Researchers Launch Project to Cartography the Traits of MMO Players

Researchers working at the University of Minnesota have announced a new project that will aim to analyze and identify the key traits that MMO players share, in order to allow developers to enhance the experiences that they are offering.

The research project is being funded by the National Science Foundation, the Air Force Research Labs and the U.S. Army, which suggests that the results will not be limited to MMO players and will allow for traits to be identified in other groups of people.

The new technology used will be called Ninja Metrics and was created by University of Minnesota computer science and engineering professor Jaideep Srivastava and University of Southern California associate professor Dmitri Williams.

It will not only look at traits for gamers, but it will also help developers understand the physiological and the social motivations that they have when engaging with an MMO.

Jaideep Srivastava has stated, “An average player spends four hours a day on World of Warcraft. If you look at direct mail or other marketing techniques, it’s targeted at an individual’s behavior, and ignores the social influences surrounding them.”

He added, “If can analyze the social influences, it allows them to better target a customer.”

It seems that the data that is gathered and analyzed by Ninja Metrics will allow video game developers to better target their audience, creating the conditions for them to buy more in-game items and get subscriptions for longer time frames.

The two researchers have not announced exactly what MMOs they will target and whether World of Warcraft, the current leader of the field, will be involved.

The MMO genre is expected to grow in the coming years, but it's not yet clear whether the subscription-based method will be the one to continue leading the market or whether free-to-play models will win out.