Because video games happen in a virtual world, it's possible to measure just about every aspect of the game. It's kind of like being able to observe a sports match or a battle, but being able to attach a telemetry sensor to every player, every weapon and bullet, every surface of the environment, and gather all that data in real time. The Big Data revolution has made this possible, and video game companies routinely gather 50 terabytes of data per day to improve their games, operations and revenue.
But from the player's point of view, can analyzing this data improve their performance? Just as Moneyball revolutionalized baseball, can analyzing video game data improve the success of a professional gamer? Video gaming magazine Kill Screen asked how big data helps and hurts League of Legends players in a recent article and suggested it can help many players:
“Almost all players will reach a point where they will plateau without self-reflection, analysis, and focused practice,” Sabine Hemmi of the League of Legends stat site Elobuff tells me. “Any player who understands the basics can learn from statistics. It will be easier for them to identify their weaknesses and focus on improving.”
But when it comes to the elite players, the numbers may not be as much help:
“If you go to a local chess club and pick a low-level player, it’s easy to spot flaws in their game,” explains Bill Grosso, CEO of Scientific Revenue. “Then, you go to the world championship of chess. It becomes really, really hard.”
Nonetheless, it's clear that data analysis is revolutionizing the video game industry, as Bill Grosso rescribed in a recent Revolution Analytics webinar, "Knowing How People are Playing Your Game Gives You the Winning Hand". Follow that link for the webinar replay, or click the link below for the full Kill Screen article.
Kill Screen: How big data helps — and hurts — League of Legends players
Comments