Community-based game design

TLDR

Games with a purpose have successfully harvested information from web users, yet designing games that sustainably and qualityly contribute data remains a challenge. This study explores how human computation games can leverage rich community interactions by selecting interaction modes and goal‑oriented user models. The authors implemented two community‑based games—Rapport on Facebook and Virtual Pet on PTT—and quantitatively analyzed their data quality, collection efficiency, player retention, concept diversity, and stability since late 2008. The results provide practical guidance for designing future community‑based games.

Abstract

Games with A Purpose have successfully harvested information from web users. However, designing games that encourage sustainable and quality data contribution remains a great challenge. Given that many online communities have enjoyed active participation from a loyal following, this research explores how human computation games may benefit from rich interactions inherent in a community. We experimented by implementing two games for commonsense data collection on the leading social community platforms: the Rapport Game on Facebook and the Virtual Pet Game on PTT. In this paper, we present the choices of interaction mode and goal-oriented user model for building a community-based game. The data quality, collection efficiency, player retention, concept diversity, and game stability of both games are analyzed quantitatively from data collected since August/November 2008. Our findings should provide useful suggestions for designing community-based games in the future.