The ideas in this thesis are now quite old (2019) and have evolved a great deal since then. Please feel free to reach out with questions.

ABSTRACT
Updates are a fundamental component of game evolution and their impact on communities has become highly relevant in the digital age. There is a need to standardize data collection and discuss update impacts on disruptive behavior in a systematic manner to further the success and benefit of the games medium and industry. This thesis analyzes the current state of three influential games and their current update strategies, and proposes a paradigm using visualizations to characterize data that will enable the industry to systematically dissect the impact of updates on game communities and demonstrate the need for further study.