My thesis on gaming - survey

[HBY]

Hello fellow valvers,

My name is Huib and I'm currently working on my master's thesis. I'm doing some research on gaming, for data collection I have set up an online survey. I wanted to ask you guys to fill it out. It will take about 15 minutes of your time and as a thank you I will be giving away some steam games when it's done. Just check the website itself for more details.

The survey is located at Videogameresearch.nl

Some information about the way the data will be used and the way I handle your privacy:

The only 2 persons with access to the data itself are the professor supervising my thesis and myself.
The survey doesn't ask for your name or address or any other personal things. It logs your IP so I can do a quick check if people have been filling it out more than once. Your IP won't be exported to the datafile I use for my analysis.
If you would like to win a game you will be asked to enter your e-mail address. This will be stored in a second database that doesn't log the date and time of entry. This way your e-mail address can't be linked to the answers you gave.

Thank you!

 

[Bad^Hat]

Oops. Was midway through filling it out and this happened.

Internal Server Error

CDbConnection failed to open the DB connection.

An internal error occurred while the Web server was processing your request. Please contact the webmaster to report this problem.
Thank you.

 

[HBY]

Omg, thank you for reporting this, going to check the db now. This is a very nice example of "15 on a 1-10 scale of bad things that can happen".

Edit: looks like my entire site just went down. Grrrrrrrrrr

 

[Bad^Hat]

Yep, I got it to reload but then when I went to the next page it came up with a thing saying no surveys available. D:

Post when it's back up, happy to do it again.

 

[HBY]

I was able to log in, backup my data, gain access to the db itself and access both the Dutch and English questionnaires, so I think it's back up. Don't know what the hell just happened, I hope this is a one time glitch. The survey has been running for over a week now without any major issues.

 

[Edeslash]

I just took the survey and had no problems.

 

[HBY]

Thank you! I think my website went down for a few seconds. It wasn't even long enough to trigger my script that checks if the db is alive every 5 minutes.

 

[Stylo]

Don't know what the hell just happened, I hope this is a one time glitch. The survey has been running for over a week now without any major issues.

Welcome to ValveTime. We break everything.

 

[HBY]

Good to know

 

[morgs]

I managed to fill it out without any issues. Poor observation on my part means that my answers for the "interesting to least interesting" questions are the wrong way around. Hope that doesn't screw with your results too much.

 

[HBY]

So ValveTime really does break everything! Well, thank you for filling it out, and I don't think this once question will make that much of a difference. And I did remove the "back" buttons, so maybe it's my fault.

 

[Stylo]

I managed to fill it out without any issues. Poor observation on my part means that my answers for the "interesting to least interesting" questions are the wrong way around. Hope that doesn't screw with your results too much.

Was it that you saw a scale of 1 - 5 and immediately had it in your head that it was a rating system with 1 being least, 5 being most?

Cause that happened to me when I first glanced at it but then there are the labels at either side.

 

[YROC]

Done and done. Hope it helps out.

 

[HBY]

It always does. Thanks!

 

[trunk_slamchest]

im not sure if conscious deception or user bias is something you factored into your survey. offering prizes might cause the immature people on here to breeze through the survey just to be entered to win a game.

id also like to point out that you do not offer a "I was an only child" option for questions pertaining to brothers/sisters playing games. I am an only child, and my answers are going to skew your results because of this. i also did not have a father growing up, which you also did not take into account in your survey, which means my answers will once again, skew your results.

i also think you should have separated the LAN Party questions with Competitive LAN Party, because i have attended multiple LAN competitions for various e-sports leagues, but never a traditional LAN Party, and i grew confused about how to answer.

never the less...

done and done. GL with your thesis i hope i didnt cause as many headaches as i normally do when i post

 

[HBY]

There's always a risk involved when offering prizes. So far it appears that no-one has breezed through the survey (it logs the time of the first visit and the time of pressing the submit button), but I have to make sure I remove people that filled out the entire survey in like 1 minute.

I agree that it might seem strange that I didn't include any "only child" options. The reason I didn't is that it doesn't really matter for my data. If people didn't play any games with their brothers or sisters when they were little it doesn't matter if they didn't because their brothers didn't like games or if they were an only child. What matters is that they didn't play games with them, which means brothers and sisters can't be a socialising factor. So for me it doesn't really matter if you have any brothers and/or sisters, it's just their gaming behaviour if you do.

About the LAN party part: you might be right, I'm not sure actually. It's not a hugely important question, but confusion is never a good thing and should be prevented at all times.

Thank you for filling it out, and there's nothing wrong with being critical. So no headaches here

 

[trunk_slamchest]

There's always a risk involved when offering prizes. So far it appears that no-one has breezed through the survey (it logs the time of the first visit and the time of pressing the submit button), but I have to make sure I remove people that filled out the entire survey in like 1 minute.

I agree that it might seem strange that I didn't include any "only child" options. The reason I didn't is that it doesn't really matter for my data. If people didn't play any games with their brothers or sisters when they were little it doesn't matter if they didn't because their brothers didn't like games or if they were an only child. What matters is that they didn't play games with them, which means brothers and sisters can't be a socialising factor. So for me it doesn't really matter if you have any brothers and/or sisters, it's just their gaming behaviour if you do.

About the LAN party part: you might be right, I'm not sure actually. It's not a hugely important question, but confusion is never a good thing and should be prevented at all times.

Thank you for filling it out, and there's nothing wrong with being critical. So no headaches here

ah fair enough. that answers alot of my causes for concern thanks for taking the time to respond.

 

[HBY]

Sure, anytime! You are taking the time to fill it out, it wouldn't be very nice of me not to respond.

 

[Bad^Hat]

Submitted. It was actually a lot harder to think of easy games that I thought it'd be. I ended going with Bejeweled and crap like that.

Noticed something that may have been a spelling/translation error:

The following questions are about the reasons you think certain games are hard. This is differentiated in two levels: controls en content.

 

[HBY]

Woops, thank you. Fixing it right away!

 

[HBY]

I think I overlooked that single word when translating the Dutch version because it's completely buried with layout code

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

Holy shit this isn't a troll or bot. My surprise comes from two chapters in this community's history:

1. A guy who faked everyone out and it was obvious by his complete lack of communication skills.
2. After a decade and a full re-branding the driest phases of user activity since I joined in 2003.

**** yes I'll take your survey, and hey, look, it's actually quite interesting. Thanks Gordon, I owe you a beer.

Edit: done: That was fun, thanks and good work.

 

[HBY]

No, thank you! What kind of beer will Gordon be getting? I hope it's going to be good.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

He never gets it to our knowledge. Barley (edit: Barney - what an appropriate typo) is bit of a flake. Peculiar dude to consider crowbar a supplement for a promised beer in a place as terrifying as City 17. And you're very welcome in regards to the survey.

...I doubt Gordon's nerdy MIT graduate right hook has anything on his crowbar abilities. Yeah I edited this oddly, I'm scatter brained this afternoon. Lack sleep!

 

[Vegeta897]

Barley

I will get around to filling out this survey eventually.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

Haha nice one Veginus, you got me before I could make an edit to make fun of myself for that one. Now stop being a fat lazy **** and take the survey and learn a thing or two.

You know I love you. You just DESERVE this.

 

[Vegeta897]

Okay, done.

 

[Wanted Bob]

Did it! I own all the games in the sweepstakes, so I left that bit blank. Hope you get a bunch of responses!

 

[ktimekiller]

I find the reason for playing question very off to my intentions. I play to actively improve my ability to play and compete.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

Iminent prototypical BHC post incoming, nuclear launch detected. No tl;dr, heavily biographical and gushy. read at your own risk. Color coded bitches.

Gaming helped me survive neglect and familial issues for the bulk of my childhood. That is neither good or bad. I just needed night time TV media and PC gaming to escape abuse and pervasively unhappy and overmedicated sorrowful lonely public schooling and family situation.

The largest shift in my gaming habits is removing myself from the MMO worlds. They were just my way of finding a home and I lost interest in the core game, my peers met in those communities and I at long last, said goodbye. I still remember them fondly.

I still have a correspondence with one player who is now a Pharmacist who taught me a lot about pop-culture and how to grow into a critical thinker with solid grammar and communicative skill. An MMO player online friend is still an email and chat buddy, he's long since quit. One of my dearest friends I met in World of Warcraft, an odd seeming connection like a life long pen-pal. Great guy.

I play for almost every reason he mentions in various degrees as my life goes on. I've gotten lost in CS clans and World of Warcraft and found foster families in like minded folks, which faded later in life because those communities were supplemental for a problemed childhood.

No regrets there, some wonderful people play MMOs for various reasons and make one another happy in times of pain. Or they play to compete or casually receive the thrill of an existence apart from their own with a solid enough game behind an otherwise animated chat room.

Lots of unwarranted hate from gamers towards the diehards. When I finally quit it was simply because I played for my lessened need for substitute family.

I've casually played through Assassin's Creed because of the appeal and pop-history lessons, I now play games like Global Offensive, Bioshock: Infinite, Tomb Raider and Sleeping dogs because they give me a break from tedium and the stress of climbing out of my admittedly extended undergraduate attitudes.

I also play FPS to compete on a recreation level, for similar reasons one might join a community soccer league or run a half-marathon. I do however wish it could provide a workout and I didn't have to do that as a separate activity.

My gaming activity has become slower more writing and academics and jobs. A process of pushing back overindulgence which is very, very recent. I realized I had an addiction. Several. And games played a part.

Now I'm mostly writing, playing for narrative and culture study and learning to feel better about my past gaming habits. They helped me move forward without harming myself in a serious way, or allowing my addict friends drag me their way.

Close calls abound, I have no idea how I became motivated college student, and no idea why I took a dangerous break that would be my first flirtation with serious drug abuse and complete undoing. You've all bared witness to my behavioral and substance issues. Looking back, I'm genuinely sorry for making things difficult for folks who just wanted to talk about their hobbies and life at dot net. It was part of my rebuilding from phase two as well - just without the same frequency and fervor.

Games add meditative self reflection and often serve as my mode of reconciliation now that I take a less intense approach. Now that I'm in my mid twenties gaming is less about anonymity and personas now and thatpulled through what probably could have killed me and almost did.

The melodramatic but truthful reality is video games and their communities saved my life my life, I genuinely believe that - and provided an escape from more dangerous habits which my peer groups were beginning to slip into. Many of those buddies died or went to prison while I found friends in games instead. They were for a time a substitude as good as WoW or any other escape. I left them out of necessity, I left MMOs because they simply weren't exciting anymore. That was a Choice.

Games were a safer escape, and remain important to my studies and part of my daily routine of socializing with the real life friends who climbed upward from the two schools I attended, university of Milwaukee and a small liberal arts school that was very competitive.

I lightly gamed in those periods of time. Unfortunately I found comfort in more dangerous things supplemented by an excessive descent back into gaming 'abuse', only without the search for families. My families were fellow students who were more able to sustain themselves on chemicals I'd rather not even mention, they were able to graduate after connecting with all the experimentation and excess you can imagine. I made the mistake of thinking indulging with educated forward movers would keep me from regressing.

Now I'm here, in this thread, clean, happy with my work, and ready to take more and more steps towards acting my age. To put this in the realm of games: they serve as an inspiration to do more productive and analytical attitude. It's a very fast moving industry gaining more and more importance to our society gaining room in big name journalism, business and criticism. They're fascinating. They drive a fascinating industry.

BHC will still always rant about games, though. It helps me stay afoot in academic curiosity. I don't expect them to be read but I save them all for sentimentality and to make sure I maintain a writerly life. I've several times used posts such as this one and proof read / edited them to fit into pieces appreciated by my instructors and professors.

I owe this community more than I've given. That's why I'm still here after a ****ing decade. This place inspires what I do best, and what gaming provides for me: a lease on life through approaching games analytically. I prefer writing about them to playing. This much is obvious to you all.

-stop-

I'm done, I'll see you in the next active thread and put together some more text walls, hope they aren't a burden. Thank you for being less critical of me for being so long winded and helping me compile materials for education, to this very day.

 

[Adabiviak]

Was that entire thing in reference to video games, or do board games count? I'm 40, and didn't play a home video game until the late '70s.

 

[HBY]

Thank you all for filling it out, and sorry for my late response. I have been doing statistics, which make my brain numb.
The entire thing was in reference to video games. I assumed that writing an intro would be sufficient to make this clear, but you're not the first to ask. I think I should have put it into the survey itself too. Unfortunately I can no longer change that, since everybody needs to fill out exactly the same survey.

So, to all who haven't filled it out yet: the entire survey is about video games! Sorry for any inconvenience.

 

[HBY]

I spoke to the professor supervising my thesis last week and we chose a closing date for the survey: May 14th. I will be closing it down that day as soon as I'm awake (which could be quite late: returning from a short holiday on May 13th, 700km drive to get back home). I will take care of the games giveaway that same week, probably the day after closing.

 

[Vegeta897]

returning from a short holiday on May 13th, 700km drive to get back home

Jesus, are you taking a vacation on the moon?

 

[HBY]

Close, I'm going to Germany.
To Americans a 700km drive might seem like nothing, but remember: I'm Dutch. You could throw a rock from one side of the country to the other, we're not used to driving long distances.