"MMORPG Player Classification Using Game Data Mining and K-means"

"Analyzing and understanding the standard of players in virtual
environments has been an activity increasingly used by digital game developers
and producers. Players not only play, they also consume in-game products, buy
game sequences and expansions, make small money transactions, advertise the
game to friends, and use the game to socialize with other players. In the case of
Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (“MMORPG”), the types of
players vary, and, by classifying players’ behaviors, it is possible for developers
to implement changes which satisfy players in targeted manners which may
impact their level of interest and amount of time spent in the game environment.
This study suggests that it is possible to identify and classify players via
gameplay analysis by using consolidated theories such as Bartle's archetypes or
Marczewski’s types of players, which group players with the k-means algorithm.
Analysis of telemetry data can be executed by utilizing game data mining tools
and the results can be used to classify players who play certain games, their behaviors
in the game, and their gameplay patterns. Having possession of this information allows
producers to initiate new developments of games, expansions to the current game, and
marketing actions to attract new players, among other possibilities. Data are created from
the moment one initiates a virtual game session until the moment it is turned off, and this
data are available for developers and producers to analyze their players. Data created and
collected by the developers are known as game telemetry
Telemetry is a remote form of data collection where a game-player interaction data
collection application is installed in the desired game and sends data digitally to a
database that stores all information in an accessible way so that an analysis of said data
may be performed. These data can be of any nature that the game allows and may
contain information on the player's behavior within the game, transactions made, and
conversations amoungst multiple characters [5]."