The Effect of Gathering on Sandbox Player Engagement as Defined Using Analytic Methods

Abstract

Player engagement is a concept that is both vital to the online gaming industry and difficult to define. Typically, engagement is defined using social science methodology such that observing, surveying, and interviewing players are commonly implemented. Further, as online gaming increases in popularity, social behavior in games is also increasingly prevalent. This phenomenon is also studied most often by social scientists. With the vast amount of data being collected from video games as well as user bases increasing in size, it is worthwhile to investigate whether or not user engagement can be defined and interpolated from data alone. This study develops a methodology for defining engagement using analytic methods in order to approach the question of whether gathering in sandbox games has an effect on player engagement.