Last week I began an epic exploration into the cultural similarities (and differences) of gamers in different countries which I've unearthed by mucking around in the IGDA's Game Developers Choice Awards nomination data from 2007. I thought game design would surely be the big kahuna - more so than Visual Arts or even Best Game. Was I disappointed?
Just to remind you what's going on, I took all of the votes that were sent into the IGDA's website for the Game Developers Choice Awards open nominations, split them into their relevant categories and calculated which games were voted for most by the international community (all of whom had to be full members of the IGDA) (the results are here - in words, and here - in a PP presentation).
The six games in this category voted for by the most countries were: Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Dead Rising DEFCON: Everybody Dies Loco Roco Company of Heroes Gears of War
I also thought that I might be able to tease out some of the subtle cultural affiliations between countries, and so I've done an affiliation network analysis using the social network analysis software Pajek (great practice for my PhD research!). The results of this for the Game Design category are in the image above, commonly called a sociogram.
The dots are countries and the lines between 'em are an indication of a vote for common games. The line may represent 10 common votes, but it can also mean one. Which is why I've looked a bit closer.
I figured that game design would be a very culturally specific entity. The design is all about what kind of playability gamers like, and as a social psychologist I thought that cultural trends may be country specific, based upon likes and dislikes of particular genres, art, type of activity, level of difficulty, puzzle-solving style etc. It could be informed by previously popular media (games included), what's available on the shelves, what's going on in the news... the possibilities are endless.
But similarities might arise, which I think is pretty interesting. What might it mean if the UK and Japan have a really similar view on what makes a good game? Maybe that could mean we'd get more Japanese game into the market because they're rated highly. For example.
So, taking a look at the sociogram, we can see that gamers in Hong Kong rate design unlike everyone else (their most popular vote was for Every Carnival). And Brazil and Finland have a common interest; the game which both of them voted for was Tornado Mania! - any suggestions?
But of the games who are very interconnected, which lines indicate the greatest number of shared votes in this category?
Canada and the USA The North American contingent once again share the greatest number of votes between them. They like: Civilization IV: Warlords Company of Heroes Elder Scrolls: Oblivion Gears of War Guitar Hero 2 Okami Prey Rainbow Six: Vegas Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Most of these have been on the top lists throughout the contest, so no real surprises, but these are 45% of Canada's total votes. Let's take a look at the games that only the US and Canada voted for:
Civilization IV: Warlords Guitar Hero 2 Prey
The UK and the USA The next strongest connection belongs between the USA and the UK. Linguistically similar, we also share a like for five games: Gears of War Half Life 2: Episode 1 Loco Roco Shadow of the Colossus Viva Piñata
It's interesting to see that the UK isn't as integrated in the core of connected countries as it has been in the other two categories, and indeed of the five games above three of them were only voted for by one or two other countries: Half Life 2 and Shadow of the Colossus with the US, and Loco Roco with the US and The Netherlands).
The UK and the Netherlands I wasn't wrong; game design is the category which connects countries the least. The UK and the Netherlands are the third most highly connected with only two common games: Loco Roco Viva Piñata
Japan and Finland Finally, Japan and Finland share two games: Dead Rising Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Any thoughts on why?
Related Links: Power Point presentation of the results How similar are we? Who's Like Who? Visual Arts Who's Like Who? Best Game
.png?w=600)
