Survey: Gamers and Non-Gamers

[Yerrik]

Hello. I am a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley, and I am running a very simple survey about whether or not people's opinions on games in society are influenced by the amount and type of games they play. I am trying to target both non-gamers and hardcore gamers, and you guys qualify like crazy for the latter category.

The survey is 16 questions and will take you about 5 minutes or less, if you would like to take it. You can access it here: https://qtrial.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_egnl6USv30UpFWI

There is no personal data being recorded, it's totally safe for work, and I would love to get written feedback from you all at the end of the survey. One note: you will probably find the game categories less than a perfect representation of what's out there, but that is actually intentional.

Thank you for your time!

 

[Bobbity]

I came up to the 'Do you think Video games should be considered to be a form of art' question, and the only answers are yes or no.

Personally, I believe that it is works within a medium, and not the medium itself, that should be considered art. Do you think you could add an 'other' option? Thanks

 

[Littlee300]

There needs to be more other options.

To videos games can be addicted: It is an escapism and people can get addicted to those but I don't like just putting yes.

 

[Yerrik]

Having only two categories is a way to increase how interpretable the data is. For example, if I want to run a query on what percentage of people think games should be considered a form of art by age group, the "other" category can't be quantified. You are hitting on a subtle distinction that I am not sure everyone taking the survey will grasp, and I will happily record your comment.

 

[Yerrik]

[no way to delete a duplicate comment?]

 

[Yerrik]

The simplicity is intentional. Thank you for taking the survey

 

[Twilight_guy]

Survey answered. I hope you get some interesting data, it'd be boring to have the result "gamers like games and believe them to be art and protected by freedom of speech, and non-games believe the opposite." Be sure to tell us what your results are!

 

[Yerrik]

Will do

 

[Palademon]

Damn question.
"Do you believe that violent video games lead to violent behavior?"
It CAN, with stupid people who shouldn't play them. Doesn't mean it always WILL.
I'll just put no because unless it uses the word "can", I'm not going to agree.

 

[gauntletrunner]

I find it interesting that you're not interested in distinguishing between any amount of playing time over 20 hours per week (my personal record is 58 ... probably not a good thing). is that where you've chosen to qualify someone as a hardcore gamer?

 

[Yerrik]

I didn't think that I would be able to get a high enough sample size from the group of gamers that play 40+ hours per week. I used to play about 70 hours per week of WoW, so I know that there are far more dedicated players than simply 20 hours +.

I should give a little more information to this crowd, because of the number of comments I am getting about the binary nature of the questions. There are simply no studies that I can find that ask players about a variety of issues (I chose three) based on their gaming habits and choice of games in the published literature. The papers that I am responding to in my project analyze each issue independently, and I wanted to generate a data set that showed where groups of attitudes are linked to habits and demographics, and where they are not.

Because I am aiming this at a huge variety of people, the questions had to not only be simple, but simplistic, and while you may find the questions *too* simple, the non-gaming respondents I have in this survey are finding them too difficult and player-oriented. One respondent wanted a definition of "video game."

This is not meant to be a comprehensive or demographic survey of gamers. It is only meant to plug a specific hole in the literature. I am very much aware of the issues surrounding video games, and want to say something about what other studies are not "seeing" in their data by focusing on one issue at a time.

 

[Chibz]

Completed the survey. Hope it helps.

 

[Savagezion]

You now have a 30 year old in there.

A lot of people are putting in this thread what they should be putting in the final "comments box". Pick the answer closest to yours. I voted "No" on games causing violence but voted "yes" that children need to be protected from mature themed games. I explained this in the last comment box.

I also voted "no" to video games being addictive, but I believe people with little self control might be seen as addicted to them. Much like a person who absorbs themselves in "Star Trek" media and knowledge could be seen as "addicted" to Star Trek.