IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/simgam/v48y2017i3p363-380.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Taxonomy Approach to Studying How Gamers Review Games

Author

Listed:
  • Matthew J. Koehler
  • Brian Arnold
  • Spencer P. Greenhalgh
  • Liz Owens Boltz

Abstract

Background . Player-generated reviews of video games represent a large, rich, and under-explored source of data for exploring what makes for an effective game. Aim . We explore whether existing theory, in the form of a comprehensive gaming taxonomy , suitably captures the issues that players raise when they review games. Method . User-submitted game reviews were coded along the dimensions of the comprehensive gaming taxonomy to test the frequency of usage of each dimension. Results . We found some support for the use of the taxonomy , as four of nine taxonomy features were frequently present in game reviews . We also found support for other features of reviews not encapsulated by the Bedwell et al. (2012) taxonomy . Specifically, we found that players often reviewed video games : a) holistically; b) by comparing them to other games, game franchises, and other reviews; and c) by judging the value of games in terms of time, money, and effort. These results have implications for using game reviews for future research.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthew J. Koehler & Brian Arnold & Spencer P. Greenhalgh & Liz Owens Boltz, 2017. "A Taxonomy Approach to Studying How Gamers Review Games," Simulation & Gaming, , vol. 48(3), pages 363-380, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:simgam:v:48:y:2017:i:3:p:363-380
    DOI: 10.1177/1046878117703680
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1046878117703680
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/1046878117703680?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:simgam:v:48:y:2017:i:3:p:363-380. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.