Hello, my name is Nathan Wilts, and I am a psychology graduate student at California State University Sacramento. I am looking for participants in a study on the possible social and mental health impact of playing MMORPGs. Hopefully some among you should be able to help!


Participants must be current players of the game ‘World of Warcraft.’ As World of Warcraft is an exemplar of the MMORPG genre, its players would be a good choice for a study on players of MMORPGs. Participating should be fairly easy and straightforward, won’t take up too much of your time and can be completed online, and all participants will be entered in a drawing to win free pre-paid game time at the conclusion of the research study.


If you are interested, please read the informed consent document below. If you would like an additional copy of this information, you can either email me (Nathan Wilts) at njw25@saclink.csus.edu, or check the GoogleDocs link below. Please be sure to read over it so you’ll know all the important information about participating!

Link to consent form on GoogleDocs – (https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1YrX3ThRZpMlpBLyfe5ziLV2zjwPlos-pO2gfJ3CY_54)


If you’ve read all of the info below and would like to participate, please send an email to me njw25@saclink.csus.edu with the subject line ‘WoW study participation’, saying that you’d like to participate! I will respond to you with an ID and password which will be used to organize survey responses, and you will also receive a link to the questionnaires. Please send your email from the address you want to receive all study-related information at!


After completing your questionnaires you will shown a debriefing to explain the basis of study and your role as a participant, and you’re done! Your entry into the prize drawing will be automatic.


Thanks for your interest!


-Nathan J. Wilts


Consent to Participate in Research

By consenting to participate in this survey, you will be participating in a research project developed by Nathan J. Wilts at California State University Sacramento (CSUS) at the Department of Psychology. The purpose of the study is to investigate the mental health and social impact of gameplay for players of MMORPGs.


Procedure –

As a participant, you will be asked to fill out five short questionnaires which you should answer to the best of your ability. The first will gather some general information about you as a person and also as a player of World of Warcraft. The rest will consist of several health and social measures.


In total, this survey should take no more than 20-40 minutes of your time and will require no outside resources to complete. You are only being asked about yourself and your own feelings and behaviors.


Risks –

Risks include the possibility of mental discomfort from considering and answering the survey questions. This risk is considered minimal, and you may at any time refuse to answer or opt of your participation if you feel uncomfortable.


Benefits of participation –

You may not personally benefit from participating in this research, but resulting findings may reflect positively on MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft or its players. Such findings might also prompt future research of a similar nature.


Confidentiality –

Your specific responses to survey questions will in no way make you personally identifiable by those responses. As part of participation you will have been emailed a Personal Identification Number which you will be asked to provide along with your email at the start of the survey. This is to separate individual participant responses and prevent unscrupulous individuals from entering false or random data with another individual’s PIN number. It will also be used to contact winners of the random drawing (described below), but will not otherwise be used to identify you.


You will not be asked your name, address, phone number, or any other personally identifiable information beyond your email address. If you have a received requests for such information claiming to be from the originators of this study DO NOT REPLY. We will never ask for such information. We will only contact you to provide your PIN and survey link, to respond to inquiries, or to provide any survey-wide announcement such as notices of completion of the study.


You may at your own option request to receive additional information about results and findings once the survey is complete, but you are not required to do so nor is it necessary to be entered in the prize drawing (described below).


Compensation –

As a ‘thank you’ for participation in this survey, you will be entered in a random drawing for one of several 60-day pre-paid subscription time cards, such as the ones listed on Amazon.com. Winners will be chosen completely at random. Your responses to questions do not influence your chances of entering, but if you do not complete the survey questionnaires in their entirety, you will not be entered in the drawing.



Contact information –

If you have any questions about this research, the online survey, or any other related matter, you may contact Nathan J. Wilts by e-mail at njw25@saclink.csus.edu.

Tell you what, I'll make you a deal. I will participate in your study if you will participate in mine.

I am studying the effects of sunlight and social deprivation on college students in order to better understand victims of sociopaths. The study would entail you being chained up in my basement for a time period to be determined (by me). The events of your stay must be kept confidential and you will need to sign a consent form ahead of time.


So do we have a deal?

 

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God there's been a lot of these over the years. This must be the last refuge of the psychology student who isn't actually good enough at their chosen field to find a real topic to study, so they look at their own gaming addiction instead.

 

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It puts the lotion on its skin.....or it gets the hose again!!!

 

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I took psych classes at Sac State over 23 years ago, thinking about an additional degree in psych during my 30s.


At the time, ALL lower level psych students were required to participate in surveys created by the higher level psych students (also a requirement).


The ones I experienced were full of "tricks" and obvious. At the time, answering their surveys, I indicated that they could not use my results since apparently I understood what they were testing for and how. My results would throw their tests because I could manipulate my answers depending on what I thought they did or did not want to hear. Maybe the tests were poorly designed at the time, I don't know. Most psychology surveys are flawed at a deep structural level. I find that situation is still the case today, whenever surveys like this pop up, so I will regretfully decline.


You will find out here, on the boards, that these surveys pop up about every 6 months or so, and many players find them unwelcome for a variety of reasons.


Good luck with your studies.

 

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You is 2 intellergint fer theim.!!!

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Mostest peoples is!!!


(i weres trying to be pole lite).

 

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I think we made the college "What? Doing a WoW study? Check out VN!" list.

 

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