BioWare Tracking Player Behavior in Mass Effect 2

That's an extremely good idea! Nice disclaimer, too. I'm sure someone here will comment on how it can't be anonymous. (haters)
I played through it twice, and yes, once as a soldier. Who wouldn't like the shield?

Just wonder and curious what are they going to do with those numbers...

Just being as nosey as the government...;-)

It's good to know that they are trying to find what's makes the game slightly better, though I believe they wouldn't need to work on the small inconveniences if they just made the game great overall.

If I get rated down for this comment I'm just going to have to go play Mass Effect 2 for the 29th time.

Hey, I'm all for it if it gives us a kickass mind-blowing end to the trilogy. Lemme go play some more of it so I can do my part lol.

Please, please, let us know who are the two that played it TWENTY EIGHT TIMES!!!! But on a serious note, that is really cool IMO. I think it is great that a company cares about the direction the franchise is taking in terms of player reception, but I can only guess what data they took and how they will interpret it. Here's to hopin'!

at the risk of being thumbed down, soldier call most played, 15 % dialog skipped. so the final game will have less dialogue and be a action packed soldier fest.. * concerened*

My bet goes on ThatAverageGatsby on youtube being one of the ones who played 28 times. It's sad that they started collecting data so late, now they will be getting mostly people who have played through before, and are much more likely to skip dialog and such.

I'm guessing/hoping it means buffing of non-soldier classes. Not necessarily because they're weak, but strengthening the unique aspects of each class allows for a more varied playstyle. It will also probably interest a number of soldier class players and draw them to try different things. For example, a friend of mine played soldier because he just liked being in the thick of things and on the front lines. After I told him that sentinels were the most defensive class in the game, he tried one and loved it - he just didn't know that a tech/biotic class would be a tank.

Edit: Judging from the wordage used by Casey in the article, a fair number of people did not do all of the loyalty missions. I can't believe anything other than completing all of them would be the norm.




Oh gosh, I sincerely hope not...they already gutted more than a comfortable amount of the RPG elements from the first title.

I smell ignorance. While BioWare snooping is pretty cool when looked at from their perspective, at this point I would not even want to know they are doing it. If they said, "Hey, we are going to be collecting event data to spawn the next game in the best possible way"... I might be inclined to feel more secure about it. This is like your spouse keeping tabs on you trying to be a better, well... spouse.. but telling you months after the fact that they have been doing it. Just weird.

Highly doubt they just started doing it.

I am confused on the purpose of these stats.
I played through three times each game (never as soldier ironically) as I liked the different classes.
I never skip any of the dialogue on the first play through as the voice acting and script is fantastic and I don't want that to change.
Second and Third playthroughs are much faster as I skip most of the dialogue. Don't change too much Bioware, your on your way to the best game trilogy in history.

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety...
However, for better computer games? Hell yeah.

As for Dialog skipped, most people do it when they've played the gmae multiple times.

This seems like a great way to make a better game. I wonder if this will be used at all to resolve issues concerning which, if any, of the current squad members will be returning in a squad mate role in the next game.
Also, 28 times is crazy, but still, I've gone through 10 times and don't feel like Ive hit all the major permutations. I can see how people eager to experience the game in every way possible, and see all the outcomes from various ME1 choices, or how ME2 varying choices will affect ME3, would play that many times

Creating games as a science, I like it!

But... with this type of data collection they need to be carefull. As others have said multiple play throughs will result in different player behavior. Also age, personal gaming styles, and many other things could throw them in the right or wrong direction.

Prob thumbed down to oblivion for this.. but for people in places with expensive internet/pay per mb is there an opt out for this, or is Bioware spending their customers money to pay for market research?

Yeah, interesting stats, but it always annoys me when companies collect data about me, use my bandwidth and never mention it until after the fact.

Thumbs up for this.

At least they admitted it, albeit after the game was released.

The fact that people skip dialog is not in and of itself important. I certainly hope they don't take that wrong. They need to be asking:

1) Do people skip dialog during their FIRST play through.
- If yes, then the dialog must SUCK, as folks are bored with it.

2) Do they only skip dialog on their 2nd/3rd play through.
- If yes, they're just bored cause it's the same old crap each time.

Then they have to realize, the dialog itself isn't necessarily bad. They may just need better writers if people are skipping it so much. Or, it could just be that in some situations the dialog is too long, and therefore people skip it.

There's a lot to analyze in just that one bit of data.

That's was good, empower the gamers.

Agreed 100%. Some aspects of the second game were already kind of watered down from the first. Don't get me wrong I thoroughly loved the second game...I just don't want a watered down shell of a game for the third installment. Come on BioWare don't fail me now!

I doubt this data will result in a watered-down Mass Effect 3. They can probably look at, for example, what dialogue was skipped and at what time of day, and figure out that "Oh, it looks like most people weren't patient enough for this 30-minute conversation because I just want to save the game and go to bed, I have to go to work tomorrow."

I think that's why they mention they have to figure out how to interpret the data. That will indeed be the tricky part!

This is a great idea! Soldier class = All time favorite I hope that Mass Effect 3 will have a more RPG feel (more feats/customization). I liked the inventory system, but not to the point that I have to use it every time like on Mass Effect 1.


With the release of Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, Bioware earned my trust and my wallet.
Also,
The new Shadow Broker DLC was also worth it! The beginning, the end, AND the extras after the mission is over! 10/10

I LOVE BIOWARE!!

If they are studying how gamers play ME2 it sounds like they will stay with ME2's form and just refocus certain elements. Stats from 2 wouldn't be useful if they re-invent the game once again.

Personally I love ME2's dialog and energy. One of the best games I've ever played. It's like staring in a movie at times. But I miss some of the old school RPG elements they've been ripping out with every game since the Baldur's game series.

ME2 feels very console-like compared to the first game and Dragon Age feels simplified compared to NWN, BG or even Origin's Ultima 6-8 and Interplay's Fallout 2.

Can we not have fantastic dialog, voice acting and intensity with Ultimas / Fallout 2&3's do whatever the hell I want Role Playing plus vast in-game item inventories and character variation/progression?

Too much to ask lol?

I just hope they don't water down Mass Effect 3, like they watered down Mass Effect 2. I loved all the ME1 skills, weapons, armors, and the upgrades that went with them. Mass Effect 2 was a mindless shooter, and it was much weaker than Mass Effect 1.

So they pick up data if the player is staring at the woman's breasts?

wow, I played five times and I thought that was alot.

Yeah, once every 8 days!
Who are these people who either use military drugs so they don't ever have to sleep, are feed nutrients via an IV and have NO LIFE?
8 days is not enough to fully appreciate the game...

No that's Valve http://worldwideintertubes.com/201 [...] -software/

PS: I love Valve & Bioware.