A Taxonomy Approach to Studying How Gamers Review Games

Matthew J. Koehler, Brian Arnold, Spencer P. Greenhalgh and Liz Owens Boltz

Simulation & Gaming, 2017, vol. 48, issue 3, 363-380

Abstract: Background . Player-generated reviews of video games represent a large, rich, and under-explored source of data for exploring what makes for an effective game. Aim . We explore whether existing theory, in the form of a comprehensive gaming taxonomy , suitably captures the issues that players raise when they review games. Method . User-submitted game reviews were coded along the dimensions of the comprehensive gaming taxonomy to test the frequency of usage of each dimension. Results . We found some support for the use of the taxonomy , as four of nine taxonomy features were frequently present in game reviews . We also found support for other features of reviews not encapsulated by the Bedwell et al. (2012) taxonomy . Specifically, we found that players often reviewed video games : a) holistically; b) by comparing them to other games, game franchises, and other reviews; and c) by judging the value of games in terms of time, money, and effort. These results have implications for using game reviews for future research.

Keywords: game features; game reviews; taxonomy; video games (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:simgam:v:48:y:2017:i:3:p:363-380

DOI: 10.1177/1046878117703680

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