1st Edition

Data Analytics Applications in Gaming and Entertainment

Edited By Günter Wallner Copyright 2019
    320 Pages
    by Auerbach Publications

    306 Pages
    by Auerbach Publications

    The last decade has witnessed the rise of big data in game development as the increasing proliferation of Internet-enabled gaming devices has made it easier than ever before to collect large amounts of player-related data. At the same time, the emergence of new business models and the diversification of the player base have exposed a broader potential audience, which attaches great importance to being able to tailor game experiences to a wide range of preferences and skill levels. This, in turn, has led to a growing interest in data mining techniques, as they offer new opportunities for deriving actionable insights to inform game design, to ensure customer satisfaction, to maximize revenues, and to drive technical innovation. By now, data mining and analytics have become vital components of game development. The amount of work being done in this area nowadays makes this an ideal time to put together a book on this subject.



    Data Analytics Applications in Gaming and Entertainment seeks to provide a cross section of current data analytics applications in game production. It is intended as a companion for practitioners, academic researchers, and students seeking knowledge on the latest practices in game data mining. The chapters have been chosen in such a way as to cover a wide range of topics and to provide readers with a glimpse at the variety of applications of data mining in gaming. A total of 25 authors from industry and academia have contributed 12 chapters covering topics such as player profiling, approaches for analyzing player communities and their social structures, matchmaking, churn prediction and customer lifetime value estimation, communication of analytical results, and visual approaches to game analytics. This book’s perspectives and concepts will spark heightened interest in game analytics and foment innovative ideas that will advance the exciting field of online gaming and entertainment.

    Chapter 1. A Brief Overview of Data Mining and Analytics in Games
    GÜNTER WALLNER

    Chapter 2. Evaluating Gamer Achievements to Understand Player Behavior
    THOMAS APPERLEY and ENRICO GANDOLFI

    Chapter 3. Building Matchmaking Systems
    ALEX ZOOK

    Chapter 4. A Data Science Approach to Exploring Hero Roles in Multiplayer Online Battle Arena Games
    CHOONG-SOO LEE and IVAN RAMLER

    Chapter 5. Predicting Customer Lifetime Value in Free-to-Play Games
    PAOLO BURELLI

    Chapter 6. Advanced Data Science Models for Player Behavioral Prediction
    ÁFRICA PERIÁÑEZ, ANNA GUITART, PEI PEI CHEN, and ANA FERNÁNDEZ DEL RÍO

    Chapter 7. Integrating Social and Textual Analytics into Game Analytics
    LAREINA MILAMBILING, MICHAEL KATCHABAW, and DAMIR SLOGAR

    Chapter 8. Social Network Analysis Applied to Game Communities to Identify Key Social Players
    ALESSANDRO CANOSSA and CASPER HARTEVELD

    Chapter 9. Methodological and Epistemological Reflections on the Use of Game Analytics toward Understanding the Social Relationships of a Video Game Community
    MAUDE BONENFANT, PATRICK DESLAURIERS, and ISSAM HEDDAD

    Chapter 10. An Analyst’s Guide to Communication
    NATALIE SELIN

    Chapter 11. A Taxonomy of Visualizations for Gameplay Data
    SIMONE KRIGLSTEIN

    Chapter 12 Co-Design of an Interactive Analytics System for Multiplayer Online Battle Arena Game Occurrences
    QUAN LI, ZIMING WU, HUAMIN QU, and XIAOJUAN MA

    Biography

    Günter Wallner is Assistant Professor at the Eindhoven University of Technology and Senior Scientist at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. He holds a doctorate degree in natural sciences from the University of Applied Arts Vienna and a diploma degree in computer science from the Vienna University of Technology. His research interests lie at the intersection of games user research, data analytics, and information visualization. His work particularly centers on understanding player behavior in games and on researching methods to explore and communicate the collected data to derive actionable insights for game design and development. As a leading expert in game-data visualization, he is developing novel visualizations to support the analysis of the increasingly large-scale player behavioral datasets. Günter is an active member of the games research community, has published more than 60 peer-reviewed articles, and has received various awards and recognitions for his work on games.