A Different Kind of Research
 

Hello all,

I am an Assistant Professor of Instructional Systems Technology at UNC-Charlotte. Along with my colleagues at Wake Forest and Purdue University, we are conducting a study of MMORPGs (specifically WoW) and citizenship participation.

In an effort to explore parallels between civic leadership and participation in MMORPGs and ‘real-life’, we are conducting a study of the use of guild leaders and guild members of World of Warcraft. This study consists of participants completing a brief (6-12 minute) online, anonymous survey.

For those WoW players who wish to participate in the study simply complete the survey located here [http://www.surveyshare.com/survey/take/?sid=65142]. All respondents will be entered into a raffle to win one of a number (3) of gift certificates to Amazon.com or EB Games, or a six month subscription to your favorite MMORPG (Winner's choice!). To complete the survey, you will first be directed to an Informed Consent form, at the bottom of which is a hyperlink to the survey itself.

Cheers,

Richard

Sounds a bit more positive than the last one, and correct English!

Okay what is it with all the surveys?

I am going to start a study on why there are so many MMORPG surveys recently. Hey there should be a nationwide database of WoW survey data!

I am of the opinion that all surveys are evil, and benefit no one really except useless data collectors. There are a lot of personality types that play WoW. Of those many, maybe 75% (I'm being very generous I believe) read forums of this nature. Of that 75% maybe 60% (again generous) read forums that doesn't directly benefit them in their immediate crisis. Of that 60%, it is likely 20% won't read past the "Hello all, I am an Assistant Professor", another 20% won't read past the survey link, and maybe, just maybe 50% of those who have made it this far consider taking the survey.

I will let you do the math, even adjust the percentages, on how accurate these surveys really are. I don't see any benefit to the gaming community (other than a possible 6 month sub).

I made my best attempt to be "nice", and I hope no offense is taken from my own personal opinion. Best of luck in your project, unless your project will be used by lobbyists to influence regulations concerning gaming in the U.S..

Thank you for your interest and opinion on our survey. We truly appreciate your input and thoughts; and your response demonstrates the importance of us doing such work. The idea behind our research is to study whether active citizenship participation in a virtual world holds true outside of the game as well, and your taking the time to write to us is a perfect example of what we mean by active citizenship, as this can take place through discussion forums, as well as letters to a newspaper editor, blog posts, or just by voting.

It is also interesting that you make note of "lobbyists," who may "influence regulations concerning gaming." I would imagine that this might be a concern of yours. We have no ties to lobbyists whatsoever (we're all university professors, promise)...but if lobbyists or other special interest groups were interested in regulating gaming, studies such as the ones that we're currently doing would likely be cited...making participation in our study even more important!

Also, I forgot to mention that we are not looking for a representative sample, but rather a puposive sample. We want to compare guild leaders with guild members.