Help us understand how players create and customize their avatars!

I just typed in my email address and it said I'm already participating. If so it must have been some time ago as my memory is pretty clear for the past month or so.

Thank you for helping this survey.

If you do not receive a message within a few minutes, please check your spam folder. If you cannot find our registration message simply email [playon@parc.com] and we will send you a link directly. Thank you!

don

Ah. I guess I started but did not finish. I think I was a bit confused about some of the questions. I am willing to give it another try and I did indeed just receive an email directing me back. But then it wanted a password which I have (or don't remember). I just tried the link again but now I'm getting an error.
Sorry to be a nuisance.

edited: Thanks for the new link. I got the survey completed.

Dear Friends,

We currently have about 50 complete responses for the Second Life survey!!!

Thanks again to all who answered.

Our target is 100 total responses to ensure statistical validity in our analyses so please, do not hesitate to sign up if you have not done so already!

I don't think it is Xerox PARC, if that is what you mean.

There is no statistical validity to be gained from 100 self-selected respondants. You need a probabilty sample to get any validity.

From the first post on this thread:

Geesh. 100? How is that even remotely statistically significant?

Hey, 9 out of 10 Dentists surveyed recommend Listerine to fight bad breath and gingivitis. I always wondered what kind of idiot #10 was.......

The one that worked for Scope.

I wondered what sort of idiots the other 9 were! Why would a dentist promote healthy gums? Gingivitis, tooth decay and root canals are going to put his kids through college and make the payments on the BMW and the summer home!

I also always wondered about the sample size. Were there 10,000 dentists and 1000 of them didn't recommend Listerine? Or did they actually just talk to 10 dentists? Which 10? What were their qualifications?

Statistics can only show trends. They aren't proof of anything other than that a trend exists. When I'm playing poker and I get AA vs KK, statistically I'm an 80% favorite to win. But on that single particular hand, I'm either 100% or 0% depending on what happens next. The stats can help me make my decision, but they really don't mean anything.

So I guess you'd expect them to recommend Black Coffee and Cigarettes?

And candy. Lots of candy. Plus a big glass of buttermilk every now and then.

(I wish they WOULD recommend black coffee and cigarettes!)

And lots of it!

Dear friends,

Thank you for so many insights and comments.

This study is currently in the primary phase. We plan to recruit AT LEAST 100 responses for our primary analysis. From the results of primary analysis, we can figure out a conceptual framework of SL avatar customization and identify a few specific topics for our future research on avatar customization system.

We also study the same topic (avatar customization system) on both Maple Story and World of Warcraft now. We will do some interesting comparison of avatar customization issues among these three games later.

PLEASE, we still need your help to taking part of this survey. For accessing the online questionnire, please refer to the link below. We will be happy to share the results with you in the near future.

http://blogs.parc.com/limesurvey/index.php?sid=35489&lang=en


Thank you very much
don

Dear SL residents,

After several months of data collection and analyses, the PlayOn group has posted some findings regarding to the avatar customization issues on our blog. We thank you for those 180 participants who took the time to go through the questionnaire and provided us with some very interesting information! You can go to our research blog to find these primary results and feel free to give us your comments. Our research blog is:

http://blogs.parc.com/playon/

The survey is still open and welcome to participate in it. The questionnaire should be fun to answer and we estimate it takes only 15 to 20 minutes to complete it. If you'd like to help, please follow the links below depending on your game of choice:

- Second Life:
[http://blogs.parc.com/limesurvey/index.php?sid=35489&lang=en]

- World of Warcraft:
[http://blogs.parc.com/limesurvey/index.php?sid=59117&lang=en]

- Maple Story:
[http://blogs.parc.com/limesurvey/index.php?sid=77654&lang=en]



Thank you

Don Wen
Visiting Researcher
Palo Alto Research Center
[email]Ming-Hui.Wen@parc.com[/email]

I have a problem with the survey. It treats the avatar creation as if it's something you do when you join Second Life, but that's not how it works.

At least, if my experience is any indication.

I joined, and chose one of the newbie avatars -- an obligatory step.

Next, I spent about an hour "customizing" the avatar, only to find that most of my changes didn't take. I guess (but I haven't gone to verify) that the shape, skin, and clothes didn't have mod permissions set.

Next, someone randomly gave me a newbie pack that contained a $#!+load of shapes and skins, and I tried them out until I found a combo I liked.

After that, all I changed was the size of the hands, because they were mammoth.

This experience doesn't really match up with the questionnaire very well, and I believe that the way the questionnaire asks its questions is out of sync with SL as it is.

I'd like to recommend that the researchers join SL, and futz around a bit so they can align the questions with what actually happens.

Referenced above:

http://blogs.parc.com/playon/archives/2008/09/collaborative_b.html

i was happy to be a part of this one.

If you have any question concerning this research project, please feel free to contact the researchers at the following phone numbers or email addresses:

Nicolas Ducheneaut, Ph.D.
Senior Member of the Research Staff, Palo Alto Research Center (PARC)
email: [email]nicolas@parc.com[/email]
phone: (650) 812-4430

Nick Yee, Ph.D.
Member of the Research Staff, Palo Alto Research Center (PARC)
email: [email]nicholas.yee@parc.com[/email]
phone: (650) 812-4818

Don Wen
Visiting Researcher, Palo Alto Research Center (PARC)
email: [email]ming-hui.wen@parc.com[/email]
phone: (650) 812-4416

==========================================================

Now they're masquerading these lame requests with names while adding Ph.D at the end to make it look official like if it means anything. I see where some of you were ready to blast them as you usually do but after seeing the "official" looking names and titles you relented and actually took the time to answer.

The things some people resort to. They get more creative every time when coming up with these BS surveys. But what's worse is they actually get others to take the time to respond.

How's it go?

"Fool me once shame on you."

"Fool me twice....."

Unbelievable.