Video Game Player Typologies and Research

[KBigelow]

I'm a master's student (and avid gamer) currently working on my thesis about video game player typologies and taxonomies. I've read a lot of academic articles about how previous researchers have gone about categorizing gamers and am wondering what people think of gamer categories. I'm also curious to know if people are aware of gamer typologies and if they've participated in this kind of research before. Are you familiar with any gamer typologies? And do they seem accurate to your experiences as a gamer?

I'm also looking for survey participants so if you'd like to take my survey and help me finish my degree please follow the link to Survey Monkey below. And if there's anyone you can think of who'd also like to take it please pass it along. Thanks for considering. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CVNZJ2B

[Shagger]

I actually think it would more interesting to find out why a desire to play video games as a hobby has a more of a phycological interest to people than other hobbies, like building model trains, playing golf or fishing. No wait, I know, it's because these "surveys" are actually lures for info on gamers to sell us bullshit.

 

Seriously, cut it out! You're not breaking any rules, but you're not fooling anyone either.

[KBigelow]

I'm approaching video game research from a sociological perspective, but I'm personally interested in video game research because I love video games. Though, building model trains would also be an interesting research topic. I've never built a model train, but it'd be cool to learn why people enjoy it and how they got into the hobby. It'd be really difficult to change my thesis topic now, though.

The survey is completely anonymous and I can't sell you anything, if those are concerns. But, I appreciate your feedback on how my post comes across. Probably why most video game forums consider survey links spam.

[Shagger]

3 hours ago, KBigelow said:

I'm approaching video game research from a sociological perspective, but I'm personally interested in video game research because I love video games. Though, building model trains would also be an interesting research topic. I've never built a model train, but it'd be cool to learn why people enjoy it and how they got into the hobby. It'd be really difficult to change my thesis topic now, though.

The survey is completely anonymous and I can't sell you anything, if those are concerns. But, I appreciate your feedback on how my post comes across. Probably why most video game forums consider survey links spam.

 

That was literally your first post! No introduction, no "these are the games I like to play", no "this is my favourite platform", no pic's of your pets wearing human cloths because it's funny, nothing. Just sign up then immediately present us with a survey that "totally won't" find out any information useful for marketers, so what are people supposed to think? You're right, people do consider this spam and it being done with lack of tact or subtlety is exactly why.

Edited April 27, 2020 by Shagger

[KBigelow]

Fair enough. I'll take that into consideration next time.

[DC]

2 hours ago, KBigelow said:

Fair enough. I'll take that into consideration next time.

Hi @KBigelow and welcome to VGR!

Like @Shagger wrote, there is nothing wrong with your thread here. It's just that joining our forum and asking the community to contribute to your survey before you've contributed to our forum likely won't go over well with other members. I can't speak for @Shagger specifically but I believe many more members of our community would be more inclined to help you out and complete your survey after you've made some posts contributing to our community. 🙂 I will happily complete your survey but I'd first like to see you contribute to our forum.

[skyfire]

My only issue in such surveys is often those are lengthy and some of them require login with social media which I don't like. 

[The Blackangel]

@KBigelow 

There's something you need to know about gamers. First off, we're an inclusive group. Everyone has different tastes, and we like that. But when you come to us and ask us to do your homework for you, that's not going to go over well. Aside from being gamers, that's not the limit of what we are. Everyone here has other attributes and interests. We would welcome you if you had just came to us as a regular person who enjoys gaming. But we have seen this survey shit time and time again here. I'm not the oldest member here in terms of how long I have been at this forum. I'm also not held in the highest regards. But this shit gets tiresome. Post your questions here as a topic or multiple topics, in the corresponding boards. That would go over much better for you.

TL/DR
Stop being an ass.

[skyfire]

By the way doesn't university takes objection on the type of limited data that is being collected by students as most of the data would be skewed?

[KBigelow]

6 hours ago, skyfire said:

By the way doesn't university takes objection on the type of limited data that is being collected by students as most of the data would be skewed?

Heya, thanks for the question.

I don't think a master's thesis would be considered a reliable source as is. It's more an introduction to academic research where students demonstrate that they are able to conduct research and be honest and critical of their work. The university is checking that I satisfy the requirements for my degree, which includes my committee evaluating the quality of my thesis. For my results to be considered in wider academic circles I'll have to be published. I might be able to publish articles from the thesis, but that will depend on my results and whether my professors and any journal I submit to think my research is worthwhile. Not all articles have equal quality, but there is a peer review process that is meant to check for quality.

My data, specifically, is currently drawing more from a specific gaming community and I will be mentioning that several times in my thesis to give context for my results. I was hoping for more data so that didn't happen, but it's part of the process and I'll be mentioning it in my discussion. But I've certainly learned a lot, including not repeating the mistake I made here. 😅

(And, to your previous post, my survey is unfortunately a bit long. I tried my best but I got a little excited. It doesn't require a social media login though, that doesn't sound like something my IRB would even allow. It's hard to imagine those that do are academic since anonymity would be a big issue there. By the standards of my department, anyway.)

[skyfire]

7 hours ago, KBigelow said:

Heya, thanks for the question.

I don't think a master's thesis would be considered a reliable source as is. It's more an introduction to academic research where students demonstrate that they are able to conduct research and be honest and critical of their work. 

I kind of thought so, often the research is skewed because some of the time such thesis validates the personal beliefs and the data is often collected to validate that. Been through that process while my masters thesis during engineering times.