Factors influencing the quality of games

[Franz the Stampede]

Hello!
Part for curiosity, part for some research I have to do for my thesis, I'd like to make a survey regarding the importance of certain factors contributing to the quality of games.

I created a list of 8 factors and I'd like you to give an importance value to each factor ranging from 0 (minimum=you don't give a damn about that factor) to 10 (maximum=absolutely important for YOU). The thing is you only have 50 points to allocate to the 8 factors, which means not all of them can have the maximum grade.
Please note that the factors cannot be changed.

The survey is in Excel to help you with the math and you can download the file at the address below, copy it to your browser and remove the spaces before hitting Enter

http:// bda.forumcommunity.net/?act=Attach&type=post&id=141487556

(you may have to change the extension of the file to .xls)

After having filled in the file, I'd kindly ask you to send it to this e-mail address: franzregister at yahoo dot com

If you don't wish to get involved with Excel, check the post below to see the survey (you'll have to keep an eye on the scores, as they have to add up exactly to 50).
Thanks for your participation!

Franz

[Franz the Stampede]

Text survey:

->Open Spoiler<-

PERSONAL INFO
Name/Nickname:
Age (if you don't mind):
Origin/Nationality:
Most used game platform 1 in the last 2-3 years:
Second most used game platform 2 in the last 2-3 years:
Third most used game platform 3 in the last 2-3 years:
Favourite genre 1:
Favourite genre 2:

SURVEY AND CRITERIA
Below you'll have a list of 8 factors that can contribute to the quality of video games.
Assign an importance value from 0 (totally irrelevant) to 10 (absolutely fundamental) to the 8 factors.
Bear in mind you only have 50 points to allocate among all the factors.
The important think is to be true to yourself, so to say. Whenever evaluating a factor, please think of the games you have actually purchased and played. For example, instinctively I would have given 10 to factor 4, but after having played some games which had problems lately, I realised I can live with slowdowns and tearing. Therefore factor 4, for me, is very important but not totally fundamental, and I'd realistically give it 9 or 8.

QUALITY FACTORS

1) CONCEPT - CHARISMATIC CHARACTERS AND/OR INTERESTING PLOT
You can give a high value if you like games like Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy, a low one if you are not bothered by B-movie kind of plots and flat characters. The way you value the (emotional) involvement a plot or characters can give you will also influence the score positively. If you like sport games, driving simulations and such, the score shall be low."

2) CONCEPT - INNOVATIVE AND/OR DEEP GAME MECHANICS
You should give a high value if you like innovative games which created a genre (Resident Evil, Buzz, Brain Training, the Sims, Dune 2 etc) or innovated within one (Super Mario 64, Ikaruga, etc). The value should be lowered if your interest towards a specific genre/franchise remains high even when successive installments simply repeated the original formula.
With "deep mechanics" we mean how much the knowledge/understanding of the game system influences your game performance. The game's learning curve relates positively to the depth of mechanics.
If you like FPS or sport games a lot, you should give a low value as they are genres with commodified game mechanics.
Similarly, if you have loads of titles from the same franchise and you like them all, you should give a low score.

3) GRAPHICS - ARTISTIC AND INNOVATIVE CONTENT OF MODELS, EFFECTS AND ENVIRONMENTS
You should give a high value if you really care about the artistic aspects of the graphic production (use of new effects, new animation techniques etc) and about the fact that every new episode of a series should drastically improve on its predecessor. Low values if you do not care about these things much (e.g. Ninja Gaiden 2 has been considered too similar to Sigma and Black, but you do not care). If you are very appreciative of particular graphic styles (e.g. Jet Set Radio, Okami, Rez), give a high value.

4) GRAPHICS - ABSENCE OF TECHNICAL DEFECTS (SUCH AS SLOWDOWNS, CLIPPING)
Give a high value if you really dislike any kind of technical problem such as slowdowns, tearing, clipping, pop-up, bad collisions and so on. Give a low value if you are not too fussy about these things, although you still notice them. If you are allergic to long loading times you might want to give a high value, too.

5) USER EXPERIENCE - GOOD (ONLINE) MULTIPLAYER AND/OR RANKING SYSTEM
Give a high value if the way that a game allows you to compete with other players (either directly or indirectly through rankings and such) is something that you consider important.

6) USER EXPERIENCE - VARIETY OF SITUATIONS OFFERED BY THE GAME
Give a high value if you like games with mini-games or those with a high degree of freedom, where you can fight, shoot, drive, buy etc (e.g. GTA). Instead, if you prefer to play an FPS when you feel like shooting or a proper fighting game when you want to fight and you tend to dislike those "jack of all trades" games, give a low value.

7) USER EXPERIENCE - LEVEL OF REALISM, SIMULATION AND INTERACTIVITY
Give a high value if you like games in which you can smash/shoot/interact with many many things. For example, if you liked the high level of interactivity and realism of Shenmue or GTA, you should give a high value. If you dislike 2D mechanics and like simulative games, also give a high value.

8) USER EXPERIENCE - LOCALISATION, IN-GAME TUTORIALS, DOCUMENTATION
If you would dislike Japanese voices forcing you to read subtitles, give a high value. Also, if you like the game to be rich in tutorials and explanations (possibly also in the game booklet), give a high value too.