect questions of relevancy in game studies with the need to develop forms of publishing capable of asserting that relevancy more broadly. As the co-founder and editor-in-chief of First Person Scholar (FPS), a middle-state publication based in the Games Institute at the University of Waterloo, I detail how FPS has attempted to reach beyond the traditional scope of game studies to engage a wider audience and assert a new degree of relevancy for the game scholar.

scholarly journals Semi-automatic construction of video game design prototypes with MaruGen

2020 ◽  
pp. 9-20
Author(s):  
Italo Felipe Capasso-Ballesteros ◽  
Fernando De la Rosa-Rosero
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Game Design ◽  
Video Game Design ◽  
L Systems ◽  
Role Based ◽  
Game Designer ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Game Developers ◽  
Expression Mechanism

Machinations Ruleset Generator (MaruGen) is a semi-automatic system for the generation of mechanics, rules, spaces (environments), and missions for video games. The objective of this system is to offer an expression mechanism for the video game designer role based on the definition of rules, and the ability to explore the concepts of progression and emergence in video games by using a formal, usable, and defined tool to design games with innovative and complex elements, and behaviors defined from combinations of basic elements. Based on the expressed designs and with the participation of programmers and video game artists, MaruGen allows the generation of agile video game prototypes in the Unity game engine. These prototypes can be analyzed by the entire workgroup to look for games with diverse complexities that make them attractive to their users. MaruGen is based on the expression of rules on elements of interest in video games and the rewriting mechanism using L-Systems for the generation of procedural content. MaruGen was evaluated in the construction of the Cubic Explorer video game and tested by gamers and video game developers during the Game Jam Ludum Dare 38.

“Now They’re Playing with Power!”: Nintendo’s Classics and Franchise Legacy Management

2019 ◽  
pp. 105-118
Author(s):  
Matthew Thomas Payne
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Software And Hardware

Matthew Thomas Payne’s chapter considers the role of franchise management through video games. He uses the case study of Nintendo’s NES and SNES micro-consoles. His essay posits that franchises can refer to both software and hardware, as the built-in games on Nintendo’s mini-consoles function as a form of franchise management and corporate canonizing by privileging certain video game texts over others.

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