Jul 25, 03:07 PM
So, Craig ran a bunch of Allegiance games on Sunday where we collected a lot of gameplay data. In case you forgot, we modded Allegiance because even though it’s pretty old, it’s the only open-source MMO we know of that currently has a strong player base.
Anyway, we’re working on visualizing the data. I decided to fire up Processing once again, whereas Craig is developing a Silverlight application.
The first thing we’re trying to do is recreate a mini-map of the sectors where the gameplay takes place. This is effectively a graph), so I poked around and found a forum post where Owen Densmore made available the source for a program he put together for 3D graph visualization. I modified his code, adding in the JDBC MS SQL Server driver and then basically using that and java.sql to put together a reader that would look at our Aleph Metrics database for Allegiance and build out the nodes and edges.
Here’s a screenshot of my efforts:
It’s visually kind of impressive, especially since Owen’s code included lots of nice camera features, including zoom. But it’s also pretty incomprehensible.
Craig, on the other hand, is building out his Silverlight demo to do more or less the same thing. But he’s doing it in 2D, and building it all from scratch (because he’s a programmer, and I’m not). Here’s what he has so far:
This is in super-draft mode right now, and the program doesn’t even attempt to do a smart mass-spring graph layout yet. But it’s still far more readable, and I think it’s a better way to visualize a small graph like this, especially when you consider that we’re going to be adding event overlays (of who went where, and where battles happened).
— Darius Kazemi
May 24, 01:33 PM
Hi, this is Craig. I’m the guy who does most of the measuring (as opposed to tool development or schmoozing).
For the past few weeks, I’ve been working on modifying a game called Allegiance, an oldie but goodie in the world of marginally massively multiplayer online games. It’s basically a space fighter game that is all about team play.
Anyhow, we’ve collected data on a few games, but we don’t have much data on teamwork. Actually, nobody does. Most metrics measure things like kills and gold and xp. Rarely, someone will try to measure the optimal team balance or use trading information to track gold farmers. But it’s definitely an area of measurement that is underutilized.
What we’re trying to do with Allegiance is not simply measure the number of kills a given player has, but to measure the dynamics of a team. For example, most people have a preferred role in the game – a scout, or a bomber, or such. It is relatively easy to determine this by simply measuring how long they stay in a given type of ship… but that’s not a measurement their current metrics do. This is a fundamental part of how a team operates: how many of what kind of ships, when, doing what?
Also, Allegiance has a “command” system which actually lets people accept or turn down commands they receive. This allows us to track the commands given, and various player’s responses to them. This is also not something that is currently tracked, but can provide valuable insight into how a team operates.
Since Allegiance is a mature game, there is a significant player base. We’re hoping to measure the difference between how experienced players and relative newbies act on a team. This kind of data can be invaluable not only to the designers, but to people who want to train their play or command skills. (Given that Allegiance has community-run cadet and officer training schools, this could be very useful data.)
We believe this kind of information will become more and more critical in online games of the future: how your community plays together is a central piece to the longevity of any game. And, as Allegiance can attest, community can keep a game going long after the developers have given up and gone home.
What is it about Allegiance’s play that keeps players loyal for a decade?
Well, we’re hoping to find out.
-Craig
— CraigPerko
