Game Systems Engineering
Game Metrics
Lennart Nacke
Blekinge Institute of Technology
Department of Interaction and System Design
Game and Media Arts Laboratory
http://gamescience.bth.se/teaching/courses/game-systems-engineering

Outline
 What are Game Metrics?
 Metrics Visualizations and Examples

What are Game Metrics?
 Statistical data
– Game-focused
 Times (cumulative playing time, time for task completion)
 Death counts (map, time, difficulty)
– Player-focused
 Behavioral
 Attitudinal
 Physiological
 Everything you can measure…
 Numbers ≈ knowledge
– Scientific evaluation
– Allows for computation…
 Adaptive measures
– Affective gaming

Metrics in Level Design
 Player character in-game metrics balancing
– Physical properties (distance, speed, interaction/movement type)
– Temporary modifiers (power ups, ammo, etc.)
 In-game environmental metrics
– Tweakable system parameters (rain, terrain, effects, etc.)
– Distribution of modifiers, NPCs
– Points of player interaction
 Time (of interaction)
 Type (of interaction)
 Space (e.g. where attack takes place)
 Preferences of players
– Difficulty, character classes, playing styles, etc.

Metrics for game designers
 Identify problems
– Location
– Type
– Cause
 Designing for player experience
– Measure all the playing facts you can gather
– Reconstruct player identities
– Discover causes for experiential phenomena
 Game analysis is numerically reliable
 Metrics as communication with the community

Metrics mean data
 Good analysis requires data mining
 Better results by visualizing the data
 Statistical data
– Visualization as decision helpers (e.g. histograms)
 Game metrics is a young field
– Few people
– Industry neglected so far…
– Ongoing scientific groundwork (usability, playability, behavior)
 Example visualizations

Xfire Game Rankings by Invested Playing Time
From http://www.xfire.com/cms/stats/

Heatmaps in Halo 3
From http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&cid=12943

Heatmaps in Half-Life 2, Episode 2
From http://www.steampowered.com/status/ep2/ep2_stats.php

Frag Vectors in Quake 3
From http://orbusgameworks.com/blog/article/35/quake-iii-heat-maps

Time spent on map and jumping arcs (Quake 3)
From http://orbusgameworks.com/blog/article/35/quake-iii-heat-maps

Half-Life 2 Gunfire Metrics (Safe Zones)
From http://orbusgameworks.com/blog/article/42/half-life-2-gunfire-metrics

Game Metrics in Hitman: Blood Money
From Canossa, A. “Play personas and Game Metrics”

Eye Tracking Visual Attention Metrics
From Nacke, L., Lindley, C. (in preparation) ”Distribution of Visual Attention on Game-Interface Menus”

Game and Physiological Event Logging
From Nacke, L., Lindley, C., Stellmach, S. (2008) “Log Who’s Playing: Psychophysiological
Game Analysis Made Easy through Event Logging” LNCS Fun and Games 2008

References
 Mellon, L., Kazemi D. (2008) “Wake Up and Smell the Metrics” Austin GDC
 Nacke, L., Lindley, C., Stellmach, S. (2008) “Log Who’s Playing:
Psychophysiological Game Analysis Made Easy through Event Logging”
LNCS Fun and Games 2008
– http://www.springerlink.com/content/f3560134p7017541/
 Kim, J.H., Gunn, D.V., Schuh, E., Philips, B., Pagulayan, R.J., Wixon, D.
(2008) “Tracking Real-Time User Experience (TRUE): A comprehensive
instrumentation solution for complex systems” CHI 2008
 Canossa, A. (2008) “Play personas and game metrics, analysis of Hitman:
Blood Money”, presentation in PhD Seminar
 Tychsen, A., Canossa, A. (2008) “Defining Personas in Games Using
Metrics” Proceedings of ACM Future Play 2008.
 Byrne, E. (2005) Game Level Design, Chapter 7
 Orbus Gameworks, http://orbusgameworks.com
 Valve Steam, http://store.steampowered.com/stats/
 Xfire, http://www.xfire.com/cms/stats/
 Bungie, Microsoft, http://www.bungie.net, http://mgsuserresearch.com

Thank you for your attention!