Hi! My name is Kalypso.

If you would like to answer one of my short surveys (3 to 5 simple questions) about Uru, please send me an email at voicesURU@hotmail.com or a Ki mail (#5962956). Your opinion is very important, let your voice be heard in the Cavern.

ps: If you have an important question or a fun question about Uru for my survey that would be interesting for the explorers I would love to hear it.


Results of Survey #1


Total: 251 explorers

New explorers mean who first played Uru through Gametap while Experienced explorers played Ages Beyond Myst or Prologue or Until Uru.
New explorers: 74 = 29.5%
Experienced explorers:177 = 70.5%

"A few days per month" also means mostly during episode week.
In the cavern every week: 238 = 94.8%
In the cavern a few days per month: 11 = 4.4%
In the cavern less than once a month: 2 = 0.8%

Information about what happens or appears in Uru. Internet includes websites and forums. Cavern includes buddies, relayers.
Information on the Internet AND in the cavern: 191 = 76.1%
Information ONLY in the cavern: 50 = 19.9%
Don't know how or where to get information: 10 = 4.0%


New explorers: 74 explorers

In the cavern every week: 68 = 91.9%
In the cavern a few days per month: 5 = 6.8%
In the cavern less than once every month: 1 = 1.3%

Information on the Internet AND in the cavern: 45 = 60.8%
Information ONLY in the cavern: 25 = 33.8%
Don't know how or where to get information: 4 = 5.4%


Experienced explorers: 177 explorers

In the cavern every week: 170 = 96.0%
In the cavern a few days per month: 6 = 3.4%
In the cavern less than once every month: 1 = 0.6%


Information on the Internet AND in the cavern: 146 = 82.5%
Information ONLY in the cavern: 25 = 14.1%
Don't know how or where to get information: 6 = 3.4%


Analysis of Survey #1 (OCC)

I had in my mind a magic number of 1000 explorers to survey but due to the fact that surveying takes a lot of time and that I wanted the first survey to be done for the Guild meeting(August 20th), I decided that 250 explorers was enough for now. I am pleasantly surprised that 30% of the people who play Uru are new fans who came through Gametap. I believe that the actual number is even bigger because I met a lot of new players who had played Uru for less than a week. The flow of new players from Gametap is what is going to save Myst Online future. The core fan base is strong but not big enough for Uru to survive, even if "old" fans are still pouring in each month.

An other good thing is that new players are becoming "addicted" to Uru. 92% of new players play Uru at least once a week while 96% of dedicated fans play it every week. However I believe that those 2 numbers are way higher than reality. I had more chances to meet people who spend a lot of time in the cavern than those who play not often. Also, the fact that the majority of the survey was done not during episode week also eliminate the people who play only during this time. But as I will survey more people, the percentage of the core fan base who are always in the cavern will decrease and casual players will be surveyed more. Then, I will have a more realistic picture of the casual player and how many of them there are.

My intial goal for this survey was to help the Guild of Messengers. As a whole, 76% of the people gets their information in the Cavern and on Internet while 20% are getting information only from their friends, their hood or relayers. One of the complaints about Uru is that action is mostly on the forums and not enough in the cavern. The forums of UruObsession is doing a great job at giving quick updates on everything that happen (e.g.: a chatlog of a DRC member) or appear (e.g.: Relto page) in one day. Those who only rely on word of mouth in the cavern (33% of the new players) are missing a lot of what Uru has to offer. There is no "in the cavern" equivalent to "what happened today in Uru" and that is a lacking area. The Internet is very good for information but it cannot be the only place where someone can find reliable and complete information. Even 18% of "old" fans do not visit websites or forums for several reasons. The relayers are a big success because they managed to give good simple information to the Uru population. The Guild of Messengers has to find a way to give information directly to the people in the cavern. Even if it is a simpler, shorter version of an Internet Guild Of Messengers "newspaper".



Here are some interesting opinions from various people I surveyed:

- "I hate the forums for information. I don't want to have to go somewhere else to learn about what's going on in here."

- "Forums are tedious or silly."

- "Non-American people have more difficulty having basic information (e.g.: Beginners classes at odd hours)"

- "I Never saw anything IC. Nothing in the pods, no drc member, no bahro(except ending of the cleft)"

- "It is hard to get information in the cavern when you do not know a lot of people."

- "I started playing more when I made some friends in the cavern."



Notes:

- The survey was done between August 2nd and August 15th.

- I randomly talked to people in Ae'Gura, The Watcher's Santuary, Kirel and several Bevins.

- Those who replied to me were asked if they wanted to answer the survey. No one was forced to answer it.

- Players who had played Uru for less than a week could not answer the survey.

- The answers from each person are in a short chatlog of our conversation.

- I want to thank again the 251 people who took 3-5 minutes of their time for me. Without their help this survey would not be here.

Very interesting. I'm appreciating your efforts in this. You can get several interesting things out of the survey. Keep'em going.

_________________
Myst Online: URU Live
-Qvist #25056

Thanks its nice to have some statistical numbers

_________________

The problem with statistical numbers is that this sample is self-selected, as Kalypso said, because she only took volunteers that wanted to be surveyed.

Because of that, the sample is not truly random, and any derived statistics become much harder to interpret.

For example, do more experienced players really exist in that abundance, or are they just more willing to be surveyed?

Ahem..sorry...I'm a bit of a stat nerd. No offense meant to Kalypso at all.

In fact, I thought the results were pretty interesting. I'd like to see it done again, perhaps, during an episode, and see the breakdown of new versus old members at that point in time.

Jairden wrote:

The problem with statistical numbers is that this sample is self-selected, as Kalypso said, because she only took volunteers that wanted to be surveyed.

OK... Kalypso, next time you have to take everyone directly from Relto to the interrogation room and force them under bright lights to take the survey whether they like it or not...

I think the results are interesting, even if I didn't hear about the original survey.

Kinda sad to hear that 4% don't have a clue where to get information at all, it looks like we need to reach out more when we see new explorers... it's easy to forget what it was like to be new and lost, when it was a long time ago.

_________________

KI # not assigned yet

Jairden wrote:

The problem with statistical numbers is that this sample is self-selected, as Kalypso said, because she only took volunteers that wanted to be surveyed.

Because of that, the sample is not truly random, and any derived statistics become much harder to interpret.

For example, do more experienced players really exist in that abundance, or are they just more willing to be surveyed?

Ahem..sorry...I'm a bit of a stat nerd. No offense meant to Kalypso at all.

In fact, I thought the results were pretty interesting. I'd like to see it done again, perhaps, during an episode, and see the breakdown of new versus old members at that point in time.

Thank you for your input. I really appreciate it.
However I must say that maybe 10 people from the 260ish people I asked to participate in this survey said No. It surprise me that players are so willing to take 3 minutes of their time when they are no busy in the cavern. So honestly I feel that is a true picture of the cavern in the 2 weeks I have surveyed.
During the next episode week I plan to survey as much as I can to expend the validity of Survey #1. I just want to also enjoy the Live action

Heh, that was interesting to read =)
It is tru we shouldnt come to the forums all the time though...

_________________
-----------------
Dreams of Darkling
Ki #: 01186619

Just a quick update in case some of you would be interested, I surveyed 89 more people in the following months and my results are basically the same(although I could not survey during the episode weeks due to technical problems). I doubt more people would change the results so here are the final results. I think it represents very well the cavern population during non-episode week:

Results of Survey #1 Updated

Total: 340 explorers

New explorers mean who first played Uru through Gametap while Experienced explorers played Ages Beyond Myst or Prologue or Until Uru.
New explorers: 101 = 29.7%
Experienced explorers: 239 = 70.3%

"A few days per month" also means mostly during episode week.
In the cavern every week: 322 = 94.7%
In the cavern a few days per month: 15 = 4.4%
In the cavern less than once a month: 3 = 0.9%

Information about what happens or appears in Uru. Internet includes websites and forums. Cavern includes buddies, relayers.
Information on the Internet AND in the cavern: 259 = 76.2%
Information ONLY in the cavern: 70 = 20.6%
Don't know how or where to get information: 11 = 3.2%

New explorers: 101 explorers

In the cavern every week: 94 = 93.1%
In the cavern a few days per month: 6 = 5.9%
In the cavern less than once every month: 1 = 1%

Information on the Internet AND in the cavern: 64 = 63.3%
Information ONLY in the cavern: 32 = 31.7%
Don't know how or where to get information: 5 = 5.0%

Experienced explorers: 239 explorers

In the cavern every week: 228 = 95.4%
In the cavern a few days per month: 9 = 3.8%
In the cavern less than once every month: 2 = 0.8%

Information on the Internet AND in the cavern: 195 = 81.6%
Information ONLY in the cavern: 38 = 15.9%
Don't know how or where to get information: 6 = 2.5%

voicesuru.pbwiki.com

_________________


"When you want your message out in the cavern, use the Guild of Messengers."

Andros KI: #265443 Kalypso Ki: #5962956

Kalypso, i applaud your efforts in this matter and the results are quite interesting....seems somebody did their UrU homework lol! Wonderful job, well done and expertly laid out.....plz can we hear more surveys in the coming season?

5TheStranger5
KI: 07486306
5TheStranger5's Bevin~Writer's Pub~Cavern of D'ni

A survey requested by a Guild is gonna happen if Cyan gives them permission about one of their projects.

_________________


"When you want your message out in the cavern, use the Guild of Messengers."

Andros KI: #265443 Kalypso Ki: #5962956

Great news! .......Hope everything works out as planned! :)

5TheStranger5
KI: 07486306
5TheStranger5's Bevin~Writer's Pub~Cavern of D'ni