Using the game logs for research
Posted: Sat Jun 30, 2018 1:39 pm
Hello, semi-frequent player, forum and discord lurker, programmer and computer science PhD student here.
I'm studying procedurally generated narrative, in particular the possibility of using machine learning to extract knowledge and patterns from existing data, to be later used to generate brand new stories.
Why is any of that relevant?
Well, I happened to really get into the game as I was writing my research proposal, and once I learned that the game has publicly available game logs I thought they'd make for an... interesting source of data.
Jokes aside, the game is heavily player-driven, with deception and hidden knowledge as core mechanics, crazy enough storytelling while still constrained by mostly consistent game logic, and plentiful game logs with more being produced every day. It's just what I need from data at this point.
Now, I have some questions. I'm not sure if this is the right subforum to be asking them in, but it's my best guess.
First off, I couldn't find anything about using the logs for matters outside of the game and ban appeals. Given that they are publicly available to anyone, would it be alright for me to use them for research purposes?
They are already cleared of IP addresses, and I'd be happy to anonymize or remove any further identifying information (ooc chat, character names, usernames) if need be.
Secondly, if I am able to use the game logs, I'd be looking to contribute to the codebase to make future logs more complete, since the more data I have the better for me, and the logs in their current form are missing most interactions between players and the environment. As a side effect, more thorough logs would probably make admin-related matters easier, and I'd love to give something back to the game that consumed many of my sleepless nights.
Would a PR that adds logging to a whole bunch of game actions be well received? Or are the logs as sparse as they are now for a reason?
Last but not least, cheers to all the coders, admins, players and everyone else that made this game the amazingly weird thing it is.
I'm studying procedurally generated narrative, in particular the possibility of using machine learning to extract knowledge and patterns from existing data, to be later used to generate brand new stories.
Why is any of that relevant?
Well, I happened to really get into the game as I was writing my research proposal, and once I learned that the game has publicly available game logs I thought they'd make for an... interesting source of data.
Jokes aside, the game is heavily player-driven, with deception and hidden knowledge as core mechanics, crazy enough storytelling while still constrained by mostly consistent game logic, and plentiful game logs with more being produced every day. It's just what I need from data at this point.
Now, I have some questions. I'm not sure if this is the right subforum to be asking them in, but it's my best guess.
First off, I couldn't find anything about using the logs for matters outside of the game and ban appeals. Given that they are publicly available to anyone, would it be alright for me to use them for research purposes?
They are already cleared of IP addresses, and I'd be happy to anonymize or remove any further identifying information (ooc chat, character names, usernames) if need be.
Secondly, if I am able to use the game logs, I'd be looking to contribute to the codebase to make future logs more complete, since the more data I have the better for me, and the logs in their current form are missing most interactions between players and the environment. As a side effect, more thorough logs would probably make admin-related matters easier, and I'd love to give something back to the game that consumed many of my sleepless nights.
Would a PR that adds logging to a whole bunch of game actions be well received? Or are the logs as sparse as they are now for a reason?
Last but not least, cheers to all the coders, admins, players and everyone else that made this game the amazingly weird thing it is.