Play with Data: Game Visualization and Analytics

May 13, 2011
Ben Medler | Georgia Institute of Technology

How do you play with data? Even the most serious data analyst needs to take the time to playfully imagine new creative ways to manipulate and explore their data. The ability to creatively explore ones data increases as domains such as information visualization are used to create tools that not only provide “actionable” results for analysts but present experiences more akin to playing a game than analyzing data. Thus, when game developers and players themselves begin to use similar tools for analyzing games the act of playing truly fuses with data analysis.

This talk reviews the growth of game analytics and the use of information visualization in relation to digital games. While game developers have for many years used game analytics as part of their user research strategies there exists a growing trend of players building game analytic systems for enhancing their gameplay. Both sides of the game analytic coin are discussed including developer produced analytic tools used for optimizing and balancing gameplay to player created tools used for gaining a competitive edge and sharing gameplay experiences. The central theme is how expansive the concept of playing with data has progressed in relation to games and what is coming next.

Speaker Details

Ben Medler is a Ph.D. student at the Georgia Institute of Technology where he is working on his dissertation focusing on information visualization and game analytics. His work revolves around the concept of playing with data, how developers and players can utilize game data in new, playful ways. One of his most recent projects involved working with EA and Visceral Games to build a visual game analytic tool for Dead Space 2 entitled Data Cracker. Ben also founded the website visualizegames.com, a project devoted to archiving game interface patterns and visualization systems built for analyzing game data.