An explorer’s journal for machines: Exploring the case of Cyberpunk 2077 | Intellect Skip to content
1981
  1. Home
  2. A-Z Publications
  3. Journal of Gaming & Virtual Worlds
  4. Volume 14, Issue 1
  5. Article
Cyberpunk 2077
  • ISSN: 1757-191X
  • E-ISSN: 1757-1928

Abstract

With increasing technological capabilities, video games provide ever more expansive virtual worlds for players to explore. Designers employ various mechanics and level design principles to encourage such exploration. However, what motivates people to explore in virtual environments, and which approaches are successful, is not yet clearly established. Methods for measuring player experience often take place retroactively after a play session, relying on recall, and are thus prone to missing less salient events and their motivations. Journaling events as they occur allow promises to be a suitable method of collecting data, but presents a challenge in aggregating data points due to their freeform nature. This makes it difficult to identify overarching patterns of exploration behaviour. We present an exploratory study in devising a journaling protocol for gathering information during gameplay sessions, focused on documenting moments of exploration in a manner that balances ease of data capture and data evaluation. We describe our efforts in prototyping this journaling method and how we used it to analyse and several other game designs. Our results show that exploration occurs in a pattern of event → expectation → resolution. The motivation to explore depends on the expectations that a game raises through its marketing and design. At the same time, exploratory behaviour going unrewarded by the game quickly reduces the desire to explore. When recording instances of exploration, the addition of emotion words is essential in order to properly contextualize the information. This article lays the foundation for documenting exploration in games, as well as other emotional or behavioural constructs that require in-the-moment data collection.

© 2022 Intellect Ltd
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/jgvw_00054_1
2022-04-01
2024-04-25
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Altrichter, Herbert, and Holly, Mary Louise. ( 2005;), ‘ Research diaries. ’, in B. Somekh, and C. Lewin. (eds), Research Methods in the Social Sciences, London:: Sage Publications;, pp. 24–32.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Apperley, Thomas H.. ( 2006;), ‘ Genre and game studies: Toward a critical approach to video game genres. ’, Simulation & Gaming, 37:1, pp. 6–23.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Bartle, Richard. ( 2009;), ‘ Understanding the limits of theory. ’, in C. Bateman. (ed.), Beyond Game Design: Nine Steps toward Creating Better Videogames, Boston:: Charles River Media;, pp. 117–32.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Bartle, Richard A., and Bateman, Chris Mark. (eds) ( 2009), Beyond Game Design: Nine Steps towards Creating Better Videogames, Boston:: Charles River Media and Cengage Technology;.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Bateman, Chris,, Lowenhaupt, Rebecca, and Nacke, Lennart E.. ( 2011;), ‘ Player typology in theory and practice. ’, Proceedings of the 2011 DiGRA International Conference: Think, Design, Play, Utrecht, the Netherlands, http://www.digra.org/digital-library/publications/player-typology-in-theory-and-practice/. Accessed 29 January 2022.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Bjork, Staffan, and Holopainen, Jussi. ( 2005), Patterns in Game Design, Hingham, MA:: Charles River Media;.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. CD Projekt Red ( 2020;), Cyberpunk 2077. , Łódź:: CD Project Red;.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Csicsery-Ronay, Istvan. ( 1988;), ‘ Cyberpunk and neuromanticism. ’, Mississippi Review, 16:2&3, pp. 266–78.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Desurvire, Heather, and El-Nasr, Magy Seif. ( 2013;), ‘ Methods for game user research: Studying player behavior to enhance game design. ’, IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, 33:4, pp. 82–87.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Emerson, Robert M.,, Fretz, Rachel I., and Shaw, Linda L.. ( 2011), Writing Ethnographic Fieldnotes, Chicago:: University of Chicago Press;.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Gómez-Maureira, Marcello A., and Kniestedt, Isabelle. ( 2019;), ‘ Exploring video games that invoke curiosity. ’, Entertainment Computing, 32, p. 100320.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Gómez-Maureira, Marcello A.,, Westerlaken, Michelle,, Janssen, Dirk P.,, Gualeni, Stefano, and Calvi, Licia. ( 2014;), ‘ Improving level design through game user research: A comparison of methodologies. ’, Entertainment Computing, 5:4, pp. 463–73.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Hello Games ( 2016;), No Man’s Sky. , Guildford:: Hello Games;.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Hillman, Serena,, Stach, Tad,, Procyk, Jason, and Zammitto, Veronica. ( 2016;), ‘ Diary methods in AAA games user research. ’, in J. Kaye,, A. Druin,, C. Lampe,, D. Morris, and J. P. Hourcade. (eds), Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, San Jose, CA, USA, 7–12 May, New York:: Association for Computing Machinery;, pp. 1879–85.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. IMF ( 2020;), ‘ World Economic Outlook Database April 2020. ’, April, https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO/weo-database/2020/April. Accessed 29 January 2022.
  16. Jeremy, Hugh. ( 2015;), ‘ Using a real-time feedback system to make better games. ’, Gamasutra , 25 May, https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/244257/Video_Using_a_realtime_feedback_system_to_make_better_games.php. Accessed 29 January 2022.
  17. Klimmt, Christoph, and Hartmann, Tilo. ( 2006;), ‘ Effectance, self-efficacy, and the motivation to play video games. ’, in P. Vorderer, and J. Bryant. (eds), Playing Video Games: Motives, Responses, and Consequences, Mahwah, NJ:: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates;, pp. 133–45.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Knoll, Tom. ( 2018;), ‘ The think-aloud protocol. ’, in A. Drachen,, P. Mirza-Babaei, and L. Nacke. (eds), Games User Research, New York:: Oxford University Press;, pp. 189–202.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Larian Studios ( 2017;), Divinity: Original Sin II. , Ghent:: Larian Studios;.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Larson, Reed, and Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. ( 2014;), ‘ The experience sampling method. ’, in M. Csikszentmihalyi. (ed.), Flow and the Foundations of Positive Psychology: The Collected Works of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Berlin:: Springer;, pp. 21–34.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Liu, Bing. ( 2012;), ‘ Sentiment analysis and opinion mining. ’, Synthesis Lectures on Human Language Technologies, 5:1, pp. 1–167.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Livingstone, Daniel. ( 2006;), ‘ Turing’s test and believable AI in games. ’, Computers in Entertainment, 4:1, p. 6.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Loewenstein, George. ( 1994;), ‘ The psychology of curiosity: A review and reinterpretation. ’, Psychological Bulletin, 116:1, p. 75.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Metacritic ( 2016;), ‘ No Man’s Sky. ’, Metacritic , https://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/no-mans-sky. Accessed 29 January 2022.
  25. Nacke, Lennart E.. ( 2015;), ‘ Games user research and physiological game evaluation. ’, in R. Bernhaupt. (ed.), Game User Experience Evaluation, Cham:: Springer;, pp. 63–86.
     [Google Scholar]
  26. Pondsmith, Mike. ( 1988), Cyberpunk , Renton, WA:: R. Talsorian Games;.
  27. Rahwan, Iyad,, Cebrian, Manuel,, Obradovich, Nick,, Bongard, Josh,, Bonnefon, Jean-François,, Breazeal, Cynthia,, Crandall, Jacob W.,, Christakis, Nicholas A.,, Couzin, Iain D.,, Jackson, Matthew O.,, Jennings, Nicholas R.,, Kamar, Ece,, Kloumann, Isabel M.,, Larochelle, Hugo,, Lazer, David,, McElreath, Richard,, Mislove, Alan,, Parkes, David C.,, Pentland, Alex, and Roberts, Margaret E.. ( 2019;), ‘ Machine behaviour. ’, Nature, 568:7753, pp. 477–86.
     [Google Scholar]
  28. Raphael, Karen. ( 1987;), ‘ Recall bias: A proposal for assessment and control. ’, International Journal of Epidemiology, 16:2, pp. 167–70.
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Rockstar Games ( 2018;), Red Dead Redemption II. , New York:: Rockstar Games;.
     [Google Scholar]
  30. Rockstar North Ltd. ( 2013;), Grand Theft Auto V. , Edinburgh:: Rockstar Games;.
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Ryan, Richard M.,, Rigby, C. Scott, and Przybylski, Andrew. ( 2006;), ‘ The motivational pull of video games: A self-determination theory approach. ’, Motivation and Emotion, 30:4, pp. 344–60.
     [Google Scholar]
  32. Scott, Graham G.,, Keitel, Anne,, Becirspahic, Marc,, Yao, Bo, and Sereno, Sara C.. ( 2019;), ‘ The Glasgow Norms: Ratings of 5,500 words on nine scales. ’, Behavior Research Methods, 51:3, pp. 1258–70.
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Seif El-Nasr, Magy,, Desurvire, Heather,, Nacke, Lennart,, Drachen, Anders,, Calvi, Licia,, Isbister, Katherine, and Bernhaupt, Regina. ( 2012;), ‘ Game user research. ’, in J. A. Konstan,, E. H. Chi, and K. Höök. (eds), Proceedings of the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, New York:: Association for Computing Machinery;, pp. 2679–82.
     [Google Scholar]
  34. Statista Market Forecast ( 2022;), ‘ Video games: Worldwide. ’, Statista , https://www.statista.com/outlook/dmo/digital-media/video-games/worldwide. Accessed 29 January 2022.
  35. Unknown Worlds Entertainment ( 2018;), Subnautica. , San Francisco:: Unknown Worlds Entertainment;.
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Williams, Amanda M., and Irani, Lilly. ( 2010;), ‘ There’s methodology in the madness: Toward critical HCI ethnography. ’, in E. D. Mynatt,, D. Schoner,, G. Fitzpatrick,, S. E. Hudson,, W. K. Edwards, and T. Rodden. (eds), Proceedings of the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, New York:: Association for Computing Machinery;, pp. 2725–34.
     [Google Scholar]
  37. Yee, Nick. ( 2005;), ‘ Motivations of play in MMORPGs: Results from a factor analytic approach. ’, The Daedalus Project , http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/motivations.pdf. Accessed 29 January 2022.
  38. Yee, Nick. ( 2006;), ‘ The demographics, motivations, and derived experiences of users of massively multi-user online graphical environments. ’, Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 15:3, pp. 309–29.
     [Google Scholar]
  39. Gómez-Maureira, Marcello A.,, Kniestedt, Isabelle,, Barbero, Giulio,, Yu, Hainan, and Preuss, Mike. ( 2022;), ‘ An explorer’s journal for machines: Exploring the case of Cyberpunk 2077. ’, Journal of Gaming & Virtual Worlds, 14:1, pp. 111–35, https://doi.org/10.1386/jgvw_00054_1
     [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1386/jgvw_00054_1
Loading
An explorer’s journal for machines: Exploring the case of Cyberpunk 2077
Journal of Gaming & Virtual Worlds 14, 111 (2022); https://doi.org/10.1386/jgvw_00054_1
/content/journals/10.1386/jgvw_00054_1
/content/journals/10.1386/jgvw_00054_1
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): analysis protocol; computer game analysis; experience reporting; exploration behaviour; game design patterns; game journaling

Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error