It’s a fact of the modern world that data has seeped into nearly every aspect of our lives. That’s what the Internet of Things and big data is all about, millions of devices all broadcasting data just waiting to be analyzed.

Need proof? As we were talking about our weekend plans the VisualCrew decided that most of us were going to spend it exploring our favorite digital worlds in video games. As it turns out data and the visualization thereof have become a part of our favorite pastime!

Data gives gamers tactical advantage

The folks at coolinfographics.com are always a great source for the best data visualizations, and they have collected an entire list of the best gaming visualizations. While the entire list is amazing we were particularly impressed by an old Bungie.net visualization of the best places to either destroy or be destroyed when playing “Halo.”

We love how this is a use of data to give any player a tactical advantage. It’s not rows and columns, it’s not a chart showing how many snipers were successful from which points. It’s a straightforward and simple visualization that shows, in terms anyone can understand, where the best vantage points are.

And it’s a great example of exactly what the smart use of data can do: collect enough information and, more importantly, present it in an understandable way and anyone can gain insight. Insight that keeps you from walking around the map aimlessly searching for the best place to get your score up.

Lack data? You can make your own.

But what if you’re not playing a modern shooting game developed by one of the largest video game companies in the world? No problem if you’re playing on your personal computer. With simple mouse-tracking software anyone can turn an average gaming session into not only useful data but beautiful art.

This user played “Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 2” for a few hours and came up with the following data visualization of his mouse clicks with frequency. The best part about this visualization is the ability to give the gamer insight into their own, personal playing style. Perhaps, after looking at this, you could determine that you were not spending enough time clicking in the middle of the screen but returning to the menus to frequently to change your equipment.

Frankly, it makes us curious to know what is on the bottom left of the screen.

Whether you use gaming to gain a tactical advantage or just analyze your own playing style and make improvements from there, we are impressed and pleased that data visualization has reached so far into every aspect of our lives. We hope to see more of it in the future!

Cheers,

The VisualCrew