VIDEO GAME HEURISTICS AND ONLINE FAN REVIEWS: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF POPULAR VIDEO GAMES
Open Access
- Author:
- Drews, Laura Elizabeth
- Graduate Program:
- Media Studies
- Degree:
- Master of Arts
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- June 23, 2009
- Committee Members:
- Colleen Connolly Ahern, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Colleen Connolly Ahern, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor - Keywords:
- eWOM
Genre
Heuristics
Video Games
reveiw boards - Abstract:
- Understanding video game fans and the communities that they create allows for a better understanding of the fans’ desires for both the games and the community. This study explores the contents of fan comments posted with online game reviews. Reviews were chosen for six games in different popular genres and from three major review sites. The reviews were analyzed for valence of comments, as well as four major heuristic categories and several specific subcategories. Results demonstrated that comments were more likely to be posted by registered users, indicative of the commitment that the fans have to their communities. The comments posted also show a lack of conversation between posters, which may be attributed to the multitude of other readily available outlets for discussion among gamers in a less public place. Results for heuristic comparisons highlight how gamers discuss different aspects of the game experience depending on the game they have chosen. However, certain games show overlap in the most important heuristic categories. These similarities could be attributed to a similar style of game play. As an exploratory study in genre comparisons, there were a number of significant differences and overlaps between different genres for heuristic categories. This research could be expanded by sampling a larger number of games per genre for comparison. By understanding how gamers communicate about the games they play, it reveals what is most important to them. The results show that the gamers are more likely to post individual ideas about the game play experience rather than hold discussions with other gamers or reply to the review posted by the site. In addition, the aspects of the game play experience that are most important to gamers vary significantly between games as shown by the variation in the number of comments per post.