A Study On The Escapist

[spark03]

Hi, my name is Westin and I am currently a student at DePaul University. I am currently enrolled in a class about online communities. As part of a group project, one of the sites our group is studying is the community on the Escapist.

I am looking for members of the site (18+ due to the research protocol we follow for this class) who would be willing to participate in an interview about their experiences/views within this community. These interviews would be conducted using Skype voice chat and would not collect any usernames or personal information.

With my schedule this week, any time after 10:30pm GMT would work best Mon-Thurs, and I am open almost any time Fri-Sun. If you would be willing to participate in these interviews, I would appreciate posting availability in this thread so I can follow up through PM's with those that would work the best schedule-wise. If there are any questions about this study, feel free to ask in the thread and I will try to answer them as soon as I have a chance.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

So why exactly would you want to do a study on this community when you obviously aren't even a part of said community?

 

[IllumInaTIma]

Well, sing me in. But be prepared for some wicked accent.

 

[Daft Time]

Hey, the Escapist draws in a very geographically diverse crowd. You'll want to put that time in GMT so the rest of us can understand it without having to check out time zones. "Central" is also an awful descriptor for which you're talking about, because many countries use the term for their time zones. For example, I live in the Australian Central Standard Time Zone. I'm assuming it's an American one, considering it's only ever Americans who list the time like the world revolves around them.

So why exactly would you want to do a study on this community when you obviously aren't even a part of said community?

Also, I think this is important. I've seen this kind of thing come up a lot, on various forums, and I'm never sure why they are doing it. Genuinely curious in the answer.

 

[Shock and Awe]

I should be good Monday-Wednesday in that time slot.

So why exactly would you want to do a study on this community when you obviously aren't even a part of said community?

Thats actually a good question as well.

 

[Guffe]

As part of a group project, one of the sites our group is studying is the community on the Escapist.

Sounds interesting but is anyone in your group an Escapist regular or how did you find this site and decide you need to study our community?
And what is it you're trying to figure out here?
Also "central" time zone? Sory mate but I'm from Finland and that could be 7 hours in any direction different from my time... So a GMT would be nice.

 

[King of Asgaard]

So why exactly would you want to do a study on this community when you obviously aren't even a part of said community?

Yup, this is a legit question.

Hey, the Escapist draws in a very geographically diverse crowd. You'll want to put that time in GMT so the rest of us can understand it without having to check out time zones. "Central" is also an awful descriptor for which you're talking about, because many countries use the term for their time zones. For example, I live in the Australian Central Standard Time Zone. I'm assuming it's an American one, considering it's only ever Americans who list the time like the world revolves around them.

So why exactly would you want to do a study on this community when you obviously aren't even a part of said community?

Also, I think this is important. I've seen this kind of thing come up a lot, on various forums, and I'm never sure why they are doing it. Genuinely curious in the answer.

Agreed, just because a lot of Escapists are American, that doesn't mean us dirty Europeans don't make up a sizeable chunk of members. Give us multiple time-zones, because as it stands, you're alienating a good few people (such as myself).

I'm assuming it's an American one, considering it's only ever Americans who list the time like the world revolves around them.

I must admit, this made me chuckle far more than it should have.

 

[RaphaelsRedemption]

Are you looking for people with an early join date? A high post count? For women and other, smaller, groups? What's the point of singling out the Escapist community? What makes us different to, say, a bunch of middle aged women discussing bringing up teenagers on a blog, as happens on my mum's blog?

I'm not trying to be difficult here, I am just genuinely interested. I guess I could help out if you wanted, being a female lurker with an early join date and a relatively low post count, if that's the sort of thing you're looking for. I do live in Western Australia though, so good luck with finding times suited to people around the globe!

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

1) How did you find the Escapist?

2) Why should we participate? (no to be rude but you have zero presence on the site, and I have seen several 'researchers/students' like yourself breeze and leave.) I personally dislike the practice and view similar to telemarketers who like to ring up during dinner.

3) I'm with agreement with the other posters that the 'Central' time is rather nebulous and the proper term of CDT (or even better GMT) would help as the Escapist is quite diverse in terms of posters and location.

Other than that, I'm game. However I reside in New Zealand (the current time is NZST or GMT+12) so it could be interesting trying to set up a skype call.

 

[SinisterGehe]

1) How did you find the Escapist?

2) Why should we participate? (no to be rude but you have zero presence on the site, and I have seen several 'researchers/students' like yourself breeze and leave.) I personally dislike the practice and view similar to telemarketers who like to ring up during dinner.

These and. Credentials please - information fishing is the go to profession on Internet. Information is the gold of Internet and very valuable. Specially about SPECIFIC communities.

I am not going to say anything until you clarify the study a bit. Give us the abstract, methods, usage and the purpose. because if you are working with a lab to do a study that has commercial purposes then I think we and the site administrators should know about this.

After all you are using their site as board to contact people for your uses. Should you check if it is OK with them? Specially if the study has commercial value attached.

 

[sky14kemea]

1) How did you find the Escapist?

2) Why should we participate? (no to be rude but you have zero presence on the site, and I have seen several 'researchers/students' like yourself breeze and leave.) I personally dislike the practice and view similar to telemarketers who like to ring up during dinner.

3) I'm with agreement with the other posters that the 'Central' time is rather nebulous and the proper term of CDT (or even better GMT) would help as the Escapist is quite diverse in terms of posters and location.

Sums it up better than I could.

I find it pretty suspicious that someone who just signed up would wanna conduct interviews here...

I'll be keeping an eye on this thread. -_o

 

[doggy go 7]

Guys, guys, relax. He's given us his name, AND you've got to over 18, like in real science, what else could he possibly do to prove that this is real. Don't worry random person on the internet who joined for the specific purpose of carrying out this "study", I trust you.

1) How did you find the Escapist?

2) Why should we participate? (not to be rude but you have zero presence on the site, and I have seen several 'researchers/students' like yourself breeze and leave.) I personally dislike the practice and view similar to telemarketers who like to ring up during dinner.

Seriously, I agree with this, pretty much, not that I have a problem with people carrying out studies on certain kinds of communities, but why the hell did you pick this one, and if you heard of it, why didn't you get someone who was a member/the guy who knew about us to ask.

Also I'm 17, so I can't participate anyway

 

[trollnystan]

Using Google, I've found out that DePaul University is a Catholic private uni situated in Chicago. From that I can extrapolate that when you say central time you mean US central. I can make it Mondays and Wednesdays, and most times Saturdays and Sundays.

But then I'd like more information regarding you. For example these questions

1) How did you find the Escapist?

2) Why should we participate? (no to be rude but you have zero presence on the site, and I have seen several 'researchers/students' like yourself breeze and leave.) I personally dislike the practice and view similar to telemarketers who like to ring up during dinner.

So why exactly would you want to do a study on this community when you obviously aren't even a part of said community?

would be nice of you to answer, even if only in a PM.

 

[ExtraDebit]

giving our skype information IS personal information, besides there's nothing you can do in skype that you can't do here, just post your questions and we may answer it.

 

[Angie7F]

Well, I sure hope the poor guy didnt get scared away...
i do think though, that if you are studying online communications, you should be aware that you cant just approach one randomly without being attacked. Well, same goes for any sociological studies really..

 

[spark03]

Hey, the Escapist draws in a very geographically diverse crowd. You'll want to put that time in GMT so the rest of us can understand it without having to check out time zones. "Central" is also an awful descriptor for which you're talking about, because many countries use the term for their time zones. For example, I live in the Australian Central Standard Time Zone. I'm assuming it's an American one, considering it's only ever Americans who list the time like the world revolves around them.

So why exactly would you want to do a study on this community when you obviously aren't even a part of said community?

Also, I think this is important. I've seen this kind of thing come up a lot, on various forums, and I'm never sure why they are doing it. Genuinely curious in the answer.

Sorry, not putting the time in GMT was an oversight on my part, I've updated the post with the new time. For this class, we were meant to choose sites that we were not already a member of primarily to help eliminate potential bias's about the communities.

The reason I personally chose the group is that I have been somewhat familiar with some of the video content provided by the Escapist, but never knew anything about the community on the site. I figured this would be an interesting community to learn more about.

giving our skype information IS personal information, besides there's nothing you can do in skype that you can't do here, just post your questions and we may answer it.

I probably should have been more clear in this regard too. By that statement, I meant that neither names or usernames will be used in any of the resulting work for the class to ensure anonymity. We are intended to use vocal interviews, as they allow for better follow up questions based on what is said in the interview.


I have to leave for class soon, but I'll try to answer more questions in a few hours.

 

[Lionsfan]

Jeebus, some of you people need to take a chill pill.

What harm is there answering a few questions for a guy? Sure, on the internet information is gold, but as long as you aren't stupid about what you reveal/tell, what is he gonna do?

Tons of people on here link to either Facebook/Twitter/XboxLive/Steam/PSN, or give out a personal website. Anonymity and security isn't exactly a huge concern here

1) How did you find the Escapist?

2) Why should we participate? (no to be rude but you have zero presence on the site, and I have seen several 'researchers/students' like yourself breeze and leave.) I personally dislike the practice and view similar to telemarketers who like to ring up during dinner.

3) I'm with agreement with the other posters that the 'Central' time is rather nebulous and the proper term of CDT (or even better GMT) would help as the Escapist is quite diverse in terms of posters and location.

Sums it up better than I could.

I find it pretty suspicious that someone who just signed up would wanna conduct interviews here...

I'll be keeping an eye on this thread. -_o

What is there really to be suspicious about? I mean we don't even know what questions he's going to ask, and automatically it's assumed to be bad?

 

[sky14kemea]

?

Tons of people on here link to either Facebook/Twitter/XboxLive/Steam/PSN, or give out a personal website. Anonymity and security isn't exactly a huge concern here

What is there really to be suspicious about? I mean we don't even know what questions he's going to ask, and automatically it's assumed to be bad?

I don't think security is the issue here, at least not from where I'm standing...

I'm just saying, it strikes me as odd that a guy who's only just joined wants to interview people over skype.

I'm not saying everyone else has to be suspicious. I'm just a naturally paranoid parrot. =P

Edit: Also, one thing that I keep meaning to post for the OP:

Why not just ask about the community here? In a thread? Makes a lot more sense than asking random users to talk over skype.

 

[DoPo]

Tons of people on here link to either Facebook/Twitter/XboxLive/Steam/PSN, or give out a personal website. Anonymity and security isn't exactly a huge concern here

Also tons don't, hence privacy is a concern. Wait what?

People are always going to avoid being defensive in these sorts of situations. It's just how things are. In other words

Well, I sure hope the poor guy didnt get scared away...
i do think though, that if you are studying online communications, you should be aware that you cant just approach one randomly without being attacked. Well, same goes for any sociological studies really..

that is correct. Having conducted sociological studies both on phones, and in person, I can say that is true. Now, not all people are against answering some questions but enough are.

Also relevant - "Sure, on the internet information is gold, but as long as you aren't stupid about what you reveal/tell, what is he gonna do?" without accusing anybody of anything malicious, I don't think you are aware what information is valuable and what isn't. Because all information can be used against you. You've seen those on Facebook: "What's your porn name" (some combination of your mother's name pet and something else, if I recall), "Answer these questions and what those answers mean" (stuff like favourite colour etc with some crappy explanation for them) and similar ARE dangerous. Yeah, the little weird games you could fill in for, like, half a minute for laughs that would last for another half a minute are potentially dangerous information you're giving to who knows who. 1. it's Facebook, the audience is huge. 2. It's answers to the most common security questions - mother's (maiden) name, pet's name, where were you born. And it's also self-perpetuating - people love posting these as their status. People simply don't know how to value the information given out, so why do you think one has to be stupid to do a mistake? Smart people do mistakes all the time - there was this one time where it was revealed that employees of a company would give out their password for a free pen. Heck, really smart people who should have known better - people who went specifically to visit InfoSec (security conference) were asked to answer some simple questions for a chance to win a theatre ticket

100% provided their names upon request

94% provided pet's names (common passwords) and their mother's maiden name (common second form of authentication) when told actors frequently use both to create stage names.

98% gave their address in order to receive a winning voucher.

96% divulged the name of their first school. Combined with mother's maiden name, the two are key pieces of information used by banks for verification.

92% provided their date of birth and the same number supplied their home phone number.

People going to a security conference and there to talk and learn more about this same sort of stuff. I do not think one has to be "stupid" to tell something valuable.

Again, I'm not accusing anybody of having malicious intentions, I'm just pointing out things shouldn't be brushed aside as lightly.