Adventure Game Studio

Community => General Discussion => Topic started by: monkey0506 on Fri 21/09/2012 12:57:02

Title: Wanna Play A Game? - Gaming demographics survey for school!
Post by: monkey0506 on Fri 21/09/2012 12:57:02
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 (http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FSSPVMD) 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. :)
Title: Re: Wanna Play A Game? - Gaming demographics survey for school!
Post by: DoorKnobHandle on Fri 21/09/2012 13:00:33
Done, zombiemonkey!
Title: Re: Wanna Play A Game? - Gaming demographics survey for school!
Post by: WHAM on Fri 21/09/2012 13:00:42
Aaand done. Good luck with college!
Title: Re: Wanna Play A Game? - Gaming demographics survey for school!
Post by: Crimson Wizard on Fri 21/09/2012 13:15:21
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 :)
Title: Re: Wanna Play A Game? - Gaming demographics survey for school!
Post by: HandsFree on Fri 21/09/2012 13:31:22
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?
Title: Re: Wanna Play A Game? - Gaming demographics survey for school!
Post by: an Urpney on Fri 21/09/2012 13:32:14
Done
Title: Re: Wanna Play A Game? - Gaming demographics survey for school!
Post by: DoorKnobHandle on Fri 21/09/2012 13:37:33
Quote from: HandsFree on Fri 21/09/2012 13:31:22
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.
Title: Re: Wanna Play A Game? - Gaming demographics survey for school!
Post by: Crimson Wizard on Fri 21/09/2012 13:43:02
Quote from: dkh on Fri 21/09/2012 13:37:33
Quote from: HandsFree on Fri 21/09/2012 13:31:22
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.
Title: Re: Wanna Play A Game? - Gaming demographics survey for school!
Post by: monkey0506 on Fri 21/09/2012 14:27:51
My textbook identified adventure games as being "turn-based" for the very reason CW stated. Made sense to me... :D

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. :)
Title: Re: Wanna Play A Game? - Gaming demographics survey for school!
Post by: DoorKnobHandle on Fri 21/09/2012 14:41:48
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).
Title: Re: Wanna Play A Game? - Gaming demographics survey for school!
Post by: Crimson Wizard on Fri 21/09/2012 14:47:57
Quote from: dkh on Fri 21/09/2012 14:41:48
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.

Quote from: dkh on Fri 21/09/2012 14:41:48
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 :).
Title: Re: Wanna Play A Game? - Gaming demographics survey for school!
Post by: Anian on Fri 21/09/2012 15:16:32
I always obey the dead monkey voices.
Title: Re: Wanna Play A Game? - Gaming demographics survey for school!
Post by: DoorKnobHandle on Fri 21/09/2012 17:22:30
Quote from: Crimson Wizard on Fri 21/09/2012 14:47:57
Quote from: dkh on Fri 21/09/2012 14:41:48
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!
Title: Re: Wanna Play A Game? - Gaming demographics survey for school!
Post by: cat on Fri 21/09/2012 18:23:58
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'.
Title: Re: Wanna Play A Game? - Gaming demographics survey for school!
Post by: monkey0506 on Fri 21/09/2012 18:30:05
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.
Title: Re: Wanna Play A Game? - Gaming demographics survey for school!
Post by: cat on Fri 21/09/2012 18:39:22
Ok, done.
Title: Re: Wanna Play A Game? - Gaming demographics survey for school!
Post by: amateurhour on Fri 21/09/2012 19:57:36
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.     
Title: Re: Wanna Play A Game? - Gaming demographics survey for school!
Post by: HandsFree on Sat 22/09/2012 16:23:46
Quote from: dkh on Fri 21/09/2012 14:41:48a 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.
Title: Re: Wanna Play A Game? - Gaming demographics survey for school!
Post by: straydogstrut on Sat 22/09/2012 18:46:08
Done,

If I remember correctly, I think I used SurveyGizmo (http://www.surveygizmo.com/free-account/) 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 :wink:

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!
Title: Re: Wanna Play A Game? - Gaming demographics survey for school!
Post by: OG on Sat 22/09/2012 19:18:11
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.
Title: Re: Wanna Play A Game? - Gaming demographics survey for school!
Post by: monkey0506 on Sat 22/09/2012 23:00:58
I've tried to modify the survey based on feedback without skewing the results too much. For example, I have increased the range for spending up to $1000 - at the time only three people had selected the $200+ option, so those three are now in the $200-$400 range. I realize this does affect the overall accuracy somewhat, but since this is just for my class I won't stress that too much. It's primarily an exercise to get us thinking and understanding the varying demographics of the gaming world. I've enjoyed seeing the results as people have taken the survey. I'll post my (admittedly skewed and imperfect) results next week (the class is going to be doing something with it then). Thanks again to everyone who's taken it so far! :D
Title: Re: Wanna Play A Game? - Gaming demographics survey for school!
Post by: Stupot on Sun 23/09/2012 19:56:22
Done.  Nice little survey. It'll be interesting to see the results.
I've never thought of Adventures as turn-based, but they're not exactly real-time either, so I guess you have to put them somewhere.
Not that it makes any difference, but I used kwiksurveys for my dissertation, as it allowed an unlimited number of Qs.
Title: Re: Wanna Play A Game? - Gaming demographics survey for school!
Post by: monkey0506 on Tue 25/09/2012 02:14:02
Regarding the limited price range, one of my fellow classmates actually had the range as low as "$100+", so I now feel a bit less bad about the original "$200+" designation. I also am wondering if leaving an "Other" option available to a completely open audience was really wise. Some smart alec just a few minutes ago went through and responded to every question that had the "Other" field by typing in "(Please Specify)".

I guess that's what you get when you're using free survey sites in an unregulated market with unregulated data entry. :)

Oh, and as for the limit of 10 questions, that wasn't solely a matter of using SurveyMonkey, the teacher expressly told us not to use more than 10 questions. :)
Title: Re: Wanna Play A Game? - Gaming demographics survey for school!
Post by: Ponch on Tue 25/09/2012 06:31:57
Done. Now all my gaming secrets are known to you, Monkey. Use this knowledge only for good.  :=
Title: Re: Wanna Play A Game? - Gaming demographics survey for school!
Post by: hzibadel on Sun 07/10/2012 07:14:07
Hello everyone, i am just starting AGS but i really wanna play the game that is shown on the front page of AGS site where the download button is there, is seems so cool, please let me know the name of game

thanks