User-centered Approach in Creating a Metadata Schema for Video Games and Interactive Media

User-centered Approach in

Creating a Metadata Schema for

Video Games and Interactive Media

Jin Ha Lee, Hyerim Cho, Violet Fox, Andrew Perti

JCDL 2013

How do we organize and describe these games?

How LCSHdoes it

WorldCat

How the Web does it

Problem

• Game information on the Web is often unstructured, cumbersome to navigate, unvetted and unverified

• Due to the traditional focus on books, non-book materials often get described primarily by form rather than content

• Traditional library standards have limited applicability

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How can we provide more

intelligent access to

video games?

Create a metadata schema that

can capture the essential information

about games in a standardized way

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Our approach

Creating Metadata Schema & Encoding Schemes for

Video Games (Autumn 2011, 2012)

• Document-based analysis:

collecting and evaluating metadata elements from

various catalogs or game-related websites

• User-based analysis:

– Personas (Player, Parent, Collector, Academic,

Game developer/designer, Curator/Librarian)

– User interviews hdw

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User interviews

In-depth interview of 24 gamers

• Ranging from casual to hardcore players

• Collectors, parents, educators, etc.

• 21 males/3 females

• 11 in their 20s, 11 in their 30s, 2 in their 40s

• About their gaming experience, information

needs and seeking behaviors, etc.

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• “Genre alone can be somewhat misleading about

how the game is actually designed to be played”

• “it had great plot twists… betrayal, love,

excitement… It really felt like a very complicated

story, even more so than a book or a movie.”

• “That’s why I like the action-adventure, because

there’s usually a story to be told, it’s not just

“here’s a gun, go kill that guy” kind of thing.”

Genre and more

• “I can forgive the frustrating game mechanics in order to keep playing because the aesthetics are good, the storyline is good, the goal is compelling.”

• “character is the most memorable thing for the video game’s appearance”

• “Mainly watching game play video is the most important (thing)…”

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Artistic or visual style of the game

Information on the companies

involved in creating and

distributing the games seemed

to be highly valued by users

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Companies and franchise

Users show divided reaction:

“I read the review (to find out) if it’s worth to buy, worth to pay… I believe the general user is right.”

“There are some games that get terrible ratings by other people that I absolutely love and some that get amazing ratings by other people that I’m not a big fan of.”

User ratings and reviews

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Multiple stages of info needs

After announcement: Official description of the game

Before purchase: Email reminders

At the time of purchase: Screenshots & gameplay videos

Playing: Avoid game cheats/descriptions

After the gameplay: Similar games

• Title

• Edition

• Platform

• Format

• Developer

• Publisher

• Retail release date

• Number of players

• Online capabilities

• Special hardware

• Genre

• Series

• Region

• Rating

• Language

• Identifier

• Alternative title

• Franchise/Universe

• Distributor

• System requirements

• Game credits

• Official website

• Price/MSRP

• Controls

• Packaging

• Customization options

• Difficulty levels

• Achievements/Trophies/Awards

• Box art/cover

• Screenshots

• Trailers

• Gameplay videos

• Style

• Plot/Narrative

• Theme

• Setting

• Mood/Affect

• Temporal aspect

• Presentation

• Point of view

• Character names

• Character types

• Link to historical events

• Type of ending

• Visual style

• Purpose

Challenges

• Background knowledge of games

• Source of information

• Subjectivity of information:

estimated time of completion,

user rating/review

• Level of description

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Application

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• Series: Super Mario Bros.

• Franchise/Universe: Mario

• Genre: Action

• Style: Platformer

• Artistic style: Retro

• Mood: Quirky

• Temporal aspect: Real-time

• Plot/Narrative:

– Protagonist-explores-world

– Protagonist-defeats-bosses

– Protagonist-rescues-princess

• Theme: Fantasy – Princess

• Type of ending: Finite

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• Series: Persona

• Franchise/Universe:

Shin Megami Tensei

• Genre: RPG

• Style: JRPG

• Artistic style: Anime/Manga

• Mood: Dark

• Temporal aspect:

Turn-based; Calendar-based

• Plot/Narrative:

– Protagonist-develops-friendship

– Characters-confront-self

– Characters-prevent-apocalypse

• Theme: Supernatural – Demons

• Type of ending: Circuitous,

Branching

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• Catalyst for discussion

in the DL community

• Issues discussed here

are also applicable to

other artifacts

from popular culture:

apps, comics, webtoons,

animations, video clips, etc.

Conclusion

Future work

• Improve the structure of the metadata schema

• Develop controlled vocabularies

• Provide detailed instructions and examples

• Conduct a large-scale user survey

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Thank you!

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