Friday, November 5, 2010

Virtual World Survey

I've been talking to people lately about why they participate in virtual worlds, what keeps them participating, and how it affects real life. Their answers have been interesting, and have varied quite a bit, but there are some common features. Before I reveal what I've heard through anecdotes, though, I'd like to hear from you.

To that end, I've put together a brief survey (only 10 questions) that should take you less than 5 minutes to complete. Your responses are completely anonymous, and I plan to share the results only as aggregates. If you have a few minutes, please consider taking the survey. The survey will be available until at least 12/15/10, and when I receive enough responses, I'll report the results here.

Here's the link:

Click here to take survey

2 comments:

Trudy Takacs said...

I look forward to the results. I didn't keep a copy of the exact question but I found the question about why the survey taker uses virtual worlds a little difficult to answer with one click: I use it for education and that lure stems from the ability to launch lessons & activities from many of the the other reasons listed; the society, the currency, the market, building, etc.

Zero Calael said...

Thanks for the feedback, Trudy. I think the survey question you're referring to is this one:

7. What is your PRIMARY purpose for interacting in virtual worlds?

It's a forced-choice question, which can indeed be challenging to answer. The goal with this question, though, is to get at the most important purpose for using virtual worlds. I think this will shed light on several relationships among gender, age, skill level, platform choice, etc.

You're right, however, that multiple purposes are likely at play for any given person, and I'd definitely like to get at that those at some point in the future.

Thank you again for your comment, and for participating in the survey.