🎮 #GamesNightViz: Press Start 🎮

Over the last century, video games have changed a lot. In the 1970s, early games like Pong and Space Invaders were simple with basic graphics and limited features. As technology improved, games became more advanced, offering realistic visuals, detailed stories, and the ability to play with others around the world. Today, video games are much more than just entertainment – they are a huge part of culture and society.

Playing video games has also been shown to improve certain cognitive skills. Studies suggest that gaming can help develop problem-solving abilities, better hand-eye coordination, and improve spatial awareness (like how we understand and move in a 3D space). Multiplayer games have allowed people from different places and cultures to connect, creating new ways of socializing and building communities online.

That's not all too. Different genres appeal to different people and can shape how we think. Puzzle games like Tetris make you think critically, while strategy games like Civilization improve planning and decision-making skills. Action games like Fortnite test quick reactions, and role-playing games (RPGs) like The Witcher help build empathy through storytelling. As these genres have evolved, they’ve encouraged different ways of thinking, from problem-solving to creative thinking, making gaming a fun way to develop new mental skills.

So what all this mumbo-jumbo about? Team #GamesNightViz has been hard at work behind the scenes for the past couple of months and we are very excited to announce this new project.

‍

‍

Introducing our very own #GamesNightViz starter kit 🎁📊🎮! 

An idea we bounced off from #DataPlusTV and #DataPlusMovies, because we wanted to make this community more accessible to everyone.

‍

And to add even more sparkles to this, we are working with the amazing Tableau's Academic Team - KJ, Tyler and Anezi; to bring this into schools as one of their curriculum to help train data skills in young students.

Students can explore the data through a tutorial workbook here. If you’re an instructor who is interested in getting this project for your students, head over to request one from here. The Tableau Academic team will contact you and furnish you with more details such as the instructor version of the dashboard, as well as a fully documented study guide to help you plan your lessons. Alternatively, you can reach out to the team if you have any questions:

• KJ Kim - LinkedIn 
• Tyler Weldon - LinkedIn
• Anezi Bueno - LinkedIn
• More information on the Academic Programs

‍

So what is this starter kit all about?

Team #GamesNightViz has worked on this for the past couple of months, collating data points from various video game websites like Metacritic, HowLongToBeat, Kaggle and even Wikipedia, to create this master dataset of all video games released from 1980s to 2023. We have also enlisted our wonderful #datafam friends like Kevin Wee, Lawrence Durbin, Josh Preston and Zach Bowders, who have helped to check the data and give feedback.

‍

But wait... we're not done yet! This is going to be an ongoing effort, so if you want to contribute to it, or spot something missing/wrong - do let us know! We'd love all the help we can get as well :)

‍

The data points we currently have in this dashboard are:
‍

Game Details

• Game Title - This is a string value to indicate the title of the video game. Do note that certain games may have been remastered/remade/rereleased in different years under the same name even though they might be entirely different in gameplay. In some cases, the year has been appended to the game title to make it less ambigiuous.
  ‍
• First Released - This is a date value to indicate the first released date of the video game. Do note that some games may have multiple releases due to re-releases on newer console platforms.
  ‍
• Game Synopsis - This is a string value to indicate a short synopsis of the video game.
  ‍
• ESRB Rating - This is a string value to indicate the official rating from the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) ranging from Everyone to Mature 17+.
  ‍
• Released on Consoles? - This is a boolean value (0 or 1) to indicate if a video game has been released at least once on any of the home-based consoles (released after 1983 - the 3rd generation).
  ‍
• Released on Handhelds? - This is a boolean value to indicate if a video game has been released at least once on any of the handheld devices (released after 1989 - the 4th generation).
  ‍
• Released on Mobiles? - This is a boolean value to indicate if a video game has been released at least once on any of the mobile devices.
  ‍
• Released on Nintendo Switch? - This is a boolean value to indicate if a video game has been released on Nintendo Switch.
  ‍
• Released on PC? - This is a boolean value to indicate if a video game has been released on PC, Mac or Linux.
  ‍
• Released on PlayStation? - This is a boolean value to indicate if a video game has been released on any home-based PlayStation Consoles.
  ‍
  
• Released on Xbox? - This is a boolean value to indicate if a video game has been released on any home-based Xbox Consoles.
  ‍
• Developer - This is a string value to indicate the developer or studio who created the video game.
  ‍
• Publisher - This is a string value to indicate the publishing company who released the video game into the market.
  ‍
• Main Genre - This is a string value to indicate the main genre of video game.
  ‍
• Sub Genre - This is a string value to indicate the sub genre of video game based on the original genre string.
  ‍
• Game Thumbnails - This is a image role value to retrieve the thumbnail of the video game. This is a combination of both Metacritic and Wikipedia sources.

‍

Ratings & Awards

• Metacritic Score - Metacritic curates a diverse group of highly respected critics and assign scores to their reviews. The weighted average of those scores results in a single number and color, the Metascore for each game.
  ‍
• Metacritic Must Play? - Metacritic established the "Must-Play" certification for video games attaining a Metascore of 90% or more, and a minimum number of 15 reviews from industry professionals.
  ‍
• Number of Critic Reviews - This numerical value represents the number of critics who have contributed to the Metascore for each game.
  ‍
• User Score - Based on user scores submitted to Metacritic. These scores are different from the Metascore and goes from 0 to 10 instead. All user scores are averaged and assigned to each game.
  ‍
• Number of User Reviews - This numerical value represents the number of users who have submitted a User Score for a specific game.

‍

Playtime

• Main Story Only (Average, Minimum, Maximum) - This numerical value represents the average/minimum/maximum minutes to complete the main story only. This data is an combination of all times submitted by the community to the web repository HowLongToBeat.
  ‍
• Main Story + Extras (Average, Minimum, Maximum) - This numerical value represents the average/minimum/maximum minutes to complete the main story + side quests. This data is an combination of all times submitted by the community to the web repository HowLongToBeat.
  ‍
• Completionist (Average, Minimum, Maximum) - This numerical value represents the average/minimum/maximum minutes to fully complete the game + achievements . This data is an combination of all times submitted by the community to the web repository HowLongToBeat.
  ‍
• All Playstyles (Average, Minimum, Maximum) - This numerical value represents the average/minimum/maximum minutes of the three playstyles (Main only, Main + Extra, Completionist). This data is an combination of all times submitted by the community to the web repository HowLongToBeat.

‍

‍

Start vizzing what you love today!

Simply download this workbook and get started today. There are some sample vizzes for this special dataset to give you some ideas, but we encourage you to explore and find your own personal video games story. Or if you'd like, you can bring your own data into the mix. We'd love that too, and feel free to reach out to any of us if you need any help. We are in the season of data abundance, with #DataPlusTV rolling out last month and #IronViz just around the corner! Team #GamesNightViz will be continuing to find and add more data to enrich this starter kit. As such, we don't really have a hard end date for this month's "challenge". So viz away and stay tuned for more!

‍

💖 Can't wait to see what you create! 💖

‍

As always, remember to tag us so we don't miss your amazing work!

‍

How to Submit

• This challenge will run perpetually, but we'll continue to enhance the data. We will still have themed challenges every now and then, but we'll let everyone explore this one a little bit more first 😉
• Post your submissions on Twitter with the hashtag #GamesNightViz and tag the team @WJSutton12, @datavizlouis, @consult_ant ‍ and @covellicreative so we don't miss your great work!
• Submit your work the project tracker here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScMRc4dJ089gPvHMtFVPZ7DVgcwrqqxkonffLF5apAZOzFX3A/viewform

‍

‍

Inspirations from the community

Here are some great vizzes from the Tableau community to give you an idea what can be done.

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍

‍