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Hi folks,

I've been posting here for a few years, now, and mostly trying to be useful and polite and stuff. I have a huge favour to ask of the Dakka community. I'm in the final year of my PhD, studying game design and motivational psychology, and where the two intersect. As part of my research, I'm looking into what motivates people to play three popular games, one non-digital (Warhammer 40K) and two digital (Minecraft and World of Warcraft). If you play any of the above (and I guess most of you do!), please, please take 15 minutes of your time to fill in the relevant survey.

To ensure the results of the surveys are statistically valid, I need several hundred respondents for each one. I'm getting there with the Minecraft one, thanks to some help from the Yogscast tweeting about it, but I'm in need of a lot more WoW and 40K respondents (and still need more Minecraft respondents too, really!). So, if you could also share this with your gaming friends, online or otherwise, I'd be very grateful.

I can't offer anything other than my gratitude, but if you spot me at a tourney or other meet-up and let me know you filled a survey in, I will certainly buy you a pint.

Here's the official research invite:

Research Invitation

Do you play Minecraft, World of Warcraft, or Warhammer 40,000? Want to help me learn why people play games, and how game designers could make better games?
I’m looking for participants into a survey researching what motivates people to play games.
This research may inform improvements in game design in future, as well as offering guidance for a code of ethics for game designers. It should help designers learn how to maximise the fun, interesting, and exciting bits in games, and get rid of the dull parts.

Motivation for Playing Minecraft survey:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/18tL6lNoyJNXUbM5f1SkWFkPi_3YCKFE88lVdMCt_Nwg/viewform

Motivation for Playing Warhammer 40,000 survey:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1EirX3XmwKGlLYnnNBVrXrCjmhi-SdRvqbqumYiYxsxU/viewform

Motivation for Playing World of Warcraft survey:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1iIZz0hEADtnS1V9a5ghwpBIzAxAvut7ajPa4B4llDLM/viewform

I played wow for about 6 years on and off.. I only quit when pandaria showed up.

So, I'll fill two in for you mate.

That means I get two pints right?

Although im living in Pasadena now so, you can drink the fethers for me!

I feel terrible, I'm answering like, "Not true at all" for most of these minecraft questions

Edit: I'll take care of the WoW and 40k ones later

Very odd survey... Seems like most of the questions are 'not true at all.'

Unless you cut yourself or have terrible self-esteem, the answer to most questions is 'not true at all.'

I am sure there is some method to the questions, just seemed odd.

Only filled in the 40k one. Never cared for Minecraft and I quit WoW after Lich King, a few weeks before the tremors started for Cataclysm.

I just filled out the 40k one. The questions also struck me as odd, but good luck in your studies!

As someone who will be soon heading to Graduate school, I helped by filling out the 40k survey.

Although I'm not an expert on game design and motivational psychology, and I'm not sure what your research questions are, I found the survey a little strange. Nevertheless, I filled it out. Good luck with your dissertation.

How do I see my score?

I just took it. Hope it works out. Please update us on results.

I'll fill in the 40k and WoW ones. I'm not sure about the "I'd feel bad about myself" questions. Like, I enjoy painting and modelling because I enjoy it, and I get a feeling of achievement from having started and finished something. I suspect that the WoW question would be similar, and I'd have a similar answer because when I played I felt a sense of achievement when I completed something significant or created something fun...


Automatically Appended Next Post:
What I'm also finding interesting are in the multiple choice questions at the end. Since I work in a specific field, where people often have to reapply for their own jobs due to contract positions, the "who you know" and "politics" answers are pretty accurate 90% of the time, so I'm answering using my actual context rather than going for a random position at K-Mart or GW.

A lot of the "how would you feel" questions don't seem to quite take into account my living situation. For example, moving to a new city would fill me with stress, not excitement or the hope of a challenge, because I have a small child and my wife's job provides the health insurance. A lot of the later questions seem far too one-dimensional for the answers to mean what the survey writer probably thinks they mean.

I answered not at all to most questions too.

Hi,

I have completed the 40k survey. In the future, I would alter marital status to include domestic partner for LGBT participants. The addition of the category will provide you with another data point.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I completed my PhD two years, and want to wish you the best of luck with your research.

 Dannicus wrote:
Hi,

I have completed the 40k survey. In the future, I would alter marital status to include domestic partner for LGBT participants. The addition of the category will provide you with another data point.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I completed my PhD two years, and want to wish you the best of luck with your research.

It's funny you mentioned that, just yesterday I attended a seminar on LGBT rights (or complete lack of, rather) in the Caribbean. Some pretty chilling stuff, hard to believe it happens in modern times. Don't mean to derail the thread.

On topic though, if the survey didn't have so many 'I'd feel bad' or 'I'm trying to impress others' options, you'd probably get more useful data. I can't imagine anyone is going to answer anything but very unlikely to those, ha ha.

I answered upon noticing we go to the same uni

I live with my girlfriend. There was no relationship status that accurately reflects that.

Thanks all! That's a very useful boost to my numbers (over 50 extra 40K responses just from this post!), and thus to the statistical validity of my work.

Keep 'em coming!

Just to answer a couple of points:

I am now cursing myself a little for not having spotted that the marriage demographic question does indeed fail to account for live-in partners, especially in an LGBTI relationship where the partners may wish to marry but not be permitted to by law. Sorry.

The questions that almost everyone answered 'not at all' to are surprisingly vital. For me to be able to say, with some certainty, 'people play game X because Y', I need to have at least some data that shows they definitely don't actually play because Z!

A lot of my answers are based, not on playing the game, but rather on the hobby aspect, such as converting, assembling and the reading of tie-in fiction. I hoped this doesn't skew your results.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
A lot of the "how would you feel" questions don't seem to quite take into account my living situation. For example, moving to a new city would fill me with stress, not excitement or the hope of a challenge, because I have a small child and my wife's job provides the health insurance. A lot of the later questions seem far too one-dimensional for the answers to mean what the survey writer probably thinks they mean.

Yeah, I went straight down the middle on the "moving to a new city" question, because quite frankly, I won't and wouldn't be doing that. We're not all 22 years old with no partner, no kids, no ties, no mortgage, etc.

Filled in the 40k survey for you.

Filled out the minecraft one, but play(ed) all 3. Looks like the questions are the same?

The questions are similar between them, but one of the things I'm trying to figure out is if the different games appeal in different ways... so, if you can be bothered to fill in more, that'd be awesome. I'm especially short of WoW responses at present!

Done!