ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors look at the methodological and epistemological challenges they encountered as communication researchers with a background in semiotics when analyzing data collected by a gaming company. They explore the limits of methods for analyzing video game communities by showing the challenges that communication studies researchers face when using game analytics and data collected in a business context. Researchers in communication studies face many difficulties when they wish to use game analytics methods. Besides the difficulty in accessing in-game databases, this methodology requires training in data sciences since it is based on data processing. The authors utilize a mixed-methods approach, cross-referencing the results of the quantitative and qualitative data analyses conducted inside as well as outside the game. The methods they used are: semiotic analysis of the game, player surveys, semi-structured interviews with the players, automated analysis of in-game and out-of-game data, and manual encoding of out-of-game data from the game’s official forum and subreddit.
