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      • HARVEST
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      The critical effect : evaluating the effects and use of video game reviews

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      Livingston_Thesis_Final_v3.pdf (6.549Mb)
      Date
      2011-06
      Author
      Livingston, Ian James
      Type
      Thesis
      Degree Level
      Masters
      Metadata
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      Abstract
      Game reviews play an important role in both the culture and business of games – the words of a reviewer can have an influential effect on the commercial success of a video game. While reviews are currently used by game developers to aid in important decisions such as project financing and employee bonuses, the effect of game reviews on players is not known. Additionally, the use of game reviews to improve evaluation techniques has received little attention. In this thesis we investigate the effect of game reviews on player experience and perceptions of quality. We show that negative reviews cause a significant effect on how players perceive their in-game experience, and that this effect is a post-play cognitive rationalization of the play experience with the previously-read review text. To address this effect we designed and deployed a new heuristic evaluation technique that specifically uses game reviews to create a fine-grained prioritized list of usability problems based on the frequency, impact, and persistence of each problem. By using our technique we are able to address the most common usability problems identified by game reviews, thus reducing the overall level of negativity found within the review text. Our approach helps to control and eliminate the snowballing effect that can be produced by players reading reviews and subsequently posting their own reviews, and thus improve the commercial success of a game.
      Degree
      Master of Science (M.Sc.)
      Department
      Computer Science
      Program
      Computer Science
      Supervisor
      Mandryk, Regan
      Committee
      Stanley, Kevin; Muri, Allison; Gutwin, Carl
      Copyright Date
      June 2011
      URI
      http://hdl.handle.net/10388/etd-07112011-153827
      Subject
      Game reviews
      User experience
      Usability
      Video Games
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