The Product I thought of while thinking about Indie RPG products

[TwoCrows]

Callan,

"Marketing Survey," is merely a term used to describe a process of systematically questioning a number of people, and empirically handling the information collected in the process, essentially an empirical tool. It can be called "polling," "interviewing," or any number of other things depending upon the application. I classify it a marketing survey, because the aim is to survey a class of individuals that also buy things.

The assumption that Gamers know what they like is one that Pells & I are making, for good or ill. The survey would be predicated on no such assumptions; otherwise it wouldn't be a proper empirical tool. Furthermore a proper empirical survey tests the ability of the respondents to articulate their preferences. It can identify discrepancies in what a person says they like/dislike, and yield information that might help better determine what little fiddly amorphous thingy they're not saying, or not able to say in the format of a survey interview.

What is it that you'd like to learn from the gaming community at large? You're a gamer...the rules of this exercise are to articulate what you'd like to learn from them, and not necessarily the wording of the questions to get at that information.

En To Pan!
Two Crows

[TwoCrows]

For folks that weren't aware a thread clarifying this this idea has been moved to the Connections Forum.

Thanx Ron. Help with the netiquette here is appreciated.

Brad

[pells]

Maybe a dump question, but how are those data going to help us exactly ?
Should it affect design ? Help us target our audience ? Promote our games ? Help us to see how the indie community is perceived ? See what we can add upon our existing design to match some kind of needs ?

Isn't it a little bit too project adherent ? What I mean is that we're doing a lot of different games ... A plot/setting oriented project, a LARP one and a pure narrative one do have very different needs ... well, at least the way I see it. Can a survey covers all those needs ?

I'm really interested here in your perception of the use of the tool (and not hypothetical or poll related).

[TwoCrows]

Pells,

Good questions. The best one is the first one..."how are those data going to help us?"

Yes to every one of your dump questions, and then some! Generally speaking a professional survey could yield a wide range of useful information. This Wikipedia article lists some of the more common sorts of data a survey could yield. (Curiously the company I contract for is mentioned in the first paragraphs of the article.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketing_research

Some of the data that might be of particular use are these:

Ad Tracking – How are my ads working for me?
Consumer Awareness – What brands/products are gamers aware of?
Believability – How do gamers feel about the believability of my ad copy claims?
Brand Equity – How favorably do gamers view my Press/Company/Product?
Concept Testing – How acceptable is my game concept (prior to production)?
Consumer Decision Process – How do gamers decide to buy xyz?
Customer Satisfaction – How well did my game satisfy those who bought it?
Demand Estimates – What is the demand for my product?
Like/Dislike – What do consumers like or dislike about my products?
Market Segmentation – What sort of people are interested in what I produce?
Market Segmentation – What can I produce to reach a given segment of the market?
Price Value Ratings – How do gamers view value for price of my product?
Product Positioning – How does my product rate against other similar products?\
Psychographics – How do personality/values/attitudes/interests/lifestyles impact IRPG?
Purchase Intent – How likely are consumers to purchase my product?
Purchase History – What were the last n products purchased over the last n period?
Name – How do gamers feel about the name of a product?
Name Recognition – How many people are familiar with my company/product?
New and Different – How do consumers rate my product for being new & different?
And Then Some...

Very Indie specific data could relate to such things as:
Format – How do gamers view pdfs vs. xyz book formats?
Product Plussing – What additions might add value to my product?
Diversification – How interested in xyz follow on products are my customers?
Con Presence – How can we improve con presence?
Ashcanning vs. Test Product Placement – Which works better for the feedback I want?

A professionally designed, analyzed and presented survey, created for the Indie/Small Press niche market, could yield any number of useful data. Again, the focus of collaborators would determine the vector of curiosity, and therefore the nature of the survey itself.

The ingenuity of individual collaborators would determine the range of applications for the resultant data. Imagination is the speed limit here.

Vincent was clear on his aversion to using such data to "tweak consumers to get more money out of them." Surveys that are explicitly designed to alter the potential consumer's opinions, or spending habits are unethical, not least because they are at best advertising posing as research.

Other unethical market research techniques (ie. Prohibited by Marketing Industry Standards, and Associations) include:

Applied Research – Research intended to deceive the market, consumer, a government authority, or the client; eg. Paying to have researchers deliver data that says cigarettes are good for you, or that global warming isn't related to fossil fuels

Push Polling – Surveys designed to pose as empirical research, but actually intended as an elaborate, and subtle smear campaign against a competing product, candidate, or service

SUGGing – "Selling under the guise of research;" essentially pretending to do research, but actually pressuring respondents to purchase a product, or service

FRUGGing – "Fund-raising under the guise of research;" just like it sounds

What is ethical, and desirable is that carefully collected, and analyzed survey data inform the business practices of interested parties. Essentially it's nothing much different than asking one's partner what they prefer for dinner, and then making it for them.

The Industry Ethics Standards I adhere to can be viewed here:
http://www.mra-net.org/pdf/expanded_code.pdf

Regards,

Brad

[Ron Edwards]

Hey guys,

Take all discussion of this topic to the thread in the Connections forum, please. This thread needs to stop here.

Best, Ron