Game Survey Findings and Insights: A Comprehensive Executive Summary

GamE RESEARCH

Executive Summary

The purpose of this report is to clearly convey all findings and insights of the game survey conducted.

The methods used as well as all interesting findings and insights will be discussed in detail. At the beginning of this research there were no assumptions made about what games our selected audience preferred. The objective was to find out what games people played and on what devices they normally played these games.

Introduction

Research was done to find out what type of games people prefer.

The objective was to get ideas about what type of games could be developed to spread a meaningful social message. In this report we will discuss the methods used to gain this information. Insights will be explained. Recommendations about how to improve this research will also be discussed. As mentioned in the executive summary, during this research no assumptions were made. Information was gathered without a pre-defined thesis through observation, surveys and casual conversations with a randomly selected group.

Methods and findings

Observation:

During the observation phase, willing participants were given a list of games to play for as long as they pleased. The environment where these games were played was different for each participant, as each participant was responsible for choosing a time and place they were most comfortable with. Participants were observed one at a time.

Below is a list of games with their respective links that participants were asked to play:

Vex – – Clips (marketing game) – were taken on the following:

Participants body language, especially facial expression

Comments made while playing

• How easily they caught onto the controls
• Whether they experienced any difficulty navigating and/or setting up the game.

The findings are as follows (from the observation):

Vex, which can be broadly categorized as an action game, was the most liked game.

People seemed frustrated with the controls of slither.

The objective of the paperclip game was not clear to many of the participants and most of them gave up trying to play shortly after starting the game.

With the findings from above, the following insight statements were derived:

Controls of a game should be intuitive.

The objective of a game should be clear

People enjoy interactive games.

Survey:

After playing the above-mentioned games, participants were asked to complete a survey. The questions asked in the survey was structured in such a manner to find out what game the participant enjoyed the most and why. They were asked what features they would have added to make the game more enjoyable. Lastly, taking the objective into consideration, participants were asked what positive social message they would like to put out into the world.

Listed below are the trends found in the survey:

Vex was chosen as the most enjoyed game by 75% of participants. However, one third (1/3) of that 75% said that they only chose Vex because it was the best out of the three games and not because they enjoyed it. This discovery led to the next method being used.

The 25% that chose Slither said that they would change the default controls of slither as it felt uncomfortable controlling the snake with the mouse.

Paper clips was not mentioned at all during the survey. (The survey focused on which game the participant enjoyed the most. No questions were asked on the game participants enjoyed the least.) This led to the assumption that a good game should always have a clearly defined objective.

Lastly the two most popular trends with regards to the positive social message was reducing crime and corruption, as well as educating people of all ages so that they can lead better lives.

During the survey a few issues were discovered. We found people typed the shortest of responses, and most of them refused to go into detail unless they felt very strongly about it.

Recommendations:

Avoid asking questions that require participants to discuss. Unless they feel strongly about this, they will most likely provide useless information. It is best to ask these types of questions during interviews as you will most likely get more information.

Multiple choice questions and agree – disagree scale questions will most likely give you more insight. It also reduces the amount of clean up one would have to do while analyzing and making sense of the data received.

Avoid asking two questions at once.

Casual Conversations:

Instead of having formal interviews, further data was gathered by conversing with a randomly selected group of people individually. The purpose for gathering data in this manner was to eliminate the formality and pressure normally associated with interviews. The aim was to make sure that all participants felt as comfortable as possible so that they could freely express themselves. There were a few required questions, however participants were left to fully express their opinion.

Common trends:

Most individuals did not have their own gaming console or PC, and mostly played games on their mobile devices.

The top three most mentioned games were candy crush, rush, temple-run.

Most participants enjoyed action games and/or logic/puzzle games that had a worthwhile reward system.

Eliminating crime and corruption and promoting peace were the popular social messages that these participants felt needed to be put out into the world.

Recommendations:

Perhaps conducting formal interviews will get different results. Although keeping things casual and eliminating the pressure of formal interviews was the objective behind this method. Conducting formal interviews might save time and get more useful information.

Online Research

Further research was conducted online to see if there was a trend in games that were widely considered successful. The following is elements considered to be key factors in whether a game becomes successful or not, according to Grace Li:

A solid story line/plot – This normally makes the user feel like they are a part of the game. It helps them form an emotional connection especially if the character is a figure they can relate to or want to be like.

Great graphics and appealing colors – In recent years game graphics have improved greatly. Developers today try to focus on the show me approach to storytelling. User want attractive visuals

Controls that are easy to learn that are comfortable to use – Controls should feel natural to users. It affects the way users experience the game.

Rewarding objectives – The game should make you want to finish it, the reward or ultimate objective should be so addictive that the user doesn’t see the game as a waste of time or a pass time, but rather a challenge that they want to complete because that feeling of completing an objective or opening a new character or earning points to unlock things is so worthwhile to the user.

Reference list

Li, G. and Li, G. (2019). 8 Key Elements that Make a Game Successful. [online] Gameskinny.com. Available at: [Accessed 20 May 2019]. CITATION GLi19 l 1033 (G)