The gaming industry is booming right now. Dating as far back as the late 1940s, video games have been at the forefront of computer technology, reaching a digital zenith in the last couple of years. But that is no indication that it’s going to slow down any time soon; because programmers and developers are always looking for opportunities to level it up for the gamers of the world.
Dr. África Periáñez, CEO at Yokozuna Data, whose goal is to democratize game data science says, “The future of gaming lies in real-time personalization, driven by the very data we feed into the game.” Working with a team of data scientists and engineers, Dr. Periáñez aims to obtain a thorough understanding of players' behavior and to accurately predict their actions in order to contribute to the development of amazing data-driven personalized games. Following in the footsteps of companies like Google, Spotify, Netflix, and Amazon’s user-centric approach, Dr. Periáñez says that gaming industry too, is now playing catch up to big tech when it comes to customization. In order to enhance interaction, customization is said to hand over the control to users whereas personalization is supposed to shift the controls to the application. And that level of personalization is achieved through the vast amounts of data that’s being generated; and as Dr. Periáñez suggests, video games are among the best data sets available. Every single detail such as the in-game action, social interaction, dynamic progression, click, ad view, and purchase is recorded and stored in the database. As a result, they can gather a unique sample of information based on the continued relationship between the individual and the player. What we have in the end is a curated data of the individual behavior.
Apparently game data is the ideal testing ground to study the different aspects of a user’s personality. For instance, survival/war games like Fortnite can reflect strategic thinking and decision-making aspects of an individual’s personality, and data collected from them is already being used for military recruitment and training purposes. Also, AI and machine learning will make the optimal choice for you to make the whole experience much more fun. Predictive models will now pick the best partner for cooperative games like in Mario Kart or Clash of Clans, plus the highly sophisticated, role-playing games will allow players to express nuanced emotions through in-game actions.
While the hyper-personalization aims towards making the gamers’ lives better, it may also have its downsides. This basically means that users will play a lot more and as a result, spend a lot more; it could also lead some players to develop addictive behaviors. That’s why the experts are also working on suitable regulations to protect the players.
The rise of a new generation of gaming is inevitable and closer than you think. With the help of AI-based improvements now tapping into the virtual world, there will no longer be a virtual world, but many of them—catered to meet the needs and expectations of each and every individual.