Visualizing Changes in Strategy Use across Attempts via State Diagrams: A Case Study
Game log data have great potential to provide actionable information about the in-game behavior of players. However, these low-level behavioral data are notoriously difficult to analyze due to the challenges associated with extracting meaning from sparse data stored at such a small grain size. This...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2016-01-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Computer Games Technology |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/8492312 |
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| _version_ | 1850157279894044672 |
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| author | Deirdre Kerr |
| author_facet | Deirdre Kerr |
| author_sort | Deirdre Kerr |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Game log data have great potential to provide actionable information about the in-game behavior of players. However, these low-level behavioral data are notoriously difficult to analyze due to the challenges associated with extracting meaning from sparse data stored at such a small grain size. This paper describes a three-step solution that uses cluster analysis to determine which strategies players use to solve levels in the game, sequence mining to identify changes in strategy across multiple attempts at the same level, and state transition diagrams to visualize the strategy sequences identified by the sequence mining. In the educational video game used in this case study, cluster analysis successfully identified 15 different in-game strategies. The sequence mining found an average of 40 different sequences of strategy use per level, which the state transition diagrams successfully displayed in an interpretable way. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-3a2ed879d9e446c8afffa6c9221342fa |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1687-7047 1687-7055 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2016-01-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | International Journal of Computer Games Technology |
| spelling | doaj-art-3a2ed879d9e446c8afffa6c9221342fa2025-08-20T02:24:14ZengWileyInternational Journal of Computer Games Technology1687-70471687-70552016-01-01201610.1155/2016/84923128492312Visualizing Changes in Strategy Use across Attempts via State Diagrams: A Case StudyDeirdre Kerr0Center for Advanced Psychometrics, Educational Testing Service, San Francisco, CA 94105, USAGame log data have great potential to provide actionable information about the in-game behavior of players. However, these low-level behavioral data are notoriously difficult to analyze due to the challenges associated with extracting meaning from sparse data stored at such a small grain size. This paper describes a three-step solution that uses cluster analysis to determine which strategies players use to solve levels in the game, sequence mining to identify changes in strategy across multiple attempts at the same level, and state transition diagrams to visualize the strategy sequences identified by the sequence mining. In the educational video game used in this case study, cluster analysis successfully identified 15 different in-game strategies. The sequence mining found an average of 40 different sequences of strategy use per level, which the state transition diagrams successfully displayed in an interpretable way.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/8492312 |
| spellingShingle | Deirdre Kerr Visualizing Changes in Strategy Use across Attempts via State Diagrams: A Case Study International Journal of Computer Games Technology |
| title | Visualizing Changes in Strategy Use across Attempts via State Diagrams: A Case Study |
| title_full | Visualizing Changes in Strategy Use across Attempts via State Diagrams: A Case Study |
| title_fullStr | Visualizing Changes in Strategy Use across Attempts via State Diagrams: A Case Study |
| title_full_unstemmed | Visualizing Changes in Strategy Use across Attempts via State Diagrams: A Case Study |
| title_short | Visualizing Changes in Strategy Use across Attempts via State Diagrams: A Case Study |
| title_sort | visualizing changes in strategy use across attempts via state diagrams a case study |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/8492312 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT deirdrekerr visualizingchangesinstrategyuseacrossattemptsviastatediagramsacasestudy |