User-Created Maps (prelim data)

According to data from my dissertation research, user-created content (maps) extends a title’s shelf life by approximately two years before it sharply declines. A subsequent release of a new installment reinvigorates the franchise. What follows is a brief summary of some preliminary numbers.

One of the happy observations that both academics and analysts like to make is that user-created content for a video game extends the title’s shelf life. But not nearly often enough is this accompanied by any type of empirically derived argument. Enter data.

The current set incorporates all three story arcs. Organized by year, the numbers are by far the highest in 2003 and 2004. It adds up to almost 70% and coincides with the release of C&C: Generals and its expansion Zero Hour.

Focusing exclusively on the Generals franchise, the following pattern appears (second graph): almost 50% of the user-created maps appear in the same year as the game’s release. The next year still shows a lot of content (35%), but two years later the creative energy subsides (11.3%). The years leading up to C&C3 are meager: 4.4% and 1.8% respectively.

Looking again at the first graph, 2007 shows an increase which coincides with the release of C&C3: Tiberium Wars in that year. This suggests that new installments of a franchise trigger the production of user-created content. This may have implications for the product cycle, but I’ll need a bigger data set to prove that. Nonetheless, it suggests a macro-scale episodic gaming in which developers not so much release monthly episodes, but a two-year revision of the main narrative and accompanying SDK. Discuss.

As my data set grows, I will be able to make a more precise comparisons, for example between Generals and Tiberium Wars. Those who have or need help, contact me at joost at waffler dot org. Thanks.

[Disclaimer: As I’m turtling my way through the immense data set I’ve set out to complete, I’ll be massaging my numbers from time to time. Currently, I’ve coded almost 500 user-created maps. My list is organized alphabetically, and not chronologically or by C&C installment, which likely skews the data. More on that later. Gimme some love for my hard work.]