Academic Survey About Steam

Posted by PseudoKnight –

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PseudoKnight
Posted:
Intern
PseudoKnight's picture
Portland, OR

Help this guy out if you have a little extra time on your hands.

I am currently in the process of researching and writing my university dissertation on the subject of Valve Software's Steam digital game content distribution system and the impact it has had on the games industry, and the way in which it may potentially shape the future of the industry. As part of my research, I am trying to find out some information about the current usage of various features of Steam and how they are rated (or not) by Steam's user base "” that means you!

I would greatly appreciate it if you could take 10-15 minutes to fill out this questionnaire to aid me with my research. It's nice and easy "” 95% of it is multiple choice "” so all you have to do is read each question carefully and choose the answer or answers that you feel is/are most appropriate.

https://www.formspring.com/forms/?17...

He'll be posting the results later.

Lord_Xan
Posted:
Got Death Star?
Lord_Xan's picture
Cape Town, South Africa

Done. It'll be interesting to see the results of the survey.

Swing harder! Swing harder!
-- Lilarcor, Baldur's Gate 2

Alien13z
Posted:
This is Not a Scary Clown
Alien13z's picture
Minneapolis
Donator v16.0

Seems like he could get a lot more accurate data from Valve itself.

“While American democracy is imperfect, few outside the majority of this court would have thought its flaws included a dearth of corporate money in politics.” - Justice John Paul Stevens

  • Steam
boogle
Posted:
the pot and the kettle
boogle's picture
OR
Donator v3.0

How neat.

NormanTheIntern wrote:

oh my god boooooog

*Legion* wrote:

boogle was raised in one, he knows a barn when he sees one.

ccoates
Posted:
Some call me Scritch.
ccoates's picture
New Orleans, LA
Donator v4.0
Alien13z wrote:

Seems like he could get a lot more accurate data from Valve itself.

I think for the purpose of a school project a professor could argue that the Valve information would be... skewed. Or expected to be skewed. And if you're already asking people 15 other multiple choice questions, it's not that hard to throw in a few about the service while you're at it, and it may reveal a certain trend in consumer perceptions. Plus, the Valve information would provide you a sample of 1 (or maybe more, if multiple employees contributed), far below what an online survey could easily pull in.

"YOU SPOIL, YOU GET SPOILED! AAAAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Alien13z
Posted:
This is Not a Scary Clown
Alien13z's picture
Minneapolis
Donator v16.0
unntrlaffinity wrote:
Alien13z wrote:

Seems like he could get a lot more accurate data from Valve itself.

I think for the purpose of a school project a professor could argue that the Valve information would be... skewed. Or expected to be skewed. And if you're already asking people 15 other multiple choice questions, it's not that hard to throw in a few about the service while you're at it, and it may reveal a certain trend in consumer perceptions. Plus, the Valve information would provide you a sample of 1 (or maybe more, if multiple employees contributed), far below what an online survey could easily pull in.

You don't think Valve keeps statistics on what people are doing with Steam? I think you're wrong. Steam is a distribution channel first and a marketing channel a very close second.

“While American democracy is imperfect, few outside the majority of this court would have thought its flaws included a dearth of corporate money in politics.” - Justice John Paul Stevens

  • Steam
Malor
Posted:
Discretion is not the better part of
Malor's picture
Stationary
Donator v10.0
ERROR: This form has been deactivated and is closed for any further submissions.

Looks like he doesn't want to talk with Goodjers.

boogle
Posted:
the pot and the kettle
boogle's picture
OR
Donator v3.0

Or we just filled it up to quick.

NormanTheIntern wrote:

oh my god boooooog

*Legion* wrote:

boogle was raised in one, he knows a barn when he sees one.

PseudoKnight
Posted:
Intern
PseudoKnight's picture
Portland, OR

He reached 1000 submissions, mostly thanks to garry.tv, I think. Garry has a crazy amount of readers for what is half personal blog, half garrysmod updates.
I'll let you know when he posts his results.

Thank you everybody for all your responses - I have now reached my target of 1000 submissions, thanks entirely to the power of the Intarwebs! I expect it will take me a while to collate the results and get them written up in a presentable form (as I actually have to write the dissertation at some point as well!), so it may be a while before you see the results. Rest assured though, the results (and the dissertation) will be published for all to see.

http://steamreview.org/posts/student...

ccoates
Posted:
Some call me Scritch.
ccoates's picture
New Orleans, LA
Donator v4.0
Alien13z wrote:
unntrlaffinity wrote:
Alien13z wrote:

Seems like he could get a lot more accurate data from Valve itself.

I think for the purpose of a school project a professor could argue that the Valve information would be... skewed. Or expected to be skewed. And if you're already asking people 15 other multiple choice questions, it's not that hard to throw in a few about the service while you're at it, and it may reveal a certain trend in consumer perceptions. Plus, the Valve information would provide you a sample of 1 (or maybe more, if multiple employees contributed), far below what an online survey could easily pull in.

You don't think Valve keeps statistics on what people are doing with Steam? I think you're wrong. Steam is a distribution channel first and a marketing channel a very close second.

And yet that only really applies to the very last sentence of my entire point.

Be interesting to see what his conclusions are. Anyone know statistics? Does 1,000 seem like a big enough sample group?

"YOU SPOIL, YOU GET SPOILED! AAAAHAHAHAHAHA!"