Why, is a very good question.Well, for the real why- you'll have to check out some of the other videos and links, but all in all- it's safe to say this is
a subject I am very passionate about. The game (which if you haven't played shame on you- go do that), is really just a introduction to
the kinds of problems I talk about.
Which can be found here was the forerunner to the actual project, and deals with
very basic things- what people like in video games. Originally I was going for a very character driven project, but as the spectrum was very wide- I found I had to narrow
it down quite a bit. Unfortunately without a paid account, I have no real way of downloading the data for other people to look at it- but the results were super interesting
any ways. If you take the survey (which is still open) you can see some of the questions I was asking.
The second survey I did was much more focused- thankfully another class allowed me to use my research for the project as part of a survey report!
The link to the survey is here and dealt specifically with how the genders of
characters in video games influenced their decisions to play or not. You can out the report I wrote on the subject here.
Survey 3, and the last of the surveys, was done during the development of the game itself. Using the results from this survey I was able to implement the scoring system used.
The results, much to my surprise- were different than I was expecting. Although this could be for a couple of different reasons: different items have different meanings for people
or maybe the person who took the survey is fluent in another language where items are assigned gender to begin with. Unlike the previous surveys, which were done using specific survey
programs- this one was a simple Google Docs form. Easy to distribue, fill out and check the answers to whenever I want to update the game for increasing accuracy. Survey can be found below! Here!
The first video on the list is a short demonstration video of the project itself- complete with a brief look at the software used as well as an even briefer look at
how the game works. Here!
The second video here is from my INT400 class- which dealt with technology and culture. Again- I was allowed to use my capstone research and make a presentation on it. This works
extremely well, as it combines a large amount of initial research into one screencast that explains the problem I am addressing. Why read a boring paper, when you can watch a neat video with pictures!and here!
The last video is just a video presentation from the second survey I did- more of a visual presentation if you don't want to read the whole thing. apologies now for the giant watermark... I um... didn't have the money to actually buy the software. Ahaha..haha...ha.
and even here!
So here is a list of blogs, articles and other neat things I came across- if it's a subject you are interested in, check them out! These are just a few sites
that highlight and talk about the issues for ALL genders when it comes to the video game industry.
Also, of course - the blog! Get updates on the project, and related news and posts! If you have comments, questions, anything of the sort- you can contact me through the "ask" function of the blog!