Over the years, digital gaming has grown from a niche curiosity to a sprawling industry. During that time, the games themselves have changed considerably. In the early years, designers would simply stick to time-worn principles and the guidance of gut instincts.
But more recently, they’re making changes that are informed by masses of data on player behaviour and revealed preferences.
Personalisation in Digital Gaming
Through data, the gaming experience can be highly personalised to the preferences of an individual player. The crudest example of this is difficulty that adapts based on the performance of the player. When the player is struggling, things get easier; when they’re cruising, things get more difficult. That way, the action stays in the zone of maximum focus, between the stress of excessive difficulty, and the boredom of excessive ease.
In other cases, players might be targeted with specific promotions, based on the kinds of games they’ve been interacting with. Bingo promotions, for example, might be presented to those who’ve expressed an interest in bingo.
Finally, we should consider how player data might be used to actually change the course of a narrative-based experience. Characters and plotlines might develop differently, depending on data about player preferences.
Building Stronger Communities
Part of what draws people into online gaming goes beyond the appeal of the games themselves, but the groups of people that come together around them. Certain massively multiplayer games are built around a sense of community, with voice chat and text-based chat being integral to the overall experience.
Through analytics, developers might enhance these interactions, and refine social features in a way that makes the experience better. That means, in part, listening to feedback from players, and responding to frequent requests.
Supporting Responsible Play
Data analytics is extremely powerful when it comes to keeping players in control of their experience. Through machine learning, a set of algorithms might learn to associate certain patterns of play with negative, undesirable outcomes. The company can then intervene to provide players with a safety valve.
Looking Forward: The Future of Player Experience
The world of data analysis is midway through a fairly seismic shift. It’s difficult to see where things might end up, after the AI-based revolution settles down. It might be that the games of the future are entirely generated, and created on the fly to suit the needs of the player!
