Video games research project

[gporter333]

My name is Dr Guy Porter, a clinical researcher based in Sydney, Australia. I am part of a team of researchers headed by Dr Vladan Starcevic, Associate Professor at the Discipline of Psychological Medicine, University of Sydney.

We are investigating patterns of video game use, both online and offline. Specifically, our project aims to determine the characteristics and impact of excessive video game use.

We are looking for video game users from all backgrounds and who play all types of video games to take part in an anonymous online survey.

This project is not for profit and has received ethics committee approval by The University of Sydney.

If you’d like to take part, please follow the link below to our website:

Psychological Medicine - Nepean Clinical School - The University of Sydney (http://www.nepean.med.usyd.edu.au/research/psych.php)
(The survey can be found at the top right corner)

-Dr Guy Porter
Clinical Researcher

For:
A/Prof Vladan Starcevic
Discipline of Psychological Medicine
University of Sydney
Australia

[rubah]

just a FYI, this is semi-staff approved xD Mullet said he took the survey and it was all clear. It's just that those pink titles are hard to take away once they get put on xD

[edczxcvbnm]

The survey is fine. Doesn't ask for any personal information or anything. Just wants you to answer questions.

[Momiji]

I took the survey, but I feel that it's overly biased against video games, especially the second questionnaire. I think that they're going to attribute things such as 'restlessness sleeping' to overplaying video games, although that isn't the case for me-- it's my allergies acting up and I suddenly wake up because I can't breathe! :p

[KentaRawr!]

I'm shocked at how many of these questions are so obviously "No".

[Vivisteiner]

Did it. I also included a brilliant essay on the importance of video games in modern society as a part of my personal comment.


Ban...harsh...?

[Vermachtnis]

I have no idea how half of that stuff can be connected to videogames. Also, when I cancle movie/party plans for games it's group effort. Like the last time. We were planning on watching Superhero Movie, but at the last minute we said screw it, let's play Warcraft.

[Alucard von Elru]

I can't say that I'm all that impressed with the survey, as it seems to be highly biased against gaming. Because, you know, gaming makes you hear voices and whatnot. Attention Dr. Guy Porter: gaming does not make one a social retard, nor does it make one a sociopath. I fervently hope that you're trying to prove that it doesn't, instead of the other way around, but damn if the questions don't exactly inspire me to such an end.

At any rate, I selected "Not at all" and the like for just about everything in the entire survey because, you know, I'm not addicted to WoW or whatever. Seriously, how many different ways are there to say "do you hear voices"? Here's what I had to say in the little "comments about your video game use" section at the end, if anyone cares to read:

I greatly enjoy gaming. It is my preferred hobby and I feel that it is an exciting new medium with which to discover artistic possibilities and it sparks my creativity and imagination in ways that other mediums simply cannot.

As much as I love gaming, I must say that it DOES NOT interfere with other aspects of my life and well-being, as this survey is seemingly striving to indicate. It is a wonderful creative outlet and a great passion of mine, but I know my priorities and consider myself to be an extremely healthy, well-adjusted individual.

EDIT: @ 'steiner: Essay w00t!!!

[Madame Adequate]

Strong criticism of this survey. I have suffered from some of those things like nervousness in the past 7 days, for reasons entirely unrelated to gaming. I am entirely aware of the reasons for it, and gaming is not a reason.

In fact, I cannot in good conscience complete this survey, as I do not see how it can account for the possibility of thousands of other factors in a person's life without becoming completely useless anyway.

[Roto13]

I don't think a lot of you people understand this kind of thing. :P

Nobody is going to automatically assume that you, as an individual, have a problem that is a direct result of video games. When it's finished, if 60% of the people who took the survey who game for 8 hours a day also suffer from schizophrenia or something, that's when the eyebrows start being raised and different possibilities as to why the correlation exists will be examined.

Stop acting like they're assuming gamers are sick, twisted little cretures, and stop acting like your own answers have a profound effect on the results and will make or break the accuracy of the thing.

If 0.5% of gamers suffer from headaches once every few days, nobody is going to take it as anything but a coincidence.

[Tavrobel]

Took the survey, and it very much seemed to me like there were things in there that suggested anti-sociality or manic/depressive behavior due to gaming. Hopefully, if people take the test seriously, they'll just show once again that video games are not a cause of concern as with any other medium.

[Markus. D]

I took the survey, but I feel that it's overly biased against video games, especially the second questionnaire. I think that they're going to attribute things such as 'restlessness sleeping' to overplaying video games, although that isn't the case for me-- it's my allergies acting up and I suddenly wake up because I can't breathe! :p

[Roogle]

Stop acting like they're assuming gamers are sick, twisted little cretures, and stop acting like your own answers have a profound effect on the results and will make or break the accuracy of the thing.

Regardless, it appears that others are complaining because of the nature of the negative questions versus the nature of the positive questions. The fact that it is asked is what is bothersome to them, as it means that there are still research and studies into the negative aspects of gaming without any emphasis on the positive aspects of gaming. Studies may or may not be focused on a specific positive or negative aspect, yet it is still disconcerting when it only focuses on the negative.

Please be nicer to your fellow members of Eyes on Final Fantasy.

[Madame Adequate]

Roto, I didn't know that the survey would be able to figure out whether videogames had any correlation whatsoever to the innumerate people who are, at any given time, stressed, unhappy, angry, or nervous about something. It's a good thing that we have developed some sort of perfect psychic testing measurement to remove all the problems of something like this, so that we can actually see where correlation indicates causation and where it indicates nothing.

I am sceptical about this for a number of reasons;

1) It's open to anyone who wishes to volunteer themselves. I could pretty easily take it over and over, even assuming they have security measures against that, in order to influence the outcome. So could Jack Thompson.

2) It's opt-in. I am extremely hesitant to think that this might form anything approaching a sensible sample group.

3) It assumes honesty from participants. As just one example, what if I don't trust them to be confidential about the illicit substances results, and I lie in order to protect myself? Further, what if I'm simply mistaken in my responses? Or what if someone takes a hostile stance in reading the questions, and thinks that the survey is indeed anti-gamer? What if they change their own answers in order to counter this perceived bias? Conversely, if the researches account for that, how can the people who answered honestly be properly heard? I know these are issues that all such research has to contend with, but compounded with my concerns 1 and 2, it is quite significant.

In short, even as part of a broader project (ie. also involving qualitative research; participant observation, interviews, etc.), I find this to be questionable. How is it going to be presented? Just the pure data? Holistically, combined with a broader ethnographic study? Who is this research being done for/by? What schools of thought do they come from? How does the survey as an individual item and the project as a whole account for hermeneutical problems? etc. etc. ad nauseum.

I've no desire to impugn the reputations of those conducting this research, but if I've learnt anything from the last year of uni, it's to be extremely sceptical of absolutely any and all research in the social sciences. So yes, Roto, I do know how these things work, and that is exactly why I'm not going to take part. :)

[Roto13]

The study is looking for facts and the questions can only paint gaming in a bad light if people answer them that way. And if people are being honest and it does show that gamers don't sleep enough, it's not because the survey is trying to portray gamers as one thing or another, it's because it's true.

EDIT: Paranoid much? The best thing you can do about that is answer the questions honestly yourself. Withholding your own answers isn't going to help anything.

[Roogle]

The study is looking for facts and the questions can only paint gaming in a bad light if people answer them that way. And if people are being honest and it does show that gamers don't sleep enough, it's not because the survey is trying to portray gamers as one thing or another, it's because it's true.

Yes, but it is understandable that others would feel uncomfortable if a survey and its researchers study negative aspects of a common pasttime.

[Aerith's Knight]

why is the guy banned?

[Roogle]

why is the guy banned?

Please use the Feedback Forum to discuss moderation issues. This user is no longer banned, yet technical difficulties caused the title to persist because of the nature through which he was banned —

[edczxcvbnm]

I am with Roto 100%. I am glad I have moved further away from gaming in the past few years because it seems like more and more gamers are being complete wackjobs about all of this stuff all the time.

The subway Jarred thing from a few years ago is one of those again. Don't be so offended and make unfounded correlations.

[Madame Adequate]

EDIT: Paranoid much? The best thing you can do about that is answer the questions honestly yourself. Withholding your own answers isn't going to help anything.

No, I'm not paranoid. I do have legitimate concerns about how any research in the social sciences is done. I do not even believe that calling them the social 'sciences' is warranted; they are subject to far more in the way of interpretation, perspective, and oftentimes incompetence than most people realize. The hard sciences are bad enough. Trying to write off my thoughts on this matter as paranoia isn't very classy, as an aside.

[Roto13]

So you're gonna fix it by not participating. Awesome.

[Madame Adequate]

So you're gonna fix it by not participating. Awesome.

If I am correct in my beliefs then my participation could not improve matters.

[Markus. D]

why is the guy banned?

Please use the Feedback Forum to discuss moderation issues. This user is no longer banned, yet technical difficulties caused the title to persist because of the nature through which he was banned —

10 Australian dollars says he doesn't log in again.

[Nominus Experse]

Submitted

[Flying Mullet]

Yes, it does seem to focus on the negative effects of excessive gaming, but that's probably what they're testing for. I think the survey would have been better built had they interspersed "happy" statements like "I wake up in the morning full of energy" and "I often think of ways to make people around me smile." It's a pet peeve of mine when I can see why a survey is asking the questions in a certain theme and it makes me want to answer incorrectly to skew their results because they're insulting my intelligence.

[Karellen]

The OP has discussed the validity of the survey on other (http://www.blizzforums.com/showthread.php?t=15679) forums (http://forums.bioware.com/viewtopic.html?topic=622068&forum=22&sp=0), if anyone is interested in the justification behind it.