14. Summative Games Evaluation
So why bother?
• Informs future game design and distribution
• External dissemination and discussion
• Internal awareness and buy-in
• Validation of the project
• Surprising, rewarding and fascinating
To test: did we achieve our aims? Reach a new audience – distribution strategy Engage them meaningfully with the subject matter Do so with a game which was high quality and satisfying to play
Number of plays has passed 3.2 million, far exceeding target of 100k in month one and 50k thereafter Average dwell time just under 15 min Most popular countries 26% USA, 6% UK, 5.5% Brazil… Only about 3% visits to our hosted version, rest syndicated Around 30k referrals from game to WC site Social media drove tiny fraction of traffic to the game – can be more targeted next time
Distribution strategy
Google trends http://stats.grok.se/
Google trends http://stats.grok.se/
1100 responses. Confirm it/ Survey Monkey Questions about gameplay and demographics, but also learnings and feelings. But over 50% either quite or very likely to look for more information after playing Nearly 60% retained the same opinion about the British empire, but nearly 28% felt more negatively, and nearly 10% felt more positively Comments mostly positive, pleased to be learning and having fun, small number thought it was tasteless
Players intrigued by subject matter but also high rating and front page positioning on game portals Positive feedback on game, could have included even more information about history etc All but one who was very familiar with the history felt they had learnt something. Several went on to check Wikipedia page or other sources, including reading a book about China Several had thought about the ethics whilst playing Were pleasantly surprised to see us doing this, wanted to see us do more gamsPlayers intrigued by subject matter but also high rating and front page positioning on game portals Positive feedback on game, could have included even more information about history etc All but one who was very familiar with the history felt they had learnt something. Several went on to check Wikipedia page or other sources, including reading a book about China Several had thought about the ethics whilst playing Were pleasantly surprised to see us doing this, wanted to see us do more gams
Game portal comments, numerous and often thoughtful “ How come I only understood what I’d seen in a museum after playing this game?” 18 blog reviews, many discussing history, some economics, not all English language. Also generated comments and debate on those blogs Threads on Reddit and Metafilter, on history, ethics and economics Video reviews and walkthroughs on YouTube, also hack video Discussed in depth on Popmatter’s Moving Pixels podcast Response from conferences and other similar institutions has been positive and interested
