Study of Final Fantasy XI and other MMORPGs

[Kikuchio]

Hello, my name's Chris and I'm currently conducting a study of MMORPGs for my sociology dissertation. I've been playing video games for as long as I can remember and elected to study MMORPGs, specifically human identities when we start becoming part of online communities, especially in relation to gender. In a (slightly geeky) way, I think it'll be really interesting.

I've got a short questionnaire up at
http://wowsurvey.questionform.com/public/WOW-survey

I hope you don't mind me posting it here. Please click through if you're interested and want to do the survey. All of them are completely anonymous. You can also learn more about what I'm trying to find out. As always, feedback and discussion welcome.

Many, many thanks.

Chris

[Wise Donkey]

Re: Study of Final Fantasy XI and other MMORPGs

I would like to take your survey, but I followed that link and it asked me for a login and password. {Registration} {No thanks.}

[Kikuchio]

Re: Study of Final Fantasy XI and other MMORPGs

Oops, it added in the link to my mail client, my bad.

Here's the proper link, no login required.

http://wowsurvey.questionform.com/public/WOW-survey

[Susurrus]

Re: Study of Final Fantasy XI and other MMORPGs

It says "WOW Survey".

I often find the mindset of WoW players to be different than FFXI players....sure you want to group them together? (Note: I have not click on the link as of this posting)

EDIT: OK I looked at it. Don't want to fill it out because it is EXACTLY like every other "MMORPG survey". What's the point of these if the info isn't shared?

What is this one for?

[Kikuchio]

Re: Study of Final Fantasy XI and other MMORPGs

Hiya,

it's true that there are have been many excellent surveys carried out, for instance by Nick Yee (www.nickyee.com) in his project Daedalus. But I hope this survey, with a focus on gender issues covers new territory. There will be similar questions to other surveys, but unfortunately if we want to discover trends in people's tastes, these are things we have to ask.

Also, I believe that the gender issues the survey looks at might be applicable equally to all MMOs. But it's true that different types of games attract different mindsets. This is why one of the first questions asked in the survey is "What MMORPG are you currently playing the most?" Unfortunately, the URL does have WOW survey in the title, because it was first aimed at WoW players, but it's been adapted and tweaked since and nothing on the page refers to WoW.

Cheers,

Chris

[Wise Donkey]

Re: Study of Final Fantasy XI and other MMORPGs

I gave it a look, but I did not fill it out. I play as a Galka, which technically have no gender.

[Icemage]

Re: Study of Final Fantasy XI and other MMORPGs

You really have to be careful about the game that people play. Each MMORPG has its own profile of players due to elements of the gameplay and social aspects that draw or repel certain types of players.

WoW is (socially speaking) a very different game than FFXI, and the community for Anarchy Online is nothing like either. Are you looking for correlation between MMORPG playing in general, or for tendencies within a certain player base?

---

Aside from that, there are aspects to specific games that will skew your results with respect to FFXI.

- You ask about server types (RP, PvE, PvP) - these definitions have no meaning in FFXI, since all servers are similar.

- You ask about how many characters are played. Again, this is a fuzzy number in FFXI since the job-switching system effectively allows you to play a single character on every job (which skews your results). FFXI players tend to have fewer active characters than players of other MMORPGs as a result.


Icemage

[Kikuchio]

Re: Study of Final Fantasy XI and other MMORPGs

Many thanks for the comments, my apologies about neuter characters, have added in an extra section for FFXI players dealing with neuter characters.

As far as game type, I agree that I have to be careful. I think (in fact, hope: it'll be interesting to see what the differences are!) that players on different games will tend towards different options. I'll be exploring the data thoroughily for trends, and one of the first ones I'll be looking at is game type versus other bits of data. To answer your question, I'm going to be looking at tendencies among different subsets of players (by preference of game, character class, etc).

As for server types, because the survey is supposed to cater to all MMORPGs, there are going to be some questions specific to certain games (ie neuter characters for FFXI). I'm going to take job-switching into account when it comes time to explai why FFXI players have fewer accounts (as I think will be the case).

Again, thanks for the feedback.

[Legal Fish]

Re: Study of Final Fantasy XI and other MMORPGs

These things are annoying and are usually used to paint a negative view on MMORPGs. Let's not forget studies are almost always pointless, especially this one. You are not going to get a good impression of the average FFXI/MMORPG player, just the one that posts on the forums. Please go away Mr.Propaganda man... into a fire perhaps.

[Susurrus]

Re: Study of Final Fantasy XI and other MMORPGs

I went ahead and filled it out...

wth is w/ the "I would still play MMORPGs if all of the violent elements were taken out. " question about?

Wth would the game be!? Just craft the whole time and watch cutscenes?

[LilithAngel]

Re: Study of Final Fantasy XI and other MMORPGs

wth is w/ the "I would still play MMORPGs if all of the violent elements were taken out. " question about?

Wth would the game be!? Just craft the whole time and watch cutscenes?

It would prolly be Butter's favorite game, Hello Kitty Online Island Adventure.

[Meredy]

Re: Study of Final Fantasy XI and other MMORPGs

I went ahead and filled it out...

wth is w/ the "I would still play MMORPGs if all of the violent elements were taken out. " question about?

Wth would the game be!? Just craft the whole time and watch cutscenes?

I think the question means, "Do you play for killing monsters, or do you play for the social element?"

Although it was badly worded.

[Hantz]

Re: Study of Final Fantasy XI and other MMORPGs

I went ahead and filled it out...

wth is w/ the "I would still play MMORPGs if all of the violent elements were taken out. " question about?

Wth would the game be!? Just craft the whole time and watch cutscenes?

You'd get this.

Ahh, where even sword-fighting becomes "Columns"....

[Toksyuryel]

Re: Study of Final Fantasy XI and other MMORPGs

I filled out the survey and I want to point out that "neuter" is the wrong term to use. The correct term is "asexual". Neuter means that you reproduce sexually and that your ability to do so has been removed. Galka reproduce in a manner that doesn't involve sex, thus they are asexual.

[Mhurron]

Re: Study of Final Fantasy XI and other MMORPGs

I filled out the survey and I want to point out that "neuter" is the wrong term to use. The correct term is "asexual". Neuter means that you reproduce sexually and that your ability to do so has been removed. Galka reproduce in a manner that doesn't involve sex, thus they are asexual.

Nope, they both can refer to having neither male or female genders.

Neuter: noting or pertaining to a gender that refers to things classed as neither masculine nor feminine.