Gameplay.Science vs RoTracker

Gameplay.Science is an open-source web platform for independent research on video games using behavior data donated by players. It is designed to support studies without requiring direct participation from game platforms. Players can contribute digital trace data through Steam or Discord connections, account integrations such as Steam or Xbox, or GDPR requests. Account linking lets a participant sign in and authorize automatic access to gameplay data. UK and EU players can request data held by a gaming company under GDPR and share it with researchers. The project aims to cover how long people play, what they do in games, and who they interact with. A study using the platform describes Steam authentication through OpenID, public Steam gameplay details, and hourly collection of each game’s incremental playtime. That study says data was stored on encrypted servers accessible only to the research team. Steam and Xbox are listed as supported ecosystems.

RoTracker is a web service for monitoring Roblox activity. It shows games played, time spent, and activity patterns in daily, weekly, and yearly views. A game library records play history and session counts, while live updates show what is being played now. Streak tracking covers current and longest streaks. Multiple Roblox accounts can be linked to one dashboard, after ownership verification enables automatic tracking. RoTracker says it collects activity through Roblox public APIs and does not access private or non-public Roblox data. It requires neither a Roblox password nor a browser extension or account access. Linked activity may appear on public leaderboards, with a Hide from leaderboards option for anonymous display. The service is in public beta and currently free: the Free plan is free, with no credit card or hidden fees. Data export is basic. The privacy policy lists encryption in transit, password hashing, access controls, security assessments, and suspicious-activity monitoring.