[Nirolak]

IGN put up an interview with Casey Hudson in which they showed off some of the statistics about Mass Effect 2 that their data mining system has been picking up. They also go over some of the stuff they try to learn from it.




What They Get And Why:

"The only data that we get are in terms of events -- little things that happen in the game," explained Hudson. "Let's say if we want to know whether players skip lines of dialogue, we can have that become a little event that gets sent up. It's all completely anonymous, so all we get is raw numbers for how many times these kinds of events occur. Then we can start getting ratios and comparing proportions and things like that. It becomes this mass of numbers, and then we have to try to figure out how we would interpret that." This is a process that is new for BioWare with Mass Effect 2, one that Hudson hopes will aid the team in designing future games. "When we were looking at the Achievements for Mass Effect 1, that's where we realized that there are some really interesting player behaviors there that it would be nice if we could answer more questions for ourselves. [Then] we could understand what's going on and how people play our game." "Sometimes you'll design something and think that it's going to be used in a certain way and people will use it in a completely different way. And if you didn't know that, then you would just keep making that system the same as you did before. But once you know what players like and what they don't like, based on the way that they're playing it, then you can make more of the good stuff and less of the stuff they weren't interested in."

Example Discovery:

"Ultimately it doesn't always give you the answers, but it sometimes raises questions or gets you to ask the right questions…More people played the soldier class than all of the other classes combined. If you know that, then you can start thinking about future games. Is that good? Is that a problem? Should we look at the other classes and start thinking about ways to make them selected as often as soldier? As part of asking these questions, we can design games in the future a lot better."

Example Of Reaffirming Beliefs:

BioWare found that only 15% of conversations were skipped in Mass Effect 2, with the rate higher in non-critical moments like in the hub worlds and much lower later in the game at the climax. "If we found that 80% or 90% of the lines were being skipped, we would have to reevaluate the work that we were putting into the digital acting." Other times, the data surprises. That happened with both how there were differences between the PC and Xbox 360 populations, as well as in regards to importing saves from Mass Effect 1. "We were surprised by how many people imported a game from Mass Effect 1…We put a lot into that feature and we could have gotten data back that said nobody was doing it. But actually more than half of players imported their save game from Mass Effect 1. That to me is quite high."

Platform Player Differences:

The average time to play through the game was 33 hours. PC gamers spent about an hour longer, while Xbox 360 players did 10% more loyalty missions on average. "In general, pretty much all of the data for the Xbox 360 version and the PC version are quite similar. One difference was the people who did certain loyalty missions on the Xbox versus the PC, which is kind of surprising. On the PC for example, people did Miranda's loyalty mission quite a bit, which is where she is trying to connect with her sister and it's more of a touchy-feely plot. Not a lot of Xbox 360 players did that one. But the Xbox 360 players did do Grunt's mission a lot more than PC players." The PC players have the edge in dedication. Hudson claims that a lot of people played Mass Effect 2 more than once and about half of all players -- including those who rented or borrowed it -- who started played all of the way through to the end. Two players in particular on the PC played through 28 times. That's the current record. Four people on Xbox 360 played 23 times. If you're any of these people, please write in to us and tell us how you have so much spare time. Some of these statistics are nothing more than that. As Hudson noted, there isn't any real takeaway in the differences between Xbox 360 and PC players. "Even if you know what some of these player behaviors are, is there anything you should do about it or is it just something interesting?"

Source: http://pc.ign.com/articles/111/1118657p1.html

There's more through the link.

[shwimpy]

20+ playthroughs... JESUS!

[Aeana]

80% of players got a pretty raw deal.

[Backfoggen]

Wow, 50% imported their ME1 save game. Thought that number would be a lot lower.

[stuminus3]

This information kind of creeps me out. My games are watching me...

[Nirolak]

This information kind of creeps me out. My games are watching me...

You can turn this functionality off in the options menu.

[Vigilant Walrus]

Only 50% completed it...

damn...

[Nils]

Soldier being played more than any other class combined is kinda unfortunate.

[Jexhius]

This functionality is awesome. Glad it's not just Valve and a few others using these tools.

Also, everyone playing soldier? People are boring.

80% playing male? That's 80% playing wrong.

Only 50% completed it... damn...

And people wonder why games are getting shorter.

[dankir]

28 times really?? I mean I loved both games and beat each one 2 or 3 times, but 28?!?

[Anerythristic]

I used standard male Shepard face and my only playthrough was as an Engineer (great class.)

[Nirolak]

Only 50% completed it... damn...

That's pretty high for a game actually.

[DTLIONS1013]

All of my friends played as Soldier, I played Vanguard

[ToxicAdam]

Did they mention what percentage actually completed the game? I remember seeing HL2's stats and they were ridiculously low.

[shwimpy]

I think i'll try being an Engineer when the PS3 version comes out.

[GillianSeed79]

50 percent of the people didn't finish the game? Wow. I'm always amazed at how many people simply don't finish games they buy.

[AniHawk]

80% of players got a pretty raw deal.

I like Jeniffer Hale, but I don't think she was given the best direction here. It sounds like she's trying to be a tough guy instead of a person.

Did they mention what percentage actually completed the game? I remember seeing HL2's stats and they were ridiculously low.

It's in the OP's pic at the top of the page?

[STG]

That's pretty high for a game actually.

yeah
and also there are tons of player which don't have their 360 connected to the interwebs

[Flavius]

Only 50% completed it... damn...

Much higher than the average for AAA titles, I'd imagine.

[Seda]

Did they mention what percentage actually completed the game? I remember seeing HL2's stats and they were ridiculously low.

50%

I wonder what the second most used class was. I'm betting Vanguard (my favorite).

[Aeana]

I like Jeniffer Hale, but I don't think she was given the best direction here. It sounds like she's trying to be a tough guy instead of a person.

Her performance in both games is a big reason why I like them. I reallllly do not like male Shepard at all.

[bill0527]

I would have loved to import my save from ME1 but I lost that save when I traded in my launch unit after it's second repair and third near death experience. I played ME2 on a new 360.

[VisionaryQuest0]

{hugs his Female Shep} Those 80% don't know what they're missing.

[Seda]

Her performance in both games is a big reason why I like them. I reallllly do not like male Shepard at all.

Male Shepard sounds much better as a Renegade than a Paragon, imo.

[Zenith]

We were surprised by how many people imported a game from Mass Effect 1…We put a lot into that feature and we could have gotten data back that said nobody was doing it.

No you didn't.

[Roarer]

And almost everyone payed as a male Sheperd? Jennifer Hale's female Shepred owns that game mutherfuckers.

[KingJ2002]

Those general stats definitely look like typical predictable me.

[erpg]

Brofist to PC players doing Miranda's ass loyalty mission over Grunt's.

[Jexhius]

Actually, maybe information isn't always a good thing.

They could always say "screw femshep, only 20% of people are playing here anyway, let's invest resources in more soldier stuff".

[TheRagnCajun]

I thought the female sheppard voice actor was supposed to be superior. Surpised most picked male.

[Confidence Man]

Also, everyone playing soldier? People are boring.

Says more about the game than the people playing it.

[Prime crotch]

I'm guessing the 50% of import saves was helped by there being a site where people uploaded their games

Her performance in both games is a big reason why I like them. I reallllly do not like male Shepard at all.

I really dont see the big deal about Jennifer Hale, she's female nolan north for bioware games, and the male shepard upped his game in ME2

[Dizzy-4U]

80% male Shepard? :/

Meh, they probably wanted to bang Tali.

[Trickster]

80% of players played as a male Shepard

so 80% of the people that played ME2, played the inferior version.

[erpg]

Says more about the game than the people playing it.

ME2's ability cooldowns kind of influenced me to play soldier aswell.

[Sho_Nuff82]

This functionality is awesome. Glad it's not just Valve and a few others using these tools. Also, everyone playing soldier? People are boring. 80% playing male? That's 80% playing wrong. And people wonder why games are getting shorter.

Biotics/techs powers are nerfed against shielded enemies and nearly all boss creatures. Mass Effect 2 is a shooter at its core after all.

Surprised that no one wanted to do Miranda's side mission. Yeah, it's one of the worst, but you couldn't have known that going in, and I spent half the game trying to get in her pants, so I probably did her mission first.

[Jexhius]

Biotics powers are nerfed against shielded enemies and nearly all boss creatures. Mass Effect 2 is a shooter at its core after all.

But there's noway the general public could have known that going into the game. That's why the information is interesting.

[Ledsen]

Only 50% completed it... damn...

Only? Dude, it's a 30-40 hour RPG. I would've expected something like 25%.

I thought the female sheppard voice actor was supposed to be superior. Surpised most picked male.

Male Shepard is the "default" Shepard (he's on the box). Also, most guys want to play as guys.

[Wallach]

Those general stats definitely look like typical predictable me.

Not really... the first set of numbers we got like this for, say, HL2: EP1 less than 25% of the people completed it (even though it was like a six hour game). That number has gone higher but it has taken years, and it's still under 40%.

[EmCeeGramr]

Her performance in both games is a big reason why I like them. I reallllly do not like male Shepard at all.

[IMG]http://i56.************/1zn4l20.jpg[/IMG]

[Haunted]

Big brother style observation aside, I'd love to crunch some of these statistics. Fascinating stuff.

[subversus]

Soldier being played more than any other class combined is kinda unfortunate.

that's pretty impressive. The average rate according XBL is about 30%.

[udivision]

I thought the female sheppard voice actor was supposed to be superior. Surpised most picked male.

Most players are male and probably wouldn't think about "Which voice actor is better"? when choosing their character's gender?

[SRG01]

I really dont see the big deal about Jennifer Hale, she's female nolan north for bioware games, and the male shepard upped his game in ME2

She's also one of the best female VAs in the industry.

[Anerythristic]

Biotics powers are nerfed against shielded enemies and nearly all boss creatures. Mass Effect 2 is a shooter at its core after all.

I remember my Engineer used the Overload talen alot, you would zap them and bzzzt shields were down. That was not a biotic talent?

[Glix]

No you didn't.

Yes they did. There are a TON of things that are affected by the choices you made, not just the choices they give you options for choosing if you are starting from scratch.

From the character that tries to stay with you at the very beginning when everything is going to hell, all the way to small conversations during the game with random reappearing people, to emails that you get and news updates at the citadel.

ALL affected by choices you made in teh first game.

[Wallach]

She's also one of the best female VAs in the industry.

She is, but this was probably one of her worst performances.

[BobsRevenge]

Not really... the first set of numbers we got like this for, say, HL2: EP1 less than 25% of the people completed it (even though it was like a six hour game). That number has gone higher but it has taken years, and it's still under 40%.

I replayed HL2:Ep 1 yesterday.

It took about two and a half hours.

[Dresden]

I remember my Engineer used the Overload talen alot, you would zap them and bzzzt shields were down. That was not a biotic talent?

No.

But Adepts and biotics were fine. Singularity was still immensely powerful even against shield units in Insanity, since it locked them down. It made any Harbinger fight a joke, for example, since it wouldn't do anything once a Singularity was cast on it. >_> Wide Singularity--shoot off shield--Warp Explosion pretty much wiped out entire groups at a time. People just overreact because Adepts couldn't godmode like ME1.

[Seda]

I think both Shepard voices are great.

I don't prefer either. When both are great there's no need to.