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Characterizing and understanding game reviews
Conference Paper
· April 2009
DOI: 10.1145/1536513.1536553 · Source DBLP
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Jose Zagal
University of Utah
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Terris Johnson
Georgia Institute of Technology
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Characterizing and Understanding Game Reviews
José P. Zagal College of Computing and Digital Media
DePaul University
243 South Wabash Avenue Chicago, IL 60604, USA jzagal@cdm.depaul.edu Amanda Ladd, Terris Johnson College of Computing Georgia Institute of Technology
801 Atlantic Drive Atlanta, GA 30332, USA
{amanda.ladd,terris}@gatech.edu
ABSTRACT
Game reviews are one of the primary forms of videogame journalism and are also one of the prevalent forms of discourse about games. How can we characterize them and better understand the role they might play in helping create and shape our understanding of games This article reports on the results of a study that analyzed and deconstructed a selection of game reviews from popular online websites. Our findings show that game reviews are rich and varied in terms of themes and topics covered and that considering them purely as shopping guides ignores the broader role they play in the discourse of games. We found that game reviews often include game design suggestions, hypothesize about the intentions and goals of game creators, and offer advice to readers on how to approach and best enjoy particular games. More generally, game reviews can also help preserve videogame history by contextualizing the links and historical connections that exist between games.