Survey On: yes, it's violence in video games again

Kate of Lokys

Hi, G&T. Long-time lurker, occasional poster, looking for some volunteers to fill out a fairly quick survey I've compiled (with the coding aid of wasted "awesome" pixels, mailing script champion of the Western world). I'm examining the relationship between violent video games and violent actions, but with a bit of a twist: my survey is being administered simultaneously in two different places. First, it's online, linked here, to target the gamer demographic. And at the same time, an identical version of the survey is being distributed through a local doctor's office to a passingly representative sample of the Canadian general population.

I'm not really interested in the whole question of whether violent games cause violent actions - I've been playing Wolfenstein 3D since before I knew long division, and I have yet to stab anyone in the trachea as a result of my prolonged exposure to red-shaded pixels. Instead, what I'm looking at is the difference in perception of the whole video game violence issue (and video games in general) between gamers and non-gamers, comparing things like definitions of violence, average perceived violence contents in games, and of course the relationship between violent games and violent actions.

So, if as many people as possible would do me a favour and fill it out, I'd be much obliged. I'm aiming for about 50-100 responses, if possible, so feel free to tell your friends. Contact information is on the survey itself if anybody wants a copy of the final report.

Here's the link:

http://www.lokys.net/survey/

Thanks for participating, if you choose to do so.

Original Rufus

Just to let you know, this probably constitutes site-whoring. You may have considered posting this link in your sig.

Kyougu

Also, as it's often mentioned whenever someone tries to get people here to fill out a survey, you're going to get a really biased demographic, even in the gamer demographic.
I would think putting them at a gamestop would get you a greater variety of gamers.

wasted pixels

Hooray for ghost mods.

Bursar

I dislike having a central "neither agree nor disagree" option. I think it's artificially polarizing my opinions.

Kate, your name seems really familiar for some reason... Were you into Nexus Wars?

Kate of Lokys

Was and am, Bursar. Current leader of Knights of Arcadia.

Kyougu, I know PA isn't representative of the overall gaming population, but it is the highest concentration of reasonably devoted gamers that I have convenient access to. Especially since the survey was posted in G&T, not, say, D&D.

rufus, I have been around long enough to get what I think is a rough idea of what's acceptable and what's sitewhoring, and asking people to fill out surveys for school tends to be on the permitted side of the line. There was one just a couple of days ago, in fact, that attracted no attention whatsoever. (Also, what sitewhorish ulterior motive could I have for asking people to fill out a survey with no ads that doesn't require an email address?)

Finally, the issue of odd versus even numbered Likert scale questions is undoubtedly as old as the Likert scale itself. I chose to go with an even number, which, yes, has the effect of forcing people to take a side one way or the other. Such is life.

Bursar

I just took enough statistics to learn how to lie with 'em. :P
I still took the survey; I'm more of a natural complainer and waffler. I like to have a safe zone when I'm not ready to commit to either side.

Voro

Nice survey. Having the 'Do they cause violence?' question as a short answer was perfect. :^:

loflo

The survey doesn't give you room to specify currency in the question about expenditure on games. Or are you expecting people to convert it to US $ themselves?

Veevee

Completed and submitted. I think this was one of the better surveys we have had presented here. Regardless of site whoring or not, I don't think this should be locked.

Woodroez

I agree with Loflo, but I can't say I wouldn't make the same oversight...good survey overall though.

Allon

This survey was too short to cure me of my boredom for long.

Now I'll have to play some violent videogames instead. I'm on to you! :O

stigweard

You are definitely going to get some odd responses. Look at the broad questions like 'Do you believe most video games are violent?'. If you have to cover the entire gamut of video games, then no most are non-violent: puzzle games, vlts, etc... Still, the average non gamer who only knows about them through the news is going to claim they are. Then you have questions like 'Video gaming represents a relatively small portion of the entertainment industry, compared to movies or television.' How are they compared, by titles per year, gross income? Depending on how the person reading the question decides to define it, you could get a pretty divergent response. My point is, the questions aren't specific enough to get any useful data.

darleysam

yeah, just contributed my bit.
I did want to elaborate on a couple of my answers though, about what i consider to be violence in games, and how widespread it is.