Card Sorting

☻Qualitative Method:
Explore how players feel and behave through interviews, observations, and open-ended feedback.

Best Stage: Early Concept → Information Architecture

Primary Goal:Understanding how players naturally group and label information (menus, inventory, settings, skill trees)

Effort: Moderate

Overview

Card sorting is a method used to understand how players naturally categorize and label information. Participants are given a set of "cards" (which can be physical or digital), each representing a concept such as abilities, items, menu options, or quests, and are asked to group them in a way that makes sense to them.

How It Applies to Game Research

In games, card sorting is often used to:

Design intuitive menus or inventories

(e.g., how players expect weapons, gear, or spells to be grouped)
Organize skill trees or progression systems
Label categories in game UI

(e.g., naming tabs or navigation buttons)
Test new onboarding or tutorial flows

(e.g., which actions players expect to take first)

Types of Card Sorting

Open sort – Players create their own categories and names.
Closed sort – Players sort cards into pre-defined categories.
Hybrid sort – Mix of open and closed methods.