University project about video game: in need your help !

edited February 2013 in General Chat
Hello !

I want to carry out a survey about adventure point and click video games for a university project on video games. Within this study, I would like to describe the history of that kind of video games, show its mechanics, but also create a sociological profile of its gamers. That is why I created this questionnaire.

Firstly, what is an adventure point and click video game? It is a type of video game created in the 80’s, based on a very easy gameplay (we just have to click on several element on the screen), and the goal of that genre of video game is to finish a story, by resolving some puzzles or enigmas. We can refers to several examples, as Maniac Mansion (Lucasfilm games, 1987), Myst (Cyan, 1994) or the Saga of the Secret of Monkey Island (Lucasart, 1990).

This questionnaire is for all, not just the fan of adventure point and click games. In fact, to creat a sociological profile of the adventure gamer, I need a referencial: the other gamers. So, everybody can participate. The questioner is quite short, it will take you just few minutes to complete it, and I really need your answers to finish my university project.

All the data are anonymous, and will be used just for my survey. Also, if you have questions, you can join me at the address: pncstudy@gmail.com

Thank you to help my in this project,
Mehdi Bennis, Erasmus university student in the Charles University of Prague.

PS: If you find this questioner or other forums, don’t answer it twice, it would distort my data. Thanks!
PPS: PNC = Adventure point and click video game; Autre = Other (in French).

This is the link of the questionnaire: HERE

I'll come back on this forum to follow your questions and everything, so do not hesitate to ask me what you want =]

Comments

  • VainamoinenVainamoinen Moderator
    edited January 2013
    Ahoj Mehdi!

    You could change your wording a bit first. Defining the adventure genre is hard enough, but a lot of users on these forums, particularly the 'old school' adventure gamers, would disagree when you are calling adventure games "very easy gameplay". Maybe the better word is "accessible" instead of "easy". ;)

    (p.s. your thread didn't show up at first because the forum had flagged it as spam, which I corrected. Everything should be fine now)
  • edited January 2013
    I would suggest you change the wording of the first question.

    I couldn't tell you the exact number of adventure games I've played, and I doubt anyone else here could either. I can estimate, which is what I did, but an approximate number just isn't possible.

    As well as this, I'm guessing English isn't your first language, since there are quite a few misspelt words throughout the questionnaire, 'Fantaisy' and 'Sub Genders' being the most obvious.

    Also, 'Humoristic' should probably be 'Humorous'.

    EDIT: On the second part...

    Again, the first question. I can't remember when I first started playing adventures! I can GUESS, but it'll probably be wrong.

    EDIT 2: On the THIRD page...

    How often do I go the cinema: 'One time a year or less'? Uh...

    Again, you're asking for approximate answers and I can't give them. How many books do I read? I DON'T KNOW.
  • edited January 2013
    Anything with a number was mostly a guess. You might want to consider ranges.

    I would also consider "Detective" and "Mystery" to be basically the same thing.

    And for employment, I'm not under "contract", but I'm full-time with no set end date.
  • edited January 2013
    Firstly, thank you a lot for the answers !

    @Vainamoinen: I totally agree with you. When I talk about Gameplay, it is just about the mecanism of the game, not the difficulty of the game itself (the enigma, puzzle... It needs a lot of reflexion, so it is more difficult than a lot of games today).

    @Darth Marsden & WarpSpeed: For the approximation, it is normal. I don't need a exact number, just to get an estimation. For the question "how many games did you play", I just need to know if the gamer is casual or not, so if you don't know how many games did you play because you played a lot of, just right a big approximation =]

    For dectective and mystery, it is true that there is not a lot of differences. I was inspired by a classification of a specialized website about adventure games (planète aventure, a french website). At the end, I will be able to mixe this two data, so it is not a big problem.

    Indeed, i am not a native english speacker, I am french (who speacks english as a spanish cow :3 ). So thank you a lot to show me my mistakes. I'll corrige that soon.

    Thanks again for these messages, it is the first forum very interested in this study, it is very nice ! =]
  • VainamoinenVainamoinen Moderator
    edited January 2013
    WarpSpeed wrote: »
    I would also consider "Detective" and "Mystery" to be basically the same thing.

    "Mystery" incorporates Horror and Fantasy elements. They could be easily be part of and toyed with in the "Detective" story, AND this is most often the case in modern adventure games.

    You could probably still name clear cut cases where an adventure detective story doesn't have any mystery elements - yet probably not many mystery stories without the strong detective vibe. In both genres, we've cases to be solved, and it would be one hell of a disappointing adventure if the player did not help with the solving. :)
  • edited January 2013
    A lot of them are hard to remember and I din't see Fantasy as an option for Books

    Also it is hard to define Sam and Max and Just randomly finding something on the Xbox marketplace Which would have been some of my answers
  • edited January 2013
    "Mystery" incorporates Horror and Fantasy elements. They could be easily be part of and toyed with in the "Detective" story, AND this is most often the case in modern adventure games.

    You could probably still name clear cut cases where an adventure detective story doesn't have any mystery elements - yet probably not many mystery stories without the strong detective vibe. In both genres, we've cases to be solved, and it would be one hell of a disappointing adventure if the player did not help with the solving. :)

    hmm... I understand what you say. The thing is I already have around 50 answers, so I can't change the questionnaire now (otherwise, I will be methodologically impossible for me to compare the answers).
    In fact, It is not the most important question for me, I'm interested in all kinds of adventure games, I wanted just a general few of gamers' preferences. I just put this question of fear of not being exhaustive =]
  • edited January 2013
    Up !
    Otherwise, someone knows other famous forums about adventure games ? Actually I've got 70/80 answers, and I need something like 200. So, it would be helpfull :)
  • edited January 2013
    Mehdi PNC wrote: »
    Otherwise, someone knows other famous forums about adventure games ?

    The Lucas Forums and the Adventure Gamers forums come to mind. There's also the Double Fine Action Forums, which are pretty crowded after the Kickstarter success. There's a lot of overlap in users between these forums though.
  • edited January 2013
    Done ... and done.
    That's a lot of typos though. I hope you're writing your essay in your native language or at least user a spellchecker in the end :)
  • edited January 2013
    Done. Must have missed the forum that day.
  • edited January 2013
    JordyLicht wrote: »
    Done ... and done.
    That's a lot of typos though. I hope you're writing your essay in your native language or at least user a spellchecker in the end :)

    Yes... sorry for the mistakes. Firstly I not good at all in grammar, and secondly it is not my main language. I checked the spelling in Microsoft Word, but obviously it is not enough.
    I think I'll write that essai firstly in French, and after that I'll translate it in English (or, let say something close to the "proper english" xD)

    @flesk: Thanks for the links ! =]
  • edited January 2013
    Thanks for the new answers ! The others, follow the example, and Let's do your part ! =]
  • edited February 2013
    I come back after 3 weeks ! Sorry for that, I had a job in a highschool and it took me a lot of times.
    Thanks for the new answers ! This survey is almost finish, i have already 132 answers, and I need minimum 150 to finish (in fact, I wanted 200... but it takes to many time, and I want to focus on another part of this study).

    So, thank you.
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