Case Study

This chapter discusses Social Network Analysis, a technique used to analyze social networks within social games as a method to enhance retention in games. We will show how one can use this method by applying it to the problem of retention within the game Tom Clancy’s The Division (TCTD). Using the game and the analysis will help you understand how to use SNA to understand types of players and influential players, and, as a result, understand how to engage different players, especially influencers, to increase retention. While the chapter will focus on the use of SNA for TCTD as a case study, the methods discussed under SNA can be applied to other types of games. Please note that this chapter is an extension of the work done by several collaborators to the authors, including Casper Harteveld (professor, Northeastern University), Sebastian Deterding (professor, York University), and Ahmad Azadvar (User Research Lead at Ubisoft Massive), and the work was accomplished with the support of Ubisoft, the Games Lab, and the Live Ops team at Massive Entertainment.