Name: Age: ................................................................................ 1. Is your experience of Video game purchasing based largely upon a demonstration of game aesthetics (graphics)? Answer: ................................................................................ 2. Which is a more important in contribution to an enjoyable Video game? Visual sophistication = A Game play = B Answer: ................................................................................ 3. Do the visuals established by third-person player characters contradict your embodiment of them? e.g. does this imply that it is not you taking part in the games environment? Answer: ................................................................................ 4. In Cinema we emotionally relate towards characters, can this be said of developed player characters within a third person perspective? Do you in any way associate to putting them throught the challenges of the gaming environment? e.g. Lara Croft, Max Payne Answer: ................................................................................ 5. Does the disembodiment within first person shooter Video games work against identification with you fictional character? Answer: ................................................................................ 6. Which perspective, Third or first currently works best to situate/immerse you within a gaming environment, A.Third person perspective B.First person perspective Answer: ................................................................................ 7. First person perspective identifies you as watching from within you character. Can immersion within a videogame be separated from this visual mechanism of embodiment? Answer: ................................................................................ 8. Do you agree that graphics and game play are exclusive of one another? Answer: ................................................................................ 9. In first-person shooter games events such as opening doors and climbing ladders can become tedious and frustrating. Do these problems highlight inadequacies and limits within this spatial comparison to reality? Answer: ................................................................................ 10. For what reasons do you play Video games. A.The pleasures of technology and Spectacle B.Game play (Challenge, exploration, involvement) c.Both Answer: ................................................................................ 11. Please specify for the genres below in which you play as (become the main character),play with (play remotely) or substitute (you replace/cancel out the main character). Please note your impression while in control, not as an observer. Play as = A Play with = B Replace = C Answer: First Person Shooter ... Third Person Adventure ... God/Strategy Game ... ................................................................................ 12. Is the ultimate goal of Video Gaming to replicate the real world in all its glory? If not please describe why briefly? Answer= ...................................................................... , either repost or send answers to Rhyswd@hotmail.com Thanks for your time. Rhys

Why does everybody always ask whether graphics or gameplay is more important? -_- The two are not mutually exclusive - misleading graphics can create bad gameplay, and if the gameplay is bad you may not get to see graphcs because you can't progress in the game. Good gameplay and good graphics are both essential to a god game.

Name: Drew Benton
Age: 19

1. Yes

2. B

3. No, it does the opposite and defines the character.

4. Yes. Hitman 3 appeals to the destructive side of gamers. However, it is more than just go and shoot everyone. The 'secret spy' influences appeal to everyone's desire to be some secret 'hero' with a liscense to kill.

5. You are left more open to think how someone looks or is. With 3rd person, you know what they are and work with that. So yes, it does.

6. A

7. Yes. I personally like 3rd better. Look at all of the RTS/RTT, RPG games. They are in 3rd person, yet you 'connect' more with your character than you ever could in a FPS. If you have ever played Diablo 2, you know what I mean [wink].

8. No. Good gam eplay can be dependent on how the graphics are. For example, in Hitman 3, I think the game play is great, because of all of the graphic concepts used to make it as real as possible, i.e. weapons, levels, etc... Look at the new CS based on HL2 engine. I saw this trailer were if you are on Aztec on the wooden bridge and shoot down into the water, you cam actually see realistic effects of what's happening. That makes gameplay a lot more realistic and fun.

9. It just depends. I've played games where even in 3rd person mode, opening doors and climbing ladders were hard as heck, Getting it right in Hitman 3 took me a bit. It just depends on how the game is done really, not the inadequacies and limits of spatial comparison to reality. I think it just shows inadequacies in collision detections and movements. But this is not true for a lot of games.

10. C

11.
First Person Shooter ... B
Third Person Adventure ... A/C (depending on how you look at it)
God/Strategy Game ... A/C (depending on how you look at it)

FPS is just more of a 'do'. In Doom3, I felt like I had no relation to the main character, I was just going around and shooting stuff. There was nothing for me to connect to.

3RD I feel that in some of them I am the main character. I choose what to do and how to do it. I did not understand what the difference between C and A was, so I put them both.

God/Strat games I just love. I am in total control and I feel for my underlings. I want my peons protected! I feel that I have a responsibility to my units. All this is probabally from a previous addiction to StarCraft for a few years back in the day. [lol]. I want to be able to crush my opponents with waves and waves of units. I like in C&C Zero Hour I can just amass a fleet of helicopters and 'missile salvo' all who stand in my way.

12. No. It's ultimate goal is to make it better. I want to play a game that can emulate the world in regards to physics and logics, but I do not want the limitations that exist in ours. I want to be able to have the freedom to get big guns and just blow monsters away with superpowers. However, I simply do not want all of the power for that would not be challenging. I want to have to earn it. I'd like to see environments like HL2, where you can shoot tables and they can break, and have any interaction with any object I want to. I'd like to be able to defy graivty and dodge bullets in slow mo as well.

Just my thoughts. I'm open to any ones comments/opinions on it.

- Drew

Name: Jordan Stewart
Age: 21
................................................................................
1. Is your experience of Video game purchasing based largely upon a demonstration of game aesthetics (graphics)?
Answer: No.
................................................................................
2. Which is a more important in contribution to an enjoyable Video game?
Answer: Gameplay
................................................................................
3. Do the visuals established by third-person player characters contradict your embodiment of them?
Does this imply that it is not you taking part in the games environment?
Answer: No. No it doesn't, I can feel just as connected to a character in a 3rd person game as I can to a charater { in any other game | in a movie }.
................................................................................
4. In Cinema we emotionally relate towards characters, can this be said of developed player characters within a third person perspective?
Do you in any way associate to putting them throught the challenges of the gaming environment?
Answer: Yes. Yes, since I am putting them through those challenges.
................................................................................
5. Does the disembodiment within first person shooter Video games work against identification with you fictional character?
Answer: To some degree, yes.
................................................................................
6. Which perspective, Third or first currently works best to situate/immerse you within a gaming environment?
Answer: Third person.
................................................................................
7. First person perspective identifies you as watching from within you character.
Can immersion within a videogame be separated from this visual mechanism of embodiment?
Answer: Yes. Many FPSs actually have the opposite affect, they make it harder to identify with the character.
................................................................................
8. Do you agree that graphics and game play are exclusive of one another?
Answer: Not entirely, as graphics contribute to the atmosphere of a game, and gameplay depends in part on this.
................................................................................
9. In first-person shooter games events such as opening doors and climbing ladders can become tedious and frustrating.
Do these problems highlight inadequacies and limits within this spatial comparison to reality?
Answer: No, they highlight gameplay inadequacies. I'm sure that I've played at least one FPS where climbing ladders wasn't a problem...I can't remember which one though.
................................................................................
10. For what reasons do you play Video games.
Answer: Gameplay, story, sometimes to see some cool effect or trick or something :)
................................................................................
11. Please specify for the genres below in which you play as (become the main character),play with (play remotely) or substitute (you replace/cancel out the main character).
Answer: It changes for each individual game, but I would say that in general:

• First Person Shooter: substitute/play with
• Third Person Adventure:
play as
• God/Strategy Game:
substitute

................................................................................
12. Is the ultimate goal of Video Gaming to replicate the real world in all its glory?
Answer: No, it's to have fun.

You should remember that the people that read gamedev are game developers
and does not really represent the mainstream game market.
I don't mean to be rude, but for this type of research Gamedev.net's game
design forum might not be the best place to start...

Sebastian Jensen

Thanks for taking the time, eveyone and

Sebastian Jensen: yer i realised that problem early on, so i have this on other forums.

sunandshadow : I realise people consider both important and so do i, but you refer to graphics through a practical consideration, i agree that they are inseprable in some ways. However people have preconcieved ideas upon what matters to them and thats what im trying to note. I personally enjoy many a game with what may be termed simple graphics, yet complex gameplay, how do puzzle games or pong mathc your standards? I think visual are complimentary to a games pleasure, but i dont realise them as essential. There is an over reliance on their abilitiy to project locate us within a game space,

again just an opinion

Rhys