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Retardo? A study on gameplay patterns in open world RPGs

Cervby

Literate
Joined
May 4, 2018
Messages
14
I'm doing my bachelor degree of Game Design and want people to particpate in my study. The participants will be anonymous and the produced data will only be used as statistics. The study will analyze playing patterns to see how different types of gameplay and player behaviour affects the enjoyment and other aspects of the player experience, as well as potentionally identifying different player types. This is primarily so game developers better can balance the different types of gameplay in their game.

As a participant you will play any of the games The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, The Witcher 3, or Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor. While playing the game you are to press the F1-F7 keys or 1-7 keys corresponding to what type of action they are doing. Those key inputs will be captured by a small seperate program I have created which you will be asked to run simultaneously as playing the game. Further instructions can be found when running the program. Copy the result you get from the program into pastebin.com, and reply with the pastebin link here. I will then compile the data and later I'll let you see the result of the study.

The Program: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dmFOq2qrqdNamCjNEKptRN-AuYx7w_2L
 

WhiskeyWolf

RPG Codex Polish Car Thief
Staff Member
Joined
Nov 4, 2007
Messages
14,756
Sounds fishy. Why would you need a separate program to register key inputs?
 

U-8D8

Savant
Joined
May 2, 2018
Messages
168
Aren't 1-7 the customizable hotkeys in Skyrim? Which would mean that they could be effectively any spell, potion, or weapon in the entire game, not to mention if they're linked to an item from a mod? What kind of info could you get from that? It seems like you'd need context to draw even the smallest conclusion from it. Also, I'm looking at a page of Shadow of Mordor's controls and out of the keys you mentioned only the number 2 key is used for anything, and that's only for paging through menus. Are you aware of this?

Am I missing something? Because it doesn't seem like this kind of tracking would get you anything, unless I'm misinterpreting "While playing the game you are to press the F1-F7 keys or 1-7 keys corresponding to what type of action they are doing," somehow.
 

FeelTheRads

Arcane
Joined
Apr 18, 2008
Messages
13,716
Hi,

I am mining cryptocurrencies.

You are to use your computer to make me money.

In case this is for real, and you are actually having a degree in Game Design, please kill yourself. You are the cause for which games today suck.
 

deama

Prophet
Joined
May 13, 2013
Messages
4,352
Location
UK
Should have used something like autohotkey, then at least we could see what the code does to make sure we aren't getting screwed over.
 

HoboForEternity

sunset tequila
Patron
Joined
Mar 27, 2016
Messages
9,175
Location
Disco Elysium
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
If you want to study the pattern of most AAA videogame on the market and the science behind it, look no further than this short video about operant conditioning;



just switch pigeond with idiot humans and treats with fake dopamine rush from tedious repetitive shit, on top of heinous advertising and pitfalls for microtransaction/lootboxes
 

Cervby

Literate
Joined
May 4, 2018
Messages
14
If you want to see whether the program does anything malicious you can see the source code here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ve28X28HktzaimJUMFi6FBlaWw6MLzVZ
It's made for AutoHotKey v2.0.

The participant can choose whether they want to use the 1-7 keys or the F1-F7 keys.

The purpose of the study is to find whether there are exists certain patterns of gameplay which players in general tend to like or dislike. By having a large number of people log what type of action they are doing while playing a play-session, I may find common patterns on what people like. For example, perhaps it's found that people tend to like a lot of interactivity, but only if it's unevenly sparsed, it's them shown people doesn't like evenly sparsed interactivity as much. Another example to be found could be that people like games whith a lot of walking to places, but only if more than 40% of the game is cutscenes. Or maybe for example, by seeing people being usatisfied playing the following pattern: 2 minutes high interaction, then 1 minute cutscene, then 1 player choice, and repeat, if such was found then it would with that then be advised for games to not be made with such a pattern. The goal is that by finding patterns like these that it would help game designers and level designers to figure out how to best make their games.

The program contains a number questions which the participant answers after having finished their play-session. For example whether they enjoyed their play-session, did they think their play-session was challegning, did they feel their play-session was immersive, did they feel competent while playing, etc. That would tell me what they thought of their play-session, and by comparing all the various play-session I could find whether there are certain patterns in their play-sessions which are commonly liked or disliked.
 

Cervby

Literate
Joined
May 4, 2018
Messages
14
And by "The participant can choose whether they want to use the 1-7 keys or the F1-F7 keys.", I mean that the participant can press the F8 key to switch between the two.
 

Cervby

Literate
Joined
May 4, 2018
Messages
14

Cervby

Literate
Joined
May 4, 2018
Messages
14
To specify even a bit more, I've divided gameplay into 7 gameplay types: non-objective, objective, interaction, decision, consumption, what?, and external. Thorough explanations of the types can be found inside the program/script.
 
Self-Ejected

RNGsus

Self-Ejected
Joined
Apr 29, 2011
Messages
8,106
I've seen some lazy attempts to get people to install a key-logger, but this is a new low.

25119.jpg

Dunno what you're talking about, nothing suspicious here.
Nigerian prince.
 

Tigranes

Arcane
Joined
Jan 8, 2009
Messages
10,350
Can't you just do an interview or something like normal people, instead of using something fishy like this?

The kind of information he seems to want - essentially a time-based log of the different genres of action people engage in while playing - isn't something you can reliably capture in a post facto interview. You'd have to observe them playing (i.e. get permission to get videos of people's playthroughs) and then do a content analysis style coding, or do the real-time logging using the hotkeys. It's not a very easy thing to capture, unless you have the money and resources to get people in a room and get paid to play games or something.

I'm not clear on categories of action the keys are supposed to capture, though. Are the players supposed to code their own behviaour on the go, by deciding whatever they're doing right now counts as "objective" and then press the button? Seems like it would interrupt the flow a lot and players will yield a lot of messy data, as opposed to, say, collecting narrated video LPs and coding that.
 

deama

Prophet
Joined
May 13, 2013
Messages
4,352
Location
UK
Ah, I see now what this does.
Basically around every 20 minutes the program will ask you to choose from 7 different situation categories (F1-F7) that are supposed to reflect what you are currently doing. As an example:
You are playing Skyrim and are talking to an NPC, then suddenly this prompt comes up asking you what you are doing, you should then press F5 for "Consuming", as in, you are consuming what the game is giving you, in this case, listening to an NPC talk. But if instead the prompt comes in a bit later, wherein you finished listening to the NPC and are instead choosing a dialogue option, then you should press F4 for "Decision", because you are making a Decision now.

I donno about this, it seems kinda finiky, like in the dialogue example above, the "consuming" and "Decision" scenarios are really close to each other; but if it's fine by you, then ok I guess?
 
Last edited:

Naveen

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Aug 23, 2015
Messages
1,115
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Yeah, this is the sort of stuff that should be done using a protocol analysis — basically, make participants verbalize what they are thinking as they are playing, and record it. I can't see the info from these 7 categories and a later survey being really useful.
 

Kyl Von Kull

The Night Tripper
Patron
Joined
Jun 15, 2017
Messages
3,152
Location
Jamrock District
Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
If you want to see whether the program does anything malicious you can see the source code here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ve28X28HktzaimJUMFi6FBlaWw6MLzVZ
It's made for AutoHotKey v2.0.

The participant can choose whether they want to use the 1-7 keys or the F1-F7 keys.

The purpose of the study is to find whether there are exists certain patterns of gameplay which players in general tend to like or dislike. By having a large number of people log what type of action they are doing while playing a play-session, I may find common patterns on what people like. For example, perhaps it's found that people tend to like a lot of interactivity, but only if it's unevenly sparsed, it's them shown people doesn't like evenly sparsed interactivity as much. Another example to be found could be that people like games whith a lot of walking to places, but only if more than 40% of the game is cutscenes. Or maybe for example, by seeing people being usatisfied playing the following pattern: 2 minutes high interaction, then 1 minute cutscene, then 1 player choice, and repeat, if such was found then it would with that then be advised for games to not be made with such a pattern. The goal is that by finding patterns like these that it would help game designers and level designers to figure out how to best make their games.

The program contains a number questions which the participant answers after having finished their play-session. For example whether they enjoyed their play-session, did they think their play-session was challegning, did they feel their play-session was immersive, did they feel competent while playing, etc. That would tell me what they thought of their play-session, and by comparing all the various play-session I could find whether there are certain patterns in their play-sessions which are commonly liked or disliked.

What kind of university allows you to enroll people in a study without asking them to sign a release form? Even if you’re only having participants fill out a survey you need them to sign a release. This is basic academic ethics. Does your thesis advisor know that you aren’t getting release forms?

This is either a very dim student or a mildly clever scammer.
 

Cervby

Literate
Joined
May 4, 2018
Messages
14
Can't you just do an interview or something like normal people, instead of using something fishy like this?

The kind of information he seems to want - essentially a time-based log of the different genres of action people engage in while playing - isn't something you can reliably capture in a post facto interview. You'd have to observe them playing (i.e. get permission to get videos of people's playthroughs) and then do a content analysis style coding, or do the real-time logging using the hotkeys. It's not a very easy thing to capture, unless you have the money and resources to get people in a room and get paid to play games or something.

I'm not clear on categories of action the keys are supposed to capture, though. Are the players supposed to code their own behviaour on the go, by deciding whatever they're doing right now counts as "objective" and then press the button? Seems like it would interrupt the flow a lot and players will yield a lot of messy data, as opposed to, say, collecting narrated video LPs and coding that.

When the program/script is started a window appears with text thoroughly explaining the different types. Obviously not every possible action that can be covered in the explanation, but I've tried to be as clear as possible with the explanation so the player's interpretation of what type the player judges an action to belong to is the same as mine.

While having to press a key to tell what you're doing while playing can be a bit cumbersome, there are a few reasons as to why I chose to do it this way instead of eg. publicly available narrated Let's Plays on youtube. #1 It can be difficult to judge how well the Let's Player enjoyed the game if they don't clearly say whether they enjoyed the game, especially since some youtubers may try to appear more happy & positive than they really are as to appeal to their audience. #2 Does the average Let's Play accurately represent the average players? This can be especially so if the Let'ts Player decides to stand around talking to their audience, which is not an action the average player would do. #3 I want to preferably know what they consider themselves to be doing, and not just what I see them doing. For example, the player may be making a decision about what to do but neither shows or talks about themselves making that decision, so I wouldn't know they're making a desicion. Or it could for example be the other way around, they're presented with choices but don't actaully make decision and instead chooses one randomly. So the Let's Player would need to constantly narrate about exactly everything they're doing all the time, which most Let's Player just doesn't do the extend that I want.

Another alternative I had been thinking about was to ask people to record their screen while playing and send the recording to me. It would be a bit cumbersome because they would need to install Fraps or similar, but more importantly I still need to know what they consider themselves to be doing. This means that they would need a microphone, which not everyone has, and I think it may be easier for them to not have to set everything up with Fraps and such, end then they'd have to send it to me somehow, and it would be easier for me the way I chose because I'd otherwise have to go through all the videos and write down timestamp by hand. Also, how much easier is it really anyway for them to constantly narrate what they are doing rather than constantly pressing a key for what they are doing.


I was thinking of not putting the description of the different types here and instead just have them in the program/script, because I thought the text was a bit long, but it might not be as long as I thought, here it is anyway:


F1 Non-Objective - This is any action you do which you have not planned or anticipated. For example appreciating the view of a distant mountain, or "I wonder how deep this lake is?".

F2 Objective - This is when you are following a goal. This goal can be set by either yourself or the game. One example of such is walking to a target.

F3 Interact - This is when you are actively interacting and giving the game inputs, such as in combat. This can for example be shooting or hitting a person, picking up items from a chest, or mounting a horse.

F4 Decision - This is whenever you are making a choice. It can for example be choosing which way to travel, selecting what items to buy in a shop, choosing which items to pick up, or deciding which enemy to attack.

F5 Consumption - This is when you as a player consumes what the game gives you. It is whenever you are not actively interacting with the game, but instead are taking in what the game is giving you. This can for example be listening to an NPC, reading a book, or looking at a cut-scene.

F6 What? - This is for example when you are wondering how to approach a problem, or you might not even know what your problem is. "How do I get over there?" "Where am I?" "Let me just process what you just said.."

F7 External - Any time you do anything unrelated to the game, for example wondering what to have for dinner or wondering if someone knocked on you door.

Summary
F1 Non-Objective action/thinking _ Eg. "I wonder how deep this lake is?" "That's a nice looking mountain."
F2 Objective action ____________ Eg. Walking to target.
F3 Interact ___________________ Eg. Shooting/hitting person. Picking up item. Entering vehicle. Mounting horse.
F4 Decision making ____________ Eg. "Which way do I choose to travel?" "What items should I buy?" "Which of the enemies do I attack first?"
F5 Consumption _______________ Eg. Listening. Reading. Cut-scenes.
F6 What? ____________________ Eg. "How do I get over there?" "Where am I?" "Let me just process what you just said.."
F7 External __________________ Eg. "I wonder what I should have for dinner?" "Did someone knock on my door?"
 

Cervby

Literate
Joined
May 4, 2018
Messages
14
Ah, I see now what this does.
Basically around every 20 minutes the program will ask you to choose from 7 different situation categories (F1-F7) that are supposed to reflect what you are currently doing. As an example:
You are playing Skyrim and are talking to an NPC, then suddenly this prompt comes up asking you what you are doing, you should then press F5 for "Consuming", as in, you are consuming what the game is giving you, in this case, listening to an NPC talk. But if instead the prompt comes in a bit later, wherein you finished listening to the NPC and are instead choosing a dialogue option, then you should press F4 for "Decision", because you are making a Decision now.

I donno about this, it seems kinda finiky, like in the dialogue example above, the "consuming" and "Decision" scenarios are really close to each other; but if it's fine by you, then ok I guess?

No, you will not suddenly be prompted. The 20 minutes is the minimum I think the players should play so that I can get some useful data. The player is supposed to whenever they are making a decision press the decision key (F4), press F3 whenever they begin doing combat, press F5 whenever they begin watching a cutscene, etc. It can be a bit cumbersome to use, but it's not undoable, and I think it works good enough from my tests on a couple friends.
 

deama

Prophet
Joined
May 13, 2013
Messages
4,352
Location
UK
Ah, I see now what this does.
Basically around every 20 minutes the program will ask you to choose from 7 different situation categories (F1-F7) that are supposed to reflect what you are currently doing. As an example:
You are playing Skyrim and are talking to an NPC, then suddenly this prompt comes up asking you what you are doing, you should then press F5 for "Consuming", as in, you are consuming what the game is giving you, in this case, listening to an NPC talk. But if instead the prompt comes in a bit later, wherein you finished listening to the NPC and are instead choosing a dialogue option, then you should press F4 for "Decision", because you are making a Decision now.

I donno about this, it seems kinda finiky, like in the dialogue example above, the "consuming" and "Decision" scenarios are really close to each other; but if it's fine by you, then ok I guess?

No, you will not suddenly be prompted. The 20 minutes is the minimum I think the players should play so that I can get some useful data. The player is supposed to whenever they are making a decision press the decision key (F4), press F3 whenever they begin doing combat, press F5 whenever they begin watching a cutscene, etc. It can be a bit cumbersome to use, but it's not undoable, and I think it works good enough from my tests on a couple friends.
Ah, I see now, that makes not as weird as I thought.
 

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