Gameplay Analysis of Multiplayer Games with Verified Action-Costs

Measuring player skill cannot be done by considering their historical success alone as the relative skill of their opponents must be considered along with confounding factors such as luck and circumstance. With a specifically designed game, every possible player action can be attributed a cost, the value by which a player reduces their maximum probability of winning. By considering the costs of the actions made by a player we can obtain a more accurate representation of how skilful they are. We developed such a game, the mobile game RPGLite, and compared the actions players made with the cost values we had calculated. Through this analysis we made several observations about RPGLite which we share here to demonstrate the utility of action-costs for gameplay analysis. We show how they can be used to identify game states which players have difficulty making the best moves from, to measure how players learn over time and to compare the strengths and complexity of the characters of RPGLite. Commercial titles could benefit from similar tools—we discuss the feasibility of applying our approach to more complex games.

Digital Supply Chain Management in the Videogames Industry: A Systematic Literature Review

As industries mature, they rely more heavily on supply chain management (SCM) to ensure effective operations leading to greater levels of organisational performance. SCM has been widely covered in many industrial areas and, in line with other burgeoning sectors such as Tourism, an industry focus provides the opportunity to look in-depth at the context-based factors that affect SCM. Developments in digital distribution and rapid technological innovations have resulted in an increased focus on Digital Supply Chains (DSCs), which bring about significant changes to how consumers, customers, suppliers, and manufacturers interact, affecting supply chain design and processes. Through a systematic review of the Videogames Industry Supply Chain Management literature, which serves as a pertinent contextual example of a DSC, we look at how supply chains are affected by structural, market and technological change, such as increased platformisation, disintermediation and the proliferation of digital distribution. We distil these findings into a new research agenda, which identifies themes in line with extant DSC research, provides a series of relevant practice recommendations and identifies opportunities for future research.

Same but Different: A Comparison of Players’ Perceptions and Motivational Factors in Two Commercially Available AR Games

In 2019, the Harry Potter-themed augmented reality (AR) game Wizards Unite was released, one which employed the same game mechanics as Pokémon Go. In order to explore the similarities and differences in players’ perceptions, motivations to play, and missing functions in Wizards Unite and Pokémon Go, we conducted a web-based survey which targeted active players of Wizards Unite 14 weeks after its release. The results are compared to a survey applying the same methodology and questions directed at active players of Pokémon Go. An important reason why many players started playing Wizards Unite was that they were already Harry Potter fans. For Wizards Unite players the motivation stemming from public attention was lower compared to that for Pokémon Go players. The main motivating factors drawing players to these games include fun, curiosity, and being physically active. The AR function was not mentioned as a motivating factor for either game. The aspect of players being able to collect and complete the game was more of a motivation for playing Pokémon Go. Although the game mechanisms are similar, we identified specific differences in the motivational factors of the two games. The main difference is the misfit between the general game story with hunting and collecting within the Harry Potter universe. Nevertheless, the theme of the game and its background story can be important long-term motivating factors of Wizards Unite. The findings in this paper provide insights into how one can create AR games that meet players’ needs.