[arg_discuss] ARG metrics

[Brian Clark]

Dr. Christy Dena did a good job for many years of collecting the bits and
pieces of statistics that got revealed publicly about several major
projects. See: http://www.christydena.com/online-essays/arg-stats/ A lot of
that disclosure happens first by the client, so we developers start with our
hands tied ... but by the time an advertising agency is making case studies
for ad awards, there starts being more of that data out there (and the
non-disclosure agreements for developers no longer have to protect that
revealed info as confidential).

That said, I'm not sure I agree with your perspective below -- there are
analytics in the field, but analytics aren't the same thing as predicting
ROI (just as there are analytics in film but that isn't the same thing as
predicting profit for a film). You can't compare these things across one set
of metrics, because they exist for very different goals -- and those goals
should be from the metrics that those clients already understand and buy
into from a business or mission perspective. It would be short-sighted and
counter-productive for the genre if we have to push a "different set of
metrics" to a client that's somehow specific to ARGs, much like that phase
in social media when WOMMA tried to advance "WOM units" as if it were a
meaningful "new" metric (because they were trying to sell "potential reach"
as valuable instead of reach).

When we do this kind of work (for either commercial or NFP funders), the
goal is the single most important thing to understand, and that goal has to
be something that could be articulated metrically. Metrics are indicators of
goal accomplishment, but not the actual goal. So if the goal is "create
awareness" or "produce consideration" or whatnot, then you can design the
experience to ring the bells of those metrics. But that means those goals
have to be business objectives and familiar metrics that allow them to
compare this apple you're building them against the hundreds of oranges they
have had built for them in the past (not compared to other work in the genre
in completely different industries with completely different goals). 

If what you're trying to do is help a potential funder understand what the
size of things *might* be, you are not in the world of metrics -- you're in
the world of projections, which is also doable but a totally different
thing. At that point, you need to know about fuel (advertising, for example)
and response rates (like clicks) and engagement rates (like repeat
visitation) and conversion rates (like sales generated or actions taken). In
general, what's distinctive (but not unique) about ARGs are the impact they
have on engagement rates and engagement depths ... and then, there are
predictable outcomes from increased engagement that can be measured and
tracked (like on sales or consideration).

-----Original Message-----
From: arg_discuss-bounces at igda.org [mailto:arg_discuss-bounces at igda.org] On
Behalf Of Claudia Rodriguez Ortiz
Sent: Wednesday, September 14, 2011 6:01 AM
To: Discussion list of the IGDA ARG SIG;
argresearch at lists.transmodiology.org
Subject: Re: [arg_discuss] ARG metrics

hi Thomas,

Thanks for your response. I think one of the main reasons ARGs have not
taken off is this lack of analytics in the field. In my experience, both
commercial and non-profit potential funders of ARGs are intrigued but
-rightly so- they want to be able to tell what their ROI would be.

Also comparing them with the same metrics that are used in say, traditional
advertising does not make them justice, and it is like comparing apples with
pears. Therefore special ARG/ cross-media metrics should be developed and
the cases so far could be analysed. That would make a great topic for a
Masters thesis or PhD, anyone out there interested? ;) I could act as a
research advisor if anyone is interested in pursuing this academically.

All the best

Claudia

Claudia Rodriguez Ortiz
Ahead of the Game / PlayReal
Amsterdam, the Netherlands


On Wed, Sep 14, 2011 at 10:27 AM, Thomas Maillioux <
thomas.maillioux at gmail.com> wrote:


> Hi there !

>

> A very interesting question. A few years ago I asked the question 

> around to designers and game-designers I was in touch with and came up 

> with only two kinds of responses :

>

> When the games are designed for a company, the metrics were kept for 

> internal use only When the games were grassroot-designed, the metrics 

> were either very small (little visibility for the game) or not always 

> relevant.

>

> Top off my head, with another few years experience, I suppose you 

> could look into user traffic on specific pages, community activity 

> over time (through forum posts and user statistics, hashtags uses and 

> activity on Tweeter, members metrics on Facebook, views on YouTube for 

> videos for example...) and compare these numbers with the dev cost for 

> the various media tidbits involved. I'm sure the professional 

> designers out there will have more ideas to bring to the table though 

> :)

>

> T.

> 2011/9/14 Jeff Hull <jeff at nonchalance.com>

>

> > Hi Claudia,

> > are you near Amsterdam?  I'm on a panel at the PICNIC festival 

> > called "Guerrilla Storytelling" this Friday.  As far as hard metrics 

> > for ARG's I don't know where those are neatly compiled.  Anyone?

> >

> > best,

> > Jeff Hull

> >

> > : :   creative director  n o n c h a l a n c e

> > : :   510.260.7527 /  jeff at nonchalance.com

> > : :   http://about.nonchalance.com

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> > On Sep 14, 2011, at 8:37 AM, Claudia Rodriguez Ortiz wrote:

> >

> > Hello

> >>

> >> I am a developer of ARGs in the Netherlands (and a researcher too) 

> >> and I am wondering if anybody has conducted analytics on previous 

> >> ARGs.

> >>

> >> Are there any numbers out there that show how effective ARGs are? 

> >> such

> as

> >> average time spent or other measure of involvement? Has anybody 

> >> compiled

> a

> >> list of ARGs (commercial or non-commercial) and analyzed how many

> players

> >> they attracted or some other metric showing their effectiveness?

> >>

> >> Thanks in advance for any information or clues where I can find this.

> >>

> >> Claudia

> >>

> >> Ahead of the Game

> >> PlayReal

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>

>

> --

> "We do it because we are *compelled*."

> TomMaillioux.fr <http://tommaillioux.fr/> Twitter : @Bookmore 

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