http://www2.hawaii.edu/~ztomasze/argax
©2011 by Z. Tomaszewski.
Participants were also asked a number of open-ended questions. A number of common themes in these results were tagged and are summarized here. The full list of all responses and their corresponding tags are available in Appendix 4.
Of the 48 total responses, 41 responses identified some sort of event in answer to this question. Of the remaining 7 responses, 5 referred instead only to the descriptions or the pervasive mood of the game, and 2 felt that there was nothing memorable.
Of the 41 events reported, 17 referred to either some action the participant performed or a direct consequence of that action. The other 24 responses reported events of the game that happened to them.
19 of the 41 reported events involved the revenant somehow--either hearing it offscreen, encountering it for the first time, killing it, or being killed by it. This is fitting, since the revenant represents the central conflict of the story.
11 of the 41 events mentioned some aspect of the passenger NPCs. 7 of these concerned some autonomous action on part of an NPC, while 2 of them commented on the flatness or unresponsiveness of NPCs. The remaining 2 found simply interacting with them in some way--either in one-on-one conversation or attacking them--to be most memorable.
16 of the 48 responses mentioned some aspect of the mood of the story, including noteworthy scenery objects or well-written descriptions. 5 responses involved a sense of frustration or powerlessness. 4 referred to differences between the two game sessions as being most memorable, though one of these despaired that there was no perceivable difference. Only 2 mentioned the text-based input mode--one was gratified to see his command successfully converted to a deed, and other mentioned some minor input problems as why later events unfolded as they did. Finally, 3 referred to events of the tutorial as being most memorable.
5 responses did not list any least-enjoyable aspect (including one 1 response that jokingly wished the game were longer). Most of these empty responses were from second-play sessions.
The most common complaint was the text-based input, as mentioned in 12 of the 48 responses. Closely related to this were 10 responses that stated the available actions and options of what to do in the game were not clear. 2 of these 10 responses mentioned unclear options only in reference to NPCs.
4 responses stated the reading so much text was the least enjoyable aspect. 8 responses complained of the difficulty in visualizing the story world and getting oriented in that virtual world. 3 of these orientation-related complaints were not spatially-oriented--2 complained that the time between scenes was not predictable, and 1 found the story itself disorienting.
4 responses stated that they wished they were provided with a clearer objective of what they were meant to accomplish in the game. 7 complained that they could not actively direct the story, could not exert the influence they wanted to, or that their actions had no apparent consequences.
Finally, 7 responses reported that the resolution or ending of the story was the least satisfactory part of the game.
Of the 48 responses, 7 did not list any most-enjoyable aspect.
12 responses found some aspect of player agency to be the most enjoyable part of the game. This ranged from the flexibility of the input system (1 response), mastering the commands needed (1 response), accomplishing tasks in the world (4 responses), the wide range of potential actions (2 responses), influencing or actively controlling the outcome of the story (3 responses), and simply "making things happen" (1 response).
Closely related to agency, 5 responses enjoyed simply exploring the world, including the potential reactions of NPCs. 5 responses also indicated that having an objective--attempting to accomplish some task or solve some problem--as the most enjoyable aspect.
5 responses found the story itself enjoyable, with 2 more responses enjoying either the autonomy of the NPCs or the way the story unfolded with no active participation required of the player.
4 responses mentioned the NPCs in a more neutral context--2 responses found interacting with the NPCs enjoyable, while the other 2 enjoyed the dialog or character believability.
6 responses mentioned enjoying the Zeppelin setting; 5 enjoyed the general mood; and 4 mentioned the descriptions of the world. 1 response enjoyed reading text.
Finally, 4 responses found variations between the two game sessions to be the most enjoyable aspect.
There were other optional open-ended questions in the response survey. While interesting to the author, the responses there did not noticeably cover any themes not already mentioned in one of the three questions above.
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Argax Project : Dissertation :
A Rough Draft Node http://www2.hawaii.edu/~ztomasze/argax |
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Last Edited: 03 Apr 2011 ©2011 by Z. Tomaszewski. |