Monday, May 08, 2006

Actual market research?!? Egads!

Ogre Cave is reporting that GAMA and The Wargamer have joined forces with Dr. Prabu David of Ohio State to produce a rigorous survey called "Experiences of hobby game players: The what, when, where and why of their motivations and choices to play". If you've got 20 minutes or so, please consider taking the time to complete this survey. The industry desperately needs this sort of hard data.

It's nice to see GAMA making some sort of effort in this field. I've harped on them from time to time and will probably continue to do so, but I really appreciate what they're doing here.

5 comments:

  1. I can't speak to the effectiveness of their methodology. Hopefully this Dr. David guy knows what he's doing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous4:08 PM

    I took it, but I agree with Mike. The breakdown of subgenres is questionable. Fantasy/Sci-Fi/War i might be able to go with (war is questionable)-- but then to include collectible miniatures and noncollectible miniatures was worse. Finally, there a few categories which included "console" games and "card" games, but it didn't seem to limit it to rpg-related console and card games. So all consoles games are in the mix?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous11:57 PM

    Yeah, amd what the hell's an RPG War game? Advanced Recon?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hey everyone - there's a lot of Q&A at
    The Wargamer (one of our cosponsors) over at
    http://www.wargamer.com/forums/tm.asp?m=168268

    That's the best place to find info about the survey.

    Thanks!
    Brant

    ReplyDelete
  5. You helped us out a lot last year getting the word out about gamesurvey.org.
    We're open for round II now!


    Ohio State University's School of Communication, in partnership with GAMA and The Wargamer, are undertaking a follwo-up to last year's large and comprehensive study of hobby game players. The researchers are investigating patterns of motivation and usage by tabletop (card, role-playing, minis, and board game players), digital (computer, console, MMORPG), and other gamers (such as LARP). The survey takes approximately 20-30 minutes to complete.

    Building on lessons learned from last year, as well as some ongoing analyses of the existing data, the project is seeking continue expanding the knowledge of the games world.

    We invite you to participate at www.gamesurvey.org.

    The study will be focusing on these key areas of motivation.

    • What do game players like in a game? What do they dislike? And why?
    • What motivates continued game play and preferences for types of games?
    • Where are games bought and what influences those purchase decisions in light of preferences and motivations?
    • What interactions do gamers have with others?
    • With whom (and where) do gamers play, and how frequently, and how do these decisions influence preferences and motivations?


    Official Q&A forum can be found at http://www.wargamer.com/forums/tm.asp?m=229482


    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete