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Interview with Jim Baer and Daniel McCaffrey from Zynga

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Game Analytics

Abstract

Every day Zynga, the social gaming company behind hits such as Zynga Poker, FarmVille and Words with Friends, runs extensive statistical analysis of reams of data. Zynga has one of the largest data warehouses in the world, and the company needs it; its games generate over 15 terabytes of new data daily.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/dell/2011/10/31/big-data-and-little-data/

  2. 2.

    http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/15/zynga-ramps-up-private-cloud-infrastructure-zcloud-now-stores-1-4-petabytes-of-data/

  3. 3.

    http://www.vertica.com/,alsosee: http://www.vertica.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/ZyngaSocialGraphing.pdf

  4. 4.

    http://www.mysql.com/

  5. 5.

    http://www.mysql.com/products/cluster/

  6. 6.

    http://www.couchbase.com/docs/membase-manual-1.7/index.html

  7. 7.

    http://code.zynga.com/2012/02/the-evolution-of-zcloud/

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Correspondence to Magy Seif El-Nasr Ph.D. .

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About the Authors

Magy Seif El-Nasr, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the Colleges of Computer and Information Sciences and Arts, Media and Design, and the Director of Game Educational Programs and Research at Northeastern University, and she also directs the Game User Experience and Design Research Lab. Dr. Seif El-Nasr earned her Ph.D. degree from Northwestern University in Computer Science. Magy’s research focuses on enhancing game designs by developing tools and methods for evaluating and adapting game experiences. Her work is internationally known and cited in several game industry books, including Programming Believable Characters for Computer Games (Game Development Series) and Real-time Cinematography for Games . In addition, she has received several best paper awards for her work. Magy worked collaboratively with Electronic Arts, Bardel Entertainment, and Pixel Ante.

Alessandro Canossa, Ph.D. is Associate Professor in the College of Arts, Media and Design at Northeastern University, he obtained a MA in Science of Communication from the University of Turin in 1999 and in 2009 he received his PhD from The Danish Design School and the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Schools of Architecture, Design and Conservation. His doctoral research was ­carried out in collaboration with IO Interactive, a Square Enix game development studio, and it focused on user-centric design methods and approaches. His work has been commented on and used by companies such as Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, Microsoft, and Square Enix. Within Square Enix he maintains an ongoing collaboration with IO Interactive, Crystal Dynamics and Beautiful Games Studio.

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© 2013 Springer-Verlag London

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Seif El-Nasr, M., Canossa, A. (2013). Interview with Jim Baer and Daniel McCaffrey from Zynga. In: Seif El-Nasr, M., Drachen, A., Canossa, A. (eds) Game Analytics. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-4769-5_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-4769-5_5

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, London

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  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-4769-5

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