In this video I will show you how to use Steam Stats feature to get data from your players and talk about how this could be used for Data Driven Game Development.
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Includes music by Harris Heller, StreamBeats.com
0:00 Intro
0:57 Steam Stats overview
Steam Stats can track 3 different types of variables in your game: Ints, Floats and Average rates. The average rate is basically a number that is associated with a specific period of time. For example how many points a player has earned in 1 hour.
With each of these stat types, you can set some ground rules like can they be set by a client or a server, can the stat only go up, how much can the stat change at once, what is the minimum value of the stat, what is the maximum value of the stat and what is the default value of the stat. For average rates there is also the “window” setting, which defines what the time period for that stat is.
And then finally there is an ímportant sett ing called “Aggregated”. This setting is what makes it possible to use Steam Stats for analytics. Basically it means that the stat values from all players are pooled together. So if you have a stat called “Games Won” and you have 3 players with each of them having won 5 games, the aggregated value of this stat will be 15. By dividing that aggregated value by the number of players, you can then get interesting values like the average win rate of your players.
4:31 How to use Steam Stats
9:40 Steam Stats special perk
There is one special perk to using Steam Stats. Let’s talk a bit about that. It’s related to data privacy. Quick disclaimer: I am not a data privacy specialist nor do I want to be one. The following is just my own thoughts and interpretations on the subject.
So, at least within the EU there are regulations related to data privacy, which all companies operating in the EU must follow. This collection of regulations is better known as the GDPR. Now, GDPR is mostly focused on protecting the personal information of customers and things like “games won” within your indie game don’t really count as personal information.
But, as far as I know, GDPR also mandates that you must tell the users of your service what kind of data is collected about them, for what purpose and they must also opt in to the collection of that data. Having small print text hidden somewhere also isn’t enough. The user must give a clear consent - usually by clicking a button that says “Yes, I am ok with my data being collected”.
I haven’t really followed how the GDPR has affected games, but I checked 2 popular game analytics services: GameAnalytics and Unity Analytics. On their sites, they both say that if you are using these services, you as a game developer should ask for consent from your players before any data is collected. If they don’t consent, you cannot collect data from those players.
Ok, but what does this have to do with Steam Stats? Well, if you check Steam’s privacy agreement, which I assume all Steam users have agreed to, there’s a mention that Steam will collect data about your use of games on Steam. “Game statistics” and so on.
Based on this, my interpretation is that data collection done through Steam Stats is covered by Steam’s privacy agreement and because of that, if you use Steam Stats in your game, there’s no need to ask consent from your players anymore, as they have already consented to it through Steam. But, I am not a data privacy specialist, so I decided to ask Steam support about this. Turns out, they agree with my interpretation.
So, in conclusion, one benefit Steam Stats has over other data collection tools is that there’s no need to include a separate notice about data collection in your game and you yourself also don’t need to keep track of whose data you can legally collect and whose you cannot as that falls on Steam to manage.
Now of course, if we are being realistic, it is very unlikely that your small indie game will be flagged for violating GDPR even if you collect gameplay data without consent - as long as you are not doing it maliciously. But, if we go by the letter of the law - well, my interpretation of it - by using Steam Stats, you CAN collect non-personal gameplay data without including a separate notice and an opt-out form in your game, while still adhering to the GDPR.
