How do Category and Advisories affect downloads?

Tartalo · Mon 02/04/2007 20:15:00

Did you ever ask yourself what is people looking at when they decide whether they download a game or not?

With a script I made some stats and these are the results.

What do the numbers mean? First I look the percentage of games that fall in each category, then at the percentage of downloads in each category, and finally I calculate the proportion between percentage of downloads and percentage of games of each category.

CATEGORY
Full length games: 357%
Plugins: 200%
Medium length games: 147%
Short games: 88%
Joke games: 60%
MAGS games: 54%
Non-adventure games: 37%
Demos: 26%
Dummy entries: 0%

BAD LANGUAGE
Mild: 150%
Strong: 133%
Unrated: 118%
Occasional, mild: 105%
Frequent, strong: 100%
None: 85%

SEX
Sex scenes: 400%
Frontal nudity: 150%
Suggestive dialog: 125%
Unrated: 100%-118% (My script distinguished explicit unrated and no info at all)
None: 88%

VIOLENCE
Rare, mild: 125%
Strong: 114%
Mild: 116%
Unrated: 118%
None: 75%
Frequent, strong: 50%

CONCLUSION FOR AUTHORS
The magic formula for a succesfull game seems to be (In order of importance):
- Put as much sex as possible. Internet is 4 pr0n
- Make a long game. Size matters.
- Too much violence scares people.
- Do use bad language. The best is to keep a balance, but it's better too much than none. (It has been suggested that the variation is to small to be considered)

Tartalo
PS: As usual I belong to a minority, I prefer bloody games.

Tartalo · Mon 02/04/2007 20:34:45

CONCLUSION FOR USERS

So you want to see tits? You dirty pigs! These are the games with sex scenes the where rated at least 50%:

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ID: 38
Title: Quest for Glory 4 1/2
Category: Full length games
Date: 2002-01-01
Bad Language: Frequent, strong
Sex/Nudity: Sex scenes
Violence Mild
Description All is not well in the valley of Spielburg. Elsa has disappeared (again) and the sheriff has been murdered. The rest of the valley is in chaos and the influx of heroes has done little to calm the valley. Your job is not done. It's time to go back to Spielburg.
Visual 85
Immersion 81
Puzzles 87
Enjoyment 86
----------

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ID: 356
Title: Leisure Suit Larry 2 Point and Click (Final version)
Category: Full length games
Date: 2004-02-26
Bad Language: Mild
Sex/Nudity: Sex scenes
Violence Mild
Description Ah, Larry, life seemed so perfect, didn't it? A beautiful woman, a nice house, in a rich city... but then, dreams usually are perfect. And even YOU have to wake up, Larry, and go Looking For Love (In Several Wrong Places)! And if you happen to get chased all over by the KGB and the evil Dr. Nonookee, well, such is life...
Visual 76
Immersion 76
Puzzles 76
Enjoyment 81
----------

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ID: 458
Title: Everlot-Demo
Category: Demos
Date: 2004-10-20
Bad Language: Frequent, strong
Sex/Nudity: Sex scenes
Violence Frequent, strong
Description Join the Knave on his quest to find out his identity and save the Emperor! (download the file AND the mirror and expand it and put all the files in the 2 folders into a new folder because the @#^%ers at MSN wont let me upload anything more than a Megabyte)
Visual 73
Immersion 73
Puzzles 73
Enjoyment 75
----------

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ID: 293
Title: Pilot Light: Episode 1
Category: Short games
Date: 2003-10-30
Bad Language: None
Sex/Nudity: Sex scenes
Violence Rare, mild
Description A space pilot, a 2-ton cargo box, and a serious case of bad luck. Battle astro-serpents, tackle nefarious hoodlums, and pay for gasoline in this pint-sized epic.
Visual 89
Immersion 71
Puzzles 68
Enjoyment 71
----------

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ID: 263
Title: FLASHBAX:
Category: Medium length games
Date: 2003-09-04
Bad Language: Strong
Sex/Nudity: Sex scenes
Violence Strong
Description FUTURISTIC-ADVENTURE.
Visual 75
Immersion 67
Puzzles 79
Enjoyment 66
----------

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ID: 4
Title: Novo Mestro
Category: Short games
Date: 2002-01-01
Bad Language: Frequent, strong
Sex/Nudity: Sex scenes
Violence Frequent, strong
Description Inspired by the pioneering feats of Cap'n Mostly, AGS is taken in a daring new direction.
Visual 65
Immersion 60
Puzzles 52
Enjoyment 60
----------

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ID: 260
Title: Caleb's Drunken Adventure
Category: Medium length games
Date: 2003-08-17
Bad Language: Mild
Sex/Nudity: Sex scenes
Violence Mild
Description You are Caleb a young guy who can't stop partying. The story begins at your house during a house party. You wake up the next day to see your house trashed and your GF, Stephanie, a bit tiffed. Anyways as you go through the game you just solve the puzzles around and outside your house. Along the way there's quite a bit of humor. Anyways without further explanations start the game and wander wildly.
Visual 70
Immersion 59
Puzzles 70
Enjoyment 55
----------

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ID: 470
Title: James Bond - Who wants to live again?
Category: MAGS games
Date: 2004-11-23
Bad Language: None
Sex/Nudity: Sex scenes
Violence Mild
Description You are James Bond and someone kills you while you are in bed with Janine, you're current girlfriend. But you have luck. A man called A offers you the possibility to live again, but he wants you to do something on earth before you can live again. The only problem is that you're dead enemy Clawman has been offerd the same possibility to live again by a man called Z. And Clawman tries to kill you and to destroy the earth. Will you manage to give James Bond his life back?
Visual 65
Immersion 55
Puzzles 55
Enjoyment 50
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Andail · Mon 02/04/2007 22:49:34

I have to say that Novo Mestro was enough to satisfy my sexual hunger for months

Radiant · Tue 03/04/2007 12:56:23

These statistics fail to account for the amount of games in a category. If category A holds a single game that is downloaded five times, it gets 500%. If category B holds ten games, one of which is downloaded ten times, it gets 100%.

Snarky · Tue 03/04/2007 14:17:07

I would think we would all be familiar with the concept of an average.

The only categories I think have any real effect on downloads are the length and the inclusion of sex scenes. The rest of the variation is probably either random or linked to which categories are stuffed with obscure games and which ones have the more notable ones.

Tartalo · Tue 03/04/2007 14:49:57

Quote from: Radiant on Tue 03/04/2007 12:56:23
These statistics fail to account for the amount of games in a category. If category A holds a single game that is downloaded five times, it gets 500%. If category B holds ten games, one of which is downloaded ten times, it gets 100%.

It's my fault that you get confused, the numbers are not calculated the way I explained in the first post. First I look the percentage of games that fall in each category, then at the percentage of downloads in each category, and finally I calculate the proportion between percentage of downloads and percentage of games of each category. I have modified the misleading explanation of the first post.

Quote from: SnarkyThe only categories I think have any real effect on downloads are the length and the inclusion of sex scenes. The rest of the variation is probably either random or linked to which categories are stuffed with obscure games and which ones have the more notable ones.

A 125% can be considered as random noise or consequence of other unrelated variables, but have a look also at those categories with extremely low numbers, I would say that a 50% means something. I am not good at statistics, so corrections and explanations are welcome.

Radiant · Tue 03/04/2007 15:06:44

Quote from: Tartalo on Tue 03/04/2007 14:49:57
What formula would you use instead?

Average number of downloads per game, as listed by category.

Tartalo · Tue 03/04/2007 15:22:36

Quote from: Radiant on Tue 03/04/2007 15:06:44
Quote from: Tartalo on Tue 03/04/2007 14:49:57
What formula would you use instead?
Average number of downloads per game, as listed by category.

Sorry, I edited my post while you were answering

Raggit · Tue 03/04/2007 16:49:30

Not suprising that games with the most sexual content are the ones that get the most downloads. After all, AGSers are nothing but horny, sex-starved losers with a computer mouse in one hand and something else in the other.

Seriously though, this is an interesting topic, and more details and some revisions would be nice.

Tartalo · Wed 04/04/2007 02:19:17

Quote from: Raggit on Tue 03/04/2007 16:49:30
this is an interesting topic, and more details and some revisions would be nice.

I wasn't thinking of making more numbers, this post was just a side effect of a bigger project I am working on, making these stats with the tools I already have was too easy not to try. But if you want to see more numbers just say what question you what an answer for and I will try.