MGetz on 18/11/2009 at 18:59

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I'm a grad student in a cognitive psychology class which studies the elements of design in media, and our final project is to conduct an experiment which tests the effect of those elements. I immediately thought of Thief for the project, simply because it's both so effective and has such a unique approach to what a game can be. I only need a handful of participants for an experiment of this scale, but nevertheless, it's vital that the study gets those few.

All you'd need to do to help me out is to play the Widow Moira level on Thief 3 with the loot percentage turned on or off using Myagi's patch (here: (http://www.tnlc.com/eep/thief.html)) and answer a short survey afterwards, which I'll PM to you. I'd need the results of that survey by the beginning of December.

I really wish I could compensate you for doing this, but I have no funding, and the fact that this is being conducted over the internet creates some issues as well. I will, however, post my findings if anyone shows an interest; it's about how player awareness of score might or might not interact with the player's behavior in a setting which allows them to make choices in regards to the narrative.

While I can't compensate you, I would like to add that no matter what the results are, I believe this study would be good for the gaming community in general - besides the fact that it would increase understanding about how games work from a cognitive psychology standpoint, it might be one more small step nudging the academia to take narrative in games seriously and look at games as something other than empty violence simulators. The body of work which looks at player behavior in games that isn't entirely violence-centric is pitifully small right now. This study doesn't deal with violence in one way or another, just the way players interact with a story in a game.

Thanks for considering helping me out - if you're interested, please say as much as soon as possible. This really wouldn't take up much more of your time than it takes for you to play that one level, and I really believe that it'll help us improve games and the perception of them in the long run, regardless of the results.

MGetz on 18/11/2009 at 23:38

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You're right that it would be relevant to the study, but I don't believe it would render your participation unhelpful; I'd make a note of it in the paper, but unless you know exactly what I'm looking for, I doubt it would seriously fudge the data.

Thanks for helping me out. :) I really appreciate it.

MGetz on 19/11/2009 at 03:23

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I would like to talk about it, but if I told you what I was studying, you'd probably be able to figure out exactly what I was looking for, which would probably affect the results. I'd be happy to talk about it after the beginning of December, when I stop testing and start analyzing the data.

MGetz on 19/11/2009 at 03:35

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There is; I'd be PMing it to you if you decide to participate. I didn't post it up here because it's best if you see it only after having played the level in one of the two test groups (one with the loot percentage on, one with the loot percentage off.) Otherwise, you might be thinking about it as you play, and as it's a study which focuses on behavior in games, that might affect the outcome.

MGetz on 19/11/2009 at 04:18

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LOL, no worries, I had to check to make sure I mentioned it, myself... sleep is not so abundant in my life right now. XD

Yes, unfortunately, that would make a big difference, as the only difference between the experimental groups is in the HUD. I'd definitely like to talk about it if you've got some observations to share, although I wouldn't be able to say much back in here until December (again, trying not to give away what I'm looking for.)