Hi, I am writing a dissertation on Interactive Fiction as part of my university degree and as part of my research I am trying to collate some data from relevant users.
I am looking at past and present IF games and trying to determine the key factors which make the genre popular, with the ultimate aim of making a new IF game.
I would be extremely grateful if you could take a couple of minutes to complete the questionnaire found in the link below:
A couple of nitpicks: There are options “iPad” and “Tablet” in the “what devices you own” question. iPad is also a tablet, so I assume you meant “other tablet”. The traditionally most common (?) way of playing (with an interpreter) is not an obvious choice in the “which format you prefer” question, it might be useful to split the “installable program” option to “playing offline with an interpreter” and “standalone executables”. On the last page the scale is from 0 to 5 in the first question and 1 to 5 in the others. Also, there are many in the community who don’t appreciate the strictly binary gender choice at the beginning.
Good luck with the research! Hopefully you’ll post a summary of your findings later.
Thanks again for the feedback, just for clarification regarding the gender choice; should I leave that out altogether or add an option for ‘undisclosed’?
Well, it’s been debated and defined for awhile now. I wouldn’t want to volunteer a definition. I just didn’t like the “environments” term, cuz some IF is more story-based or cerebral than just moving through rooms.
Done. I’m glad my answers for the most part tallied with everyone else’s. Usually I answer these things and find I’m the only one to pick certain things.
What’s the research question of your dissertation?
I selected “PC desktop” in one of the questions, but I once again find myself rather confused. The distinction between “PC desktop” and “Apple desktop” suggests that “PC” is a brand. But it isn’t. So maybe it’s supposed to mean “Windows”, and “Apple” is supposed to mean “OSX” – but not only would that be very unclear and historically inaccurate, it would also not allow me to choose any other operating systems, such as Linux. Just reading “PC” in its actual meaning of “personal computer” also doesn’t work, because Apple makes PCs in that sense. So, as I said, I end up confused.
interesting survey. Results about what I’d expect. a bit of self-promotion here and there, I guess. And I think this can start looking weird once the twine and quest users hear word of it…
tried to spread the word in a brazilian games forum. Unfortunately, I think it’s unlikely to get many votes
I don’t know. There’s a question about one’s favourite IF, which is very different – the way I read that – from a question about what the best piece of IF is. I wouldn’t name one of my own games as an answer to the second question, but I certainly did as an answer to the first. I don’t consider that self-promotion. (It’s probably not promotion at all.)