Guild Wars 2

First off I’d like to point a kind of major typos in your attached cover letter:

• “To what extent male video game players use conventional system of beliefs about gender in order to do masculinity in online games?”

It should read: “To what extent do male video game players use the conventional system of beliefs about gender(s) in order to portray masculinity in online games?”

And I’m also a bit confused on what your study is trying to do? How does your study “help advance knowledge and understanding in regards to video games and gamers in the social sciences”?

By deduction, I’m seeing that you’re trying to judge whether or not players portray themselves onto their character within the game; possibly even a relation to their sexuality as well (though that may be overreaching a bit). But, you’re looking upon a narrow field of both people surveyed and questions related to said survey.

To break down your questions:……

1. What is your age and gender?

~~ You’re already asking that only Males above the age of 18 take the survey, so 1/2 this question is purely redundant. A simple “What is your age?” would suffice just fine.

2. For how long have you been playing Guild Wars 2 and other MMORPGs?

~~This should be two seperate questions instead of one mushed one. Should be 2) How long have you played Guild Wars 2 [either months/days explained, or use /age in-game to see actual time spent]? 2.5) Have you played other MMORPG’s? If so, for how long?

The Following questions will focus on your main male character:

3. What are your character’s race, profession and personal story and what are your reasons for choosing them?

~~Again more mushed up questions that should be split up. 3) Character race {and why}? 4)Profession choice {and why}? 5) Personal story mentor {and why}?

4. What are the things you enjoy doing the most with your character?

~~A question that is too vague for a ‘thesis’. What you’re looking for would be more like: 4)“What parts of the game do you participate in the most and why?”, 4.5) "Do you role play while doing those things [if “yes”, please explain]?"

5. What aspects of your character would you consider masculine, if any?

~~A boldly approached question that just brings a directly biased view to the survey and results as a whole. A simple rewarding would be “Do you find your character to be masculine, feminine, or other [please explain]?” It’s the key to your whole thesis and to making sure that the survey isn’t tainted by projections existing within the questions.

6. Are there things in the game you would like to do with your character but are unable to? Can you give some examples?

~~This one has me confused on exactly what you’re looking for (but furthered my overreaching assumption above about your looking into sexuality as a result from the survey). Honestly, one could simply state “I wish my character could sit in a chair or at a bench.” It’s truly something wanted that isn’t an ability to do so in-game.

I hope that my insight does help a bit. I won’t be participating in your “survey” because of the typos mentioned originally. That, combined with the somewhat skewed way the whole thing is set up to be, makes me quite skeptical of the whole situation. Thank you for your time.

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…sPvP Updates Updated content in the form of rewards, tournaments, 2 new maps since launch, and tweaking to sPvP overall. This content is getting better and better with time. When custom arenas are added sometime in the near future -next patch or two- then it will further the enjoyment as guild fights and duels can start up within it. Only nudge against this section of the game is map objective variety, of which there needs to be more of (CTF, Destroy the Castle, etc.). But, still loving popping in every so often to slaughter a few, get slaughtered, and have a good ol’ time.
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…Leaderboards To be perfectly honest, I don’t really care too much about leaderboards in an MMORPG. The score at the end of the week for WvW is the goal at that time; same for the score at the end of an sPvP match. However, this is still good content to those that want to be recognized for their achievements and progression within the game. It’s great for them to have that kind of measured accomplishment and compare it to the rest of the game’s players.
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…Balances, Bug Fixes, and More Basically a “job well done” on all the normal MMO patch updates that goes on. The balance, though not perfect, isn’t ever completely out of wack like some other classes in other games (*cough*Warlocks*cough*). Bug fixes are progressing nicely with it being understandable that it does take time to fix complex bugs without breaking something else within a tied system.

So, to close with what I’d originally stated: Thanks for EVERYTHING. Every bit of content you added to this game, or will add. Be the content temporary or permanent changes, it still adds to the overall player experience in the game. And the focus of the content doesn’t just stay in one little area either, as different parts of the game are added to: sPvP, WvW, exploration, PvE, jumping puzzles, story. That shows care for all your customers, not just a select few. Thank you.

A.Net,

Thank you for everything in the game. First let me just state that everything that came in the basic box was more than my money’s worth for the $150 (CE owner here, have all the prints framed on walls and Rytlock on a shelf). The game was very fleshed out, tons of fun that me and my guildmates enjoy immensely. But, that wasn’t good enough for you as you just had to keep adding content each and every month. Great content. Fantastic content. So, I want to thank you…

Thank you for….

…Halloween What a blast, literally! Mad King blasting through the Lion’s Arch fountain, all the fun tiny things with the event. The jumping puzzles, ghost Yaks, skeleton mobs, candy corn nodes, costume brawl, item skins, Reaper’s Revenge, the Labyrinth, Mad King’s fight. It was all so fun and there was content for every play-style.
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…Lost Shores Somewhat of a bumpy “shipwreck” (ha!), it was still great enjoyment. The best part was how there was the mystery that led up to the events, with the signs on the shores, the Consortium showing up, the washed up whales. All those things culminating towards the Karka’s invasion of Lion’s Arch, the big fights against them, and eventually the chase to Southsun Cove. The final fight was long (4hrs on my server), but very challenging and rewarding at the same time. Another temporary event that’s not only cemented in that new (at the time) zone, but in the encased Ancient Karka statue at the basin of the nest.
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…Wintersday A great holiday for one and all. Another great holiday jumping puzzle, mini-games in the form of Snowball fights, free mini-pets, free everlasting potions, cool toy weapon skins, bell choir, and tons of good ol’ holiday cheer. ***A personal note: my guild was one of many that created their own events by all taking Reindeer potions and running as a ‘herd’ through the WvWvW battlefields. The confusion and laughter that it created as very entertaining and fun.
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…Flame and Frost Though a bit slow to start, this arching story line adds to this being a Living World and not just a static game that many others are. Each time updated, there are things like more refugee camps, more signs of warning, more enemies popping up on the roads. The climax of this event should, based on the description, be an entertaining end to an odd alliance of cats and mole people.
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…Super Adventure Box It’s a dungeon! No, wait, it’s a jumping puzzle! No, wait, it’s a game within a game! No, wait again, it’s an educational stimuli for training future generations of Tyrians! No, wait further more, it’s 8-bit inception! No, wait one more time, it’s a device to make all of Tyria hate monkeys! Wrong! It’s all of the above and then some. An exceptional distraction from the everyday norm of the game, which is fun and exciting. The mode known as “Infantile Mode” makes the content enjoyable for even those who are jumping-puzzle inept. The skins for the game are amazingly cool for skins that are free from the dreaded Black Lion Chests; also being able to get the Super Fun Boxes from the even, rather than just the Gem Store, is a really sweet touch too.
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…Mini-Dungeons This is something that many are unfamiliar even exist or were patched in. Vexa’s Lab is one of the most amazing dungeon experiences I’ve had in the game. The boss fights in these are uniquely fashioned, the puzzle aspects make one think, and overall they present a distinct challenge that can be either soloed or taken on with friend, guildmates, or PUGs.
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…Fractals Love and hate content, for sure it is. The addition of the new gear Tier stirred the bot of boiling anger amongst many, but the new dungeon content that came with it brought love and enjoyment. Though there are quite a few that speed run these solely for daily tokens, attempts at chest rings; there are also those that run these for the interesting fractal zones for the fun of it (maybe I’m the only one?).
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…WvWvW Ranks & Changes A much beloved change to that section of the game, these ranks give purpose and “progression” to content that some deemed lacking direction. Though some adjustment may be needed to the WXP gained from doing PvE mob events (worm, Warg, Centaur, etc.), overall it’s a welcome change. And the removal of culling: AWESOME! That one change alone has brought back many who could not stand getting stomped by otherwise invisible enemies.
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