Wanna Play A Game? - Gaming demographics survey for school!

[monkey0506]

Hey folks,

Some of you are already aware, but I'm starting to take some college classes, and for my Intro to Game Development class I have been assigned to create a survey (10 questions) to try and gather some basic demographic data. Please take my survey and help me out!

Thanks!

Any feedback on the questions is appreciated too. I was limited to 10 questions, so I tried to be diverse while remaining relevant.

[DoorKnobHandle]

Done, zombiemonkey!

[WHAM]

Aaand done. Good luck with college!

[Crimson Wizard]

I tried to answer honestly, but I realized I cannot give accurate answer on what genre I spend more time on. There are few genres I play most and obviously I never kept any statistics

[HandsFree]

4. Of the following, which type of games do you play most often?
Time-limited (e.g., timed chess, etc.)
Turn-based (e.g., card games, board games, etc.)
Real-time (e.g., physical sports, FPS, etc.)

Where do adventuregames fit in this question?

[an Urpney]

Done

[DoorKnobHandle]

4. Of the following, which type of games do you play most often?
Time-limited (e.g., timed chess, etc.)
Turn-based (e.g., card games, board games, etc.)
Real-time (e.g., physical sports, FPS, etc.)

Where do adventuregames fit in this question?

Real-time in my opinion. There are not a lot of real-time aspects in some adventure games but even for those, that category is the best fit.

[Crimson Wizard]

4. Of the following, which type of games do you play most often?
Time-limited (e.g., timed chess, etc.)
Turn-based (e.g., card games, board games, etc.)
Real-time (e.g., physical sports, FPS, etc.)

Where do adventuregames fit in this question?

Real-time in my opinion. There are not a lot of real-time aspects in some adventure games but even for those, that category is the best fit.

On contrary I think most of adventure games may be thought of as turn-based, because most changes happen only as a result of user action and do not depend on time.

[monkey0506]

My textbook identified adventure games as being "turn-based" for the very reason CW stated. Made sense to me...

Edit: For the purposes of the survey, I've added "adventure games" as an example of turn-based games. Of course dkh makes some excellent points (next post below this) about the generalizations in this regard...but it should be close enough to get the idea across.

[DoorKnobHandle]

It's certainly a matter for discussion. I guess it depends on the style of the point'n'click in question. If it's heavy on the 'distract-guard-and-then-grab-item-x-while-he's-looking-away' stuff, it's more real-time.

I don't like considering adventure games turn-based because, in my opinion, there's more to a game being turn-based than just 'I-click-and-stuff-happens-I-click-again-more-stuff-happens', a proper turn-based games relies on the fact that two or more people take their turns every round, then wait for the opponent(s) to make their move, rinse and repeat, and that certainly doesn't happen in point'n'clicks.

Genre generalizations are never 100% perfect and never fit quite everything out there (see music for example), in reality, point'n'clicks are neither this nor that. In fact, the only genre where the turn-based/real-time distinction is common is the strategy genre (which is, in my opinion, one of the broadest if not the broadest out there).

[Crimson Wizard]

I don't like considering adventure games turn-based because, in my opinion, there's more to a game being turn-based than just 'I-click-and-stuff-happens-I-click-again-more-stuff-happens', a proper turn-based games relies on the fact that two or more people take their turns every round, then wait for the opponent(s) to make their move, rinse and repeat, and that certainly doesn't happen in point'n'clicks.

I see what you mean, but what if we consider The World (or The Game) another player? Then adventure game will be a game in which player and The World do actions in turns.

Genre generalizations are never 100% perfect and never fit quite everything out there

Well, that's definitely true. For instance I could never understand RPG definition .

[Anian]

I always obey the dead monkey voices.

[DoorKnobHandle]

I don't like considering adventure games turn-based because, in my opinion, there's more to a game being turn-based than just 'I-click-and-stuff-happens-I-click-again-more-stuff-happens', a proper turn-based games relies on the fact that two or more people take their turns every round, then wait for the opponent(s) to make their move, rinse and repeat, and that certainly doesn't happen in point'n'clicks.

I see what you mean, but what if we consider The World (or The Game) another player? Then adventure game will be a game in which player and The World do actions in turns.

That's an extremely interesting way of thinking about adventure games, but the vast majority of point'n'clicks are neither designed nor played this way in my opinion. Still, fleshing this idea out seems like a great way to get a really unique and interesting adventure game design document started!

[cat]

I'm a bit confused - does 'Physical sports' mean going outside and playing football or is it playing a football game on the PC or does it mean console games where you work out like kinect? Same goes for 'Health & Fitness'.

[monkey0506]

cat, I've updated that question to "What's your favorite way to play games?" Regarding "Physical sports" that is specifically referring to "going outside and playing", but "Health & Fitness" could include Kinect, DDR, etc.

[cat]

Ok, done.

[amateurhour]

Done.

I'll say my only crit is with your last question. The price ranges for annual spending on games needs to be broader, yours was limited to $200+, and that's only like three console games a year. I'd have gone from like 0-50, 50-200, 200-500, 500-1000, 1000+ personally.     

[HandsFree]

a proper turn-based games relies on the fact that two or more people take their turns every round, then wait for the opponent(s) to make their move

That's what I thought turn-based meant. But since I only play adventure games I had (have) no idea what question 4 is leading to. Well turn-based it is then, at least during the survey.

BTW I used to spend much more money on games than I do now. With drm now even applied to disk versions I switched to toying with AGS instead of buying/playing games. If that trend continues, my yearly amount spend on games will be exactly 0,00.

[straydogstrut]

Done,

If I remember correctly, I think I used SurveyGizmo for my dissertation as the free version allowed more than just 10 questions. It's not clear from their website though if that is still the case. More is not necessarily better though, you need to consider your questions carefully

I've also never thought of adventure games as turn-based, but I can completely see the justification for such a view point. Interesting!

Good luck with your classes!

[OG]

Done,

Nice wee survey. Just finished a few years in education myself, worth it if you stick in. Good luck and enjoy it.

Edit: As for constructive stuff - the definitions for the types of game could be a little broader. For example I feel that real-time games could include online multiplayers, which are increasingly popular and probably most recognised as being such. As for turned-based - personally I always tend to think of rpg's.