|
Different methods for game analysis |
Anachronical methods
The anachronical methods do not
take time-related elements of production- or reception situation
into account, but only focus on the factual elements of
the medium itself. |
Descriptive methods
The descriptive method concentrates
only on the medium itself and excludes the field of communication
and the communication process. |
a) Statistical
analysis
The statistical analysis consists of a numerical and a semiotical
part. In the numeric part the different elements of the game
are listed, e.g. campaigns, levels, syntagma, situations. It
gives a plain overview of the different parts of the game. This
part produces a complete list of all recognisable and countable
parts. Of course the level of details can be chosen according
to the demands of the research question.
In the semiotic part the statements made
in the different elements are investigated. This also produces
a list, but in this case of meanings and ideas, and the moments
that these are communicated. This type of research does not focus
on the effectiveness of the ideas and meanings communicated,
it only looks at the parts and moments in the game that provide
the player with an idea.
The combination of these two elements provides
us with a pattern showing the structure of the game and the way
it communicates its ideas and meanings. Depending on the level
of detail it produces a total overview of the way the developers
have tried to ensure the communication of their ideas. It does
not indicate wether they succeed in this. |
|
b) Analysis of contents
The content analysis concentrates only on the aspects of the
medium, not on the communicator or the recipient. All different
aspects of the game have to be taken into account, not just the
gameplay, storyline or plot. This type of analysis can be used
both for an individual game and for the comparison of different
games.
Research criteria are possibly recurrent thematical elements,
subjects of representation or design cliches. Important is that
the parts that are being analysed must not be related to the
meanings and ideas the developers wanted to forward, or the gamer
wants to experience. One can only look at the different parts
as they occur in this game or type of games.
The analysis of contents can be used both
as an inductive as well as a deductive method: this means that
a larger amount of games can be investigated in general, to find
out which reoccuring elements are present, in order to formulate
a hypothesis why this element is present is this type of games.
Also the research can be started with formulating a hypothesis
about the reoccurence of certain elements, which can be verified
or falsisfied by the analysis of several games of the type related
to the hypothesis. |
|
Reductive methods
The reductive method concentrates
only on certain elements of the game. |
a) Morphological
analysis
The morphological method investigates the morphemes, the smallest
elements that bear meaning in a game, which are the situations.
Although it is sometimes hard to recognise these elements, they
can often be recognised by the "natural" moments of
"rest" (or less stressfull situations) in the gameplay.
The structure of the game or the architecture of the virtual
space often offers these "natural breaks".
With the aid of the morphological analysis,
certain types of situations can be recognised and put into an
order. These types can be examined in relation to the syntagma
and thus reveal certain patterns for meanings.
Every situation receives a statement or
effect, e.g. loneliness-thrilling, snipershot, or key-search.
The morphology can examine both isolated aspects of the game,
e.g. the image, as more complex aspects, e.g. a combination of
image and sound.
The goal of this type of analysis is on one hand to be able to
recognise certain meanings with different aspects of the game,
and on the other hand to define the narrative and/or gameplay
function of the situations. A morphological analysis is easiest
done with known genres, as the different types of situations
are already known, and therefor more easy to recognise.
|
|
b) Genetical analysis
The (effect) genetical analysis concentrates on the psychological
components related to the experience and observation of elements
of the game code. It concentrates on the structure and setting
of components with a known effect as a way to make it possible
for a player to experience certain emotions or effects. This
type of analysis does not concentrate on the question whether
and how strong this is being experienced by the player. A sudden
appearing of a monster in a dark environment is such a component:
one might expect a player to be startled by it, it does not mean
that he has to be startled by it.
Playing and experiencing a game does not
happen in a neutral environment, but is surrounded by experiences
the user has gained in his life and translated into playing and
experiencing habits. Certain elements of a game will therefor
have clear defined efects on the user.
The effect of a game as a whole is made
up out of the designed "genetical" structure of the
game, which consists of a large amount of these elements. Some
of these elements receive their meaning from a historical grown
effect, others from the directly experienced psychological moment.
The genetical analysis investigates how certain intentional effects
can be realised through the game code.
The goal of this type of analysis is to
describe the start and development of the game code, and the
effect of its elements at a certain moment. Important questions
for this type of analysis are: How does the game work at the
moment of reception? and: How is the effect accomplished? |
|
Synchronical methods
The synchronical method investigates
the communication process of the game. All historical
aspects are left out of the research. |
Inductive methods
The inductive method seeks
knowledge about the communication process of games, by
combining the information of several different elements. |
a) Game related analysis
The game related method researches one game by relating it to
all other games (or a representational selection) from the same
developers studio (or distributor, leading artist, etc.) or possibly
a related group or development. It puts a game in the context
of its background or context during its development, and shows
the development of a developers studio or a type of games.
In the same way it is possible to compare
games from two different, but for certain reasons comparable,
developers or studios. This type of comparison focusses on the
differences and the resemblances between games, and/or developers.
This type of analysis provides a large
amount of information on games and its makers. As it has no clear
boundaries it is important to clearly define the subjects this
analysis will focuss on to begin with, but with the possibility
to expand the range of research on a later moment if necessary. |
|
b) Sociological
analysis
The sociological method concentrates on the communication field
of games. A game is treated as a product, which is offered by
a producer to a consumer / recipient. The focus is not so much
on the game itself, but more on the social context of the game,
both on the side of the producer and the consumer.
For the sociological analysis it is important
to gain an important amount of knowledge about the social factors
of the time of production. This includes information on:
- the productional conditions of games:
* the status of the games industry (privat companies, governmental
influences, etc.)
* the economical factors of the production (productional stimuli,
monopolies, international connections and relations, etc.)
* regulations on contents (censorships, subsidies for the production
or development of games, etc.)
* information on the situation of distribution
* the trading system (producers, distributors, shops)
* the release and promotional system (commercials, magazines,
times and places of first release)
- information on the situation of the reception
of the game:
* the media structure (amount of media offered, contents and
culture of media, etc.)
* the use of media (composition of the group of recipients, place
of media in the spenditure of leisure time, financial budget
for the use of media, etc.)
* the consumption of media (motivation to use media, the effect
of media, social importance of the reception, etc.).
A sociological analysis can under these circumstances treat the
medium itself only on the surface and is concentrated on all
elements and their mutual relations of the communication field
of games.
|
|
Interpretative methods
The interpretative methods
focus on the effect, the psychological reaction, of the
user, deriving of the game reception. |
a) Psychological
analysis
The psychological game analysis is related to the effect a game
causes to a recipient. It tries to capture the associations and
impressions, caused by the reception of the images, sounds and
interaction of the game, and that influence for a shorter or
longer period the emotions of the recipient. Strictly spoken
each gamer should be interviewed for his or her feelings during
reception, as numerous details have their influence on the reception
of a game. But on the other hand it is safe to assume that many
of the impressions gained during gameplay are intersubjective.
The psychological analysis uses six fundamental
types of questions:
1. Analysis of the pattern and changes
in gameplay (Amount of action, division of active moments during
the game, changes in type of action)
1. Analysis of the observation of the use of different game design
elements. (Conciousness of the use of music or sounds to underline
the action, editing, action patterns, spatial construction, etc.)
2. Analysis of the changes in attitude. (Change or fortification
of prejudices, of political opinions, of artistic taste, etc.)
3. Analysis of the changes of appearances. (Sort of change in
habits [clothes, gesticulations, etc.], interaction [style of
speech, communication forms, attitude in conflicts, etc.], way
of interacting [imitation, group orientation, social role, etc.],
etc.)
4. Analysis of influences on the structure of concious mind.
(Identification with characters or situations, imitation of the
game situation, reflection on the contents, need for further
communication, etc.)
5. Analysis of influences on the structure of the subconcious
mind. (Fear or joy, tension or relaxation, interest or boredom,
etc.) |
|
b) Analysis of
statements
The analysis of statements includes all three elements of the
communication field: the communicator, the recipient, and the
medium. It investigates if it is possible to make statements
on the attitude of the recipient based on different elements
of the game.
The analysis of statements is a very complex
method if all aspects and sub-analyses are taken into account.
When used in a simplified form, it is sufficient to investigate
the intentions of the communicator, recognisable through the
significant details of the game.
Normally this means that all elements of
the game that have a possible influence on the attitude of the
recipient are isolated and described. These elements can either
have a symptomatic or appellative character, which means that
they can be traced back to the attitude of the communicator,
or have a possible influence on the attitude of the recipient.
These isolated elements are combined as
much as possible to come to a complex statement on the attitude
and goal of the communicator. |
|
Diachronical methods
The diachronical method treats
games in their production and reception history as a form of
human communication next to other forms. |
Deductive methods
The deductive method uses a
certain theoretical model as a starting point, and researches
the usefullnes of the model for the analysis of that specific
game. |
a) Game historical
analysis
The game historical analysis (also genre analysis, style analysis)
relates games to previous games which are comparable. An adventure
game is understood as deriving of the development of the genre
Adventure, etc.
It assumes a "knowledge-historical
continuity". This is the assumption that there is no developer
that has ever developed a game without having seen or played
any other game. This method demands a profound knowledge of games
history and developers.
The game historical analysis can be used
with different points of attention:
- as genre analysis (there are about twelve
different genres)
- as style analysis (development of a certain
style in games)
- as analysis of a national game development
(the game industry in a certain country)
- as theme historical analysis (e.g. science-fiction
elements)
- as problem historical analysis (e.g. magical
quests because of evil magic)
- as contents historical analysis (e.g.
games on historical wars)
- as comparative analysis (e.g. shooters
from the United States or Great Britain)
- as analysis of the use of design elements
(e.g. types of graphics)
- as visualisation analysis (e.g. the representation
of the female character in games)
Many more variations are possible, which
can all be combined for different kinds of analyses. |
|
b) Analysis of meanings
The analysis of meanings (semiology) is concentrated on the formal
and contents units of the game, that in the development of games
or a certain genre have gained a certain meaning - partly these
will be known as stereotypes. It concentrates on elements that
have been used in larger amounts of games, that bear a similar
or even exactly the same meaning in every game or type of games.
For the understanding of a large amount
of games this type of analysis is very important. It helps understanding
the different aspects of communication and gameplay of different
types of games, but should also be seen as a starting point for
further research. |
|
Ideology critical methods
The ideology critical methods
research to what extent system stabilising or disrupting theories
of social systems, can be found in games that have been made
during periods or in countries under the influence of these systems. |
a) Structuralistic
analysis
The structuralistic analysis researches all relevant elements
of the communication process of games. With this method, the
relation between the game as a communicational product and the
collective consciousness of the society in which it is made,
is investigated.
This type of analysis looks to what extent
the structure of a game is influenced by different types of ideology.
It researches whether certain actions or
situation structures, that are characteristic for the game analysed,
can be related to certain ideologies that are present in the
related society, or vice versa: if certain idelogies present
in the related society can be recognised in the game. A differentiation
can be made in relation to implicit and explicit ideologies in
relation to a society or an individual. |
|
b) Marxist analysis
The marxist analysis is related to the use of realism. This type
of analysis looks at the social reality represented in a game.
To see if to what extend it is mirrored in the game in its social
class structure.
The starting point for a marxist analysis
is threefold:
1. Which social conditions were true at
the moment of development of the game.
2. In what way are social facts represented in the game.
3. Is the representation of the social situation in the game
a realistic reflection of the real social situation. |
