At the International Games Summit in Montreal, sociologist Jen Whitson, a researcher from Technoculture, Arts and Games, explained the impact of analytical data on the games industry.
In her opinion, the charm of analytics has led to the fact that the design of the game is no longer dictated from above. Now it is largely dependent on users. The negative side is that such a scenario allows only local success. Even if there are more tempting heights ahead, counting on statistics will not allow you to reach them.
In addition, there is an opinion that gamers themselves do not understand what they want, therefore, you should not trust the information received from them. When EA decided to update Battlefield Heroes by offering users powerful weapons, the company found that those who most actively opposed the innovation spent the most money on new weapons, and the profit from the game doubled almost overnight.
Whitson believes that statistics are an excellent tool for optimization, but destructive for innovation. Statistics limit the directions of developers’ thoughts, defining only “good” and “bad” within the framework of already existing models.
“If you want developers to create something magical, you shouldn’t put a calculation table in front of them,” says Whitson.
And another important aspect, according to Whitson, statistics can lie. The data obtained will tell you what users are doing, but will not indicate the reasons.
And Tayber Voyer, the designer and producer of A Thinking Ape, supports his colleague. At the same summit, Voyer expressed the opinion that it would be foolish to ignore the data provided by in-depth analytics. However, you should not blindly follow the numbers without understanding what they are talking about. Voyer considers it mandatory to receive feedback from users who can provide explanations for their unexpected behavior.
Whitson stressed that she does not prove the need to abandon statistics. It is very important to know how games affect their audience. However, analytics should be used in conjunction with other tools.
Source: www.gamesindustry.biz