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View Full Version : Xbox 360 I am Planning a 360 Player Survey- Need Help



YugithzaleOni
Dec 7, 2008, 07:46 PM
If this has been posted in some similar fashion before- I apologize- either way a new survey will help update the community on how game players are using the website (Aka my first post- I did some searching- didn't find anything similar- forgive me)

NOTICE:IF you are too lazy to read the entire thing- scroll down to bottom line and read the last 3 things.

Now on to the main event:
360 Player Survey background


I have long read the forums and have never gotten past my laziness to even post- that is until today- and do not congratulate me on my first time post- or what not- that is not important

I wish to take a survey of real Phantasy Star Universe players- and learn some little tidbits of information- a small test group is alright for now- 100 players will suffice- though this will take a long time


"A poll?" You ask with slight confusion- and as I put words into your mouth" Why would you do that?"
Well many reasons... 1stly- I think it would be interesting to do- meet new people learn new things- you know what its like-... wait we are playing a video game... scratch that!

Let me really tell why- most people here say- well everyone should know about the server maintenance- after all it was posted here on this website and on the main page- and I personally from experience- (From the delivery side- not the receiving end) Have quickly learned- most people don't check forums- they don't use the internet to learn about things.

"Well" some might say how do you know they don't? "What is this personal experience you have?"

My Response- I staffed a game- controlled something small scale in a way- nothing major- but it has taught me a few things such as when that announcements on forums- tend not to heard.. and on websites main pages as well.

Now I am not going out of my way saying that no one reads forums or does so- but you /me and everyone here- are the exceptions rather than the rule- we read the forums and what not.. and I will use the game I played as an example

This game- ICebots.. is a text based game- no flashy gimmicks nothing- just game play mechanics- the website is entirely text based... with around 20000 members... 200 of which are active at anyone time (annoyingly so)- now of these 200 periodically active members- and I mean they log in every day and work and improve their accounts- 50 of them make any effort at posting or reading the forums in depth.

that about 75% of the population in a browser based- text based game with the forums that is easily located and accessible while playing...

Do they respond to personal communications? yes most of them do but that is not the point- an announcements on the forums are often times unheard until it is sent to most violating parties and shoved down their throats. *Le Sigh*

Now lets get a group of players together- lets say we have 10000 players that Play PSU periodically- (I have absolutely NO clue how many actually play so just suffer with me here)- this is a game of well... internet requirements- but some people may not have computers so they cannot check the internetz

Omigsohwozers- people purchase a connection to the internet but.. no computer? Hey its an xbox-XBL is pretty popular- and if you own a wii- you can surf the internet
The computer is not really the sole reason to buy internet anymore. EVEN with this reasoning however-it is still unlikely that a person who has any sort of internet connection doesn't have a computer.

That brings me to my next step- though the above is an extremely small category of gamers- (Minuscule at best) this category is even larger- and takes with my own personal experience- people just play the game- they learn of things from word of mouth- and information gets horrible skewed and distorted. Some- never even see it coming. In a web based game with easy forum access and yet it only possesses a 25% active forum community- well PSU doesn't seem to have very good chances when it comes to active forums and people even checking the website.

Also please remember- that PSupedia- a site we all know and love just like PSO-world is also visited alot- and that had/has no information available about the current outage- so PSO-world which I think (In my own opinion) is a bit more rare of a find than PSupedia- but in turn has more reliable information.

So anyone who visited that site- would not of known- and hell- most people- even though its illogical- would have never of checked Segas website for information as to our favorite game.

Am I comparing a small time game to something of massive scale? Yes.. am I saying its exactly the same- no.. but the PSU community on the 360 is probably much more isolated than people posting here make it seem to be- and I just want to either show it- or get proven wrong- I am open to all outcomes

Wow that was long and I ranted-

Bottom Line: I plan on taking a survey- I need people to validate me and essentially saying- I am not making these numbers out of thin air- I am going to do this right once- not wrong once and right once- so I will need essentially supervisors or something.. I don't care really but I don't want people shouting fraud at my face if unfavorable results come out. Also Sense getting people on the 360 Really to take a survey may take some incentives.. and well I could use help paying a small sum to those who take the survey maybe 10k per Survey- I can cover a good sum- I think


Sample Size: Will start with a nice round number 100 people

Questions asked: Will take suggestions- please make them yes or no questions to make this simple- I will want to make 10 questions at max for the survey- all results will be tallied- even if the participant is thinking they are being 'clever'- just has to be that way

YugithzaleOni
Dec 7, 2008, 08:07 PM
Double Post:Yes I am aware that I am double posting- but it makes my 1st post even longer- I hope you can just bare with me when I put this down- after all do you want to make my post up there any longer than it already ridiculously is.

The Following 4 Questions will be asked- so that leaves 6 for you guys to figure out- I may come up with more on my own later- but hey- those are the breaks

1st.Do you use the Website Pso-world?
2nd.Do you use the website PsuPedia
3rd. Do you ever check Segas Official Site for PSU info?
4th. Do you use forums on any of the sites?

N1NJASTEVE
Dec 7, 2008, 08:11 PM
way tl;dr. nah just kidding good luck with that.

YugithzaleOni
Dec 7, 2008, 08:23 PM
Thank You- Support is appreciated- I think- Ideas are welcome- complaints are acceptable too- just keep it civilized- I want to do this right and have good test results

NexGen
Dec 7, 2008, 08:49 PM
Well, let me help - but I have questions first:

Simplify something - what is it EXACTLY you want to find out? From what I can gather (no offense, you're not quite clear in your goals here)

One of the first rules of survey methodology is simply - K.I.S.S. - Keep it SHORT AND SIMPLE. Again, no offense, your above posts do not spew simplicity, nor are they short. This is fine - we can work on that part ;)

Further, from what I can gather, you are essentially asking how information spreads in this onlline community, right?

So, you are asking these, the denizens of message board land, to reply to a survey...about if they frequent message boards? Do you see where I'm going with this?

I'd venture to say that anyone who responds from PSO-World's message boards will probably say they've been to PSO-world. Just a hunch.

Should you advertise similarly at the other sites mentioned in your poll, it is likely that they, too, will have frequented the place you posted it at.

survey monkey is a useful tool in online data gathering.

Further, I can provide the analyses, should you desire. Consider it a hobby of mine (or a job, which it is too.)

If you'd like, we can discuss over PM, email, or in game. I can probably help.

YugithzaleOni
Dec 7, 2008, 08:59 PM
Thank you for the information and feedback

Simplified- I wish to take this survey to the people in game- there is no point in polling people here- I am well aware of that- as your post above states:


So, you are asking these, the denizens of message board land, to reply to a survey...about if they frequent message boards? Do you see where I'm going with this?


Yes I am aware of that and you are either misinterpreting me or I wrote so horribly that it is hard to be aware of what exactly I intend to do- it doesn't matter in the end- I merely plan to make a simple survey- (And the way I have it figured I can do 10 shortcuts with the actual questions and 1 shortcut with advertising and 1 shortcut with rules- yes or no answers only

My original post is explaining my reasoning behind doing this survey- to find out how many people actually know about the happenings of this game before they happen


THe Online community I am asking for IS for the 360- and 360 users alone- and not on this website- that would be stupid- I wouldn't pay people money for that hehe... I'm sure people would like free money though

NexGen
Dec 7, 2008, 09:17 PM
Now I'm just curious, but why are you interested in these findings?

YugithzaleOni
Dec 7, 2008, 09:21 PM
A mixture of boredom and well- boredom- oh and curiosity to see how many people actually check for info- the server's coming offline may have caused a lot of confusion that some people didn't for-see and some responses I've seen here is that they should have checked- or that everyone checks- or something

I want to figure out how many people check

HyperShot-X-
Dec 7, 2008, 09:23 PM
My original post is explaining my reasoning behind doing this survey- to find out how many people actually know about the happenings of this game before they happen



...help us help YOU with this survey thing, i mean it's really difficult to see what your intention is when readers find out the main goal of the survey after reading 6th post, and i think you chose bad time to do this when server just got back up...know what I'm saying? and I just don't get participants coming up with their own questions for the survey YOU are planning to do...i mean that's at least original but i'm not too used to that just yet...:/

YugithzaleOni
Dec 7, 2008, 09:29 PM
Oh I am what we call a thinker- but my thoughts don't go to far- its too bad that I cant type and survey my feelings and desires in 3 paragraphs- my bad- but whatever

I know the questions I want to ask- but I want to have 10questions and I actually want to get more than- did you know about the server update.. etc etc..

Either way- Feed back is welcome and appreciated

crzydadfitz
Dec 7, 2008, 09:31 PM
how do i get my adapter to work with a wireless ethernet?

NexGen
Dec 7, 2008, 09:37 PM
Being a thinker is respectable, but has little to do with being able to communicate your thoughts clearly and concisely. This is of utmost importance is survey design.

Of course, this is only constructive criticism with the goal of helping you obtain the results accurately.

I had a chem teacher in high school. He was likely the world's greatest chemist...he also was probably the world's worst teacher.

Communication of those "thinker" ideas is important, especially when you will likely be surveying 13 year olds.

YugithzaleOni
Dec 7, 2008, 09:44 PM
Agreed- I do not explain things well in few words- concise and terse are not my forte.

Fine as criticisms were made that I should make the questions myself I will do so- but only a few really are teasing my mind at the moment.

1st.Do you use the Website Pso-world?
2nd.Do you use the website PsuPedia
3rd. Do you ever check Segas Official Site for PSU info?
4th. Do you use forums on any of the sites?
5th.Did you know of the Server Downtime on Dec 6
6th. Do you know about the lightning Carnival
7th. Do you understand how Guardians Boost Road Works (explain basics)
see and I run out of questions there...

NexGen
Dec 7, 2008, 10:07 PM
No one says you have to have 10. There is no hard and fast rule in the world of surveys that the golden number is 10. Ask enough to answer what you would like to know, really, just don't ask too much. Keep in mind your respondent may be a hyped out on Mountain Dew kid who has been labeled with ADHD! You have to hold their attention until you have answers, so too long is not good.

You might want to take note of a few other things as well:

How many hours of PSU do they play a week?
How long have they been playing for? (Might want to note their player ID#)
Are they currently involved with any other MMO's, or have they in the past? Distinguish between MMOG, MMORPG, ORPG, etc. if you want to, but this could get out of hand.

Although I can't think of how at the moment, it would help in the analyses if there was more than "yes" or "no" to work with. For example, using something known as a likert scale would help. Ex: What is your opinion of Information Delivery in this game? 1 = needs a lot of work, 2 = needs a little work, 3 = no opinion, 4 = It's good enough, 5 = it is excellent.

Additionally, getting some numbers would boost your options.

Ex: How many times a week do you visit one of the PSU websites? (put the number here)

Make sense? It sounds like a whole lotta stuff for something so "simple", but it never hurts to do something right :p

YugithzaleOni
Dec 7, 2008, 10:21 PM
(Already thought of the ID thing- and I prefer simple for now... if it gets into more detail I am hiring monkeys do the work...

It would be a scale 1-5 satisfied/pleased-whatever the hell else

I know what you mean by getting more specific results and what not- but the longer the questionnaires take and that contradicts what you just said- I need to keep it short and sweet yet I need to make it more complicated- thats fine by me- I can make it more complicated. (Just thought I should point out that )

Either way I need support and people to do the leg work if I ever hope to get a bigger sample

NexGen
Dec 7, 2008, 11:46 PM
Yes, you got it right. Simplify and make it more complex!

Simplify your wording, be more complex in the data you plan to collect!

Yes/no responses are limited in statistical analyses that you can perform....whereas numbers and likert scales offer much more. This doesn't mean the wording needs to be convoluted with unnecessary wording.

Generally, if you can count an actual value (I visit 12 x a week), it means more than "YUP I go there!"

You can take the end results and see if there is a connection between hours played and message board posting, etc.

To note, there are many who post but do not play - these forums are full of people who have "quit" yet post here hourly.

Further, I am typically a lurker - with intermittent bouts of posting, followed by months of silence. If you asked me how much I post, the answer would vary, and would miss the number of times visited.

You can form some questions, post the your final questions here, and I can rip them up and suggest revisions lol.

If ya want, otherwise, good luck and please share your results.

Turb0
Dec 8, 2008, 12:13 AM
Thank you, OP. Having just read Eats, Shoots and Leaves for one of my classes, I can now fully appreciate what the author was saying about the use of dashes.:p Kinda reminds me of ColonelMustard (that was his name, right?) and his sweet, poetic, ubar-comma posts. Anyway...


6th. Do you know about the lightning Carnival

As of right now I'd probably take that question out seeing as no one really knows what's going on with that thing lol. Maybe it could be a more general question like, "Do you normally know what changes will be made to the game before the servers go down for maintenances?"

A survey sounds like a good idea though. It would be pretty interesting to get a rough approximation of how many people check the forums/sites. Also, how/where do you plan on actually asking people these questions? Just hanging out at a hotspot and asking people if they want to participate in a survey?

Hakuga
Dec 8, 2008, 01:43 AM
Long but worth reading, you make some really valid points.



I think it's a really appropriate time to post this actually - as he says, plenty of players don't check out forums. Many will suspect it is their own connection failing, or just have no clue as to what's going on.

I mean, Segac would be really wise to have some kind of prompt at the connection screen along the lines of "The servers are currently undergoing extended maintenance, we apologise for the delay and will have the servers back up as soon as possible"

..but there isn't one.
Edit: Well actually with this kind of power-outage maint, there can't be one.. I think.. hhmm nvm.



Best of luck with the survey, I'll help if I'm around.

YugithzaleOni
Dec 8, 2008, 07:18 PM
As always thank you for your comments- alterations are being made as I write this-


1st.Do you use the Website Pso-world?
2nd.Do you use the website PsuPedia
3rd. Do you ever check Segas Official Site for PSU info?
4th. Do you use forums on any of the sites?
5th.Did you know of the Server Downtime on Dec 6
6th. Do you understand how Guardians Boost Road Works (explain basics)
7th. Are you satisfied with Segas over-all performance?
8th. Do you understand the master class and their Restrictions
9th.Will you be purchasing the new Portable Phantasy Games?
10th. Have you noticed a GM/Player Mod Presence in game?

1 meaning negative- 5 being positive.

YugithzaleOni
Dec 8, 2008, 09:01 PM
Update on Progress: THis Takes Forever AGH- 12 People in 2 Hours GAH

NexGen
Dec 8, 2008, 11:57 PM
Welcome to my world :D