Do the devs have access to gameplay data?

[I was NC]

Apologies if it's a dumb question. Just am curious. Frankly I hope they do see information on our choices of civs, wonders, etc. Seems like it would help inform how to design the game (especially what to avoid). Not like how often I improve resources is some kind of top-secret data.

I've read a couple of Dev Diary entries and they sort of suggest having access, but not definitively.

 

[pokiehl]

There is telemetry, yes. We know because they’ve advertised specific stats about Civ 6 in the past.

 

[Disgustipated]

Is that an opt in? I don't remember consenting to any data sending. But I'm assuming if you are playing online, then stats are being sent.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

Is that an opt in? I don't remember consenting to any data sending. But I'm assuming if you are playing online, then stats are being sent.

I'd assume that's the reason they want you to connect a 2K account so badly.

 

[bbbt]

I don't know how they get data, I assume 1) They can gather a lot just from the achievements (the same we can gather from looking at them), 2) they may be able to get data from saved games stored in a cloud 2K account. I don't think they are just getting data from single player/offline games.

 

[CivKirk64]

Typically there is a bunch of telemetry used to track event data for achievements and the like, they can be quite sophisticated, shooters can log player location data to generate heatmaps for development.

If I remember correctly Halo 3 had such detailed data that the instant replay feature that let you re-watch an entire match from any angle. It wasn't recording everyone's video, just every single event, every player location, the direction they were moving & facing, items using etc etc.
The devs can also use that data to show how specific maps are being played, follow trends and make changes, use that information for future development.

Civ specifically the example often touted now is how often players play a match all the way to the end.
I'm certain for myself I probably bounce off somewhere before future Era more than half the time, and they can probably tell that I rarely build the medics and never remember to build holy sites unless I'm trying a religion victory.

 

[JNR13]

I'd assume that's the reason they want you to connect a 2K account so badly.

That's probably because someone was assigned the number of new signups as their personal KPI and now they push for it internally to keep their job.

More certainly though, telemetry does not require players connecting with a 2K account. The opt-in is already claimed through the EULA, I think. Further, a lot goes through Steam itself (both the telemetry and player consent via Steam's own terms of use). There's very little that 2K can't get otherwise that they need you to have an account with them for. The most notable thing there is consent to send you advertisement emails. That's what they don't get through their games' EULAs, Steam data sharing, etc. but need from you directly. It's also to make you feel more invested and increase brand affinity and loyalty. Ever since the console wars, publishers think they must turn players into thinking - and ideally also proudly proclaiming towards their friends and the rest of the internet - that "I am a Ubisoft guy" or "I am a 2K gal" or so, idk. Either way though, in the end it's about trying to get civ fans to spend money on other 2K games, too, and vice versa; not about letting Firaxis get a first clue about how we play their games.

 

[vorlon_mi]

Some the data are collected by Steam; I distinctly remember seeing a note about a hotkey to "Access the Steam Community while you're playing". I've used a different hotkey to save a screenshot from the game to my Steam account. Having collected some Steam achievements means that the game is exchanging some data about what just happened -- what I just built, a victory I just won, something about a wonder or collection of wonders -- with Steam. Steam knows and reports how many people play the game on a daily basis.

I *assume* that Steam makes those data available to the developers in aggregate, anonymized. I have not read the EULA to confirm that. I would be surprised if Civ games shared all of the game state data (player positions on the map) that the shooter or RPG games share.

I don't save any of my games in the Steam cloud. I don't know if the data from my personal hall of fame -- including leaders I've played, score, opponents, type of map, difficulty level, victory type -- is shared or not. Those hall of fame / scoreboard data exist as a file on my PC.

Other game marketplaces -- Epic, even Netflix -- would have different levels of data access.

 

[Vincent_lacruz]

I for myself wouldn't mind Firaxis getting some data from my games, as long as it has no impact on game performance. Because it would be a good base to improve the AI, if they go that way (getting real player game data to fine tune the AI).

 

[Josephias]

There's very little that 2K can't get otherwise that they need you to have an account with them for.

Not having reviewed the EULA Terms of service this is something that I cannot ensure, but I’ll guess basic telemetry data is annonimysed (i.e. game 73882525 -or fill your product key in-) plays 60% of the time as the romans, but by linking your 2k account they get a way to correlate your civ data with other 2k games date (i.e “60% known players of Midnight Suns that own civ choose the Blood Pact as secret society when playing with it enabled”). These are more useful for marketing, of course, but may also allow to underestand audience for certain features:

 

[The_J]

Hey, what do you think "achievements" are ?