›

Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

Sign In Register

Quick Links

Looking for some MMO 'newbies' to help with an academic study.

mineforfishmineforfish Member Posts: 7
in The Pub at MMORPG.COM





The short version:


I'm currently a student enrolled in a upper division University class centered
around studying MMO's/Virtual Worlds(class webpage url:
http://www.trinity.edu/adelwich/worlds/index.html). My topic of interest is the
'newbie experience' in these worlds, and I'm interested in talking to people
about their thoughts on the subject in order to incorporate them in to a
lengthy research paper


The long version:


My name is Andrew Krausnick and I am an undergraduate enrolled in a course on
virtual worlds at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. Our class has been
playing Everquest II for the past four months, with characters ranging
in level from 10 to 27. Our primary characters are members of the guild The
Vindicators on the Antonia Bayle server.








As part of an ongoing research project, I would like to
speak with people over the age of 18 about their thoughts on the newbie
experience. As long as you have recently begun playing a MMO (I'm looking for
the 3 months or under range) I'm interested in talking to you.


We can conduct the interviews however you like. I have a WoW and EQ2 account,
and can register a free account for any game that offers it. We can also use an
instant messaging service, a private forum, or just go through e-mail.


If this sounds like something you'd be willing to participate in, fire me off
an e-mail at akrausni@trinity.edu and we'll set the means and a time. Your name
will be kept completely confidential, and upon completion the research findings
will be freely distributed on our class website (the projects from last year
are hosted at: http://www.trinity.edu/adelwich/mmo/students.html, if you want
to check them out).


If you have any other questions, there is a FAQ located on the class website at
http://www.trinity.edu/adelwich/worlds/faq.html, also feel
free to use my e-mail, or post them here as I'll be checking back in on this
thread on and off as long as it stays active (and even if you don't really want
to contribute to the project, but have other questions, such as about
the class itself or the academic worth of virtual worlds, I'd be more than
willing to tackle any of those questions as well).


Thanks in advance,

-Andrew

Comments

  • sarbonnsarbonn Member UncommonPosts: 119
    Don't reinvent the wheel. First, read Richard Bartle's Creating Virtual Worlds. He's detailed numerous studies that have been done on MMOs that are quite inclusive.

    My blog:
    http://www.littlesarbonn.com

  • mineforfishmineforfish Member Posts: 7
    DVW is an excellent book, and actually part of the curriculum for the class. However, it is (in my opinion) also growing more and more out of date as we moveon to the next 'generations' of MMO's. In addition, his book, while a fantastic read about almost all aspects of virtual world life and design, doesn't really cover any one topic in depth, which is what we are attempting with our studies. So while he does touch on the newbie experience in his work (specificially relating to churn/newbie streams), he doesn't really focus on what people are saying about their experiences, and doesn't back up his claims with cited player experiences, which is what I hope to do.




  • mineforfishmineforfish Member Posts: 7
    One quick addition, then I'll go ahead and let this thread die.


    I do want to mention and make clear that the MMO in question doesn't have to be your first, you simply need to have started playing it recently.

    Thanks again for taking the time to at least give this a look.


Sign In or Register to comment.