Grad research project on WoW players...Need your help!

Grad research project on WoW players...Need your help!

Post 14 Feb 2012 22:30

Avatar bluejade
 
Posts: 5
Hey,
I am working on a research project about how WoW can be a platform for teaching students/people how to work/function in a team environment. I made a short survey for you guys to take if you have time.

1. How long have you been playing wow?
2. How many hours a week do you play on average?
3. Are you in a guild?
4. What is your status in the guild?
5. How often do you raid?
6. What role do you play?
7. What is your favorite role/character to play and why?
8. Would you ever lead a raid?
9. Do you contribute to the raid? Look things up make suggestions?
10. What do you like or not like about raiding?

If you guys could e-mail your responses to [email protected] along with a name/screen name I could use in the paper I would greatly appreciate it. Or if it is more convenient to post a reply that would be cool too.

Thank you in advance for your help!!
Bluejade

Re: Grad research project on WoW players...Need your help!

Post 15 Feb 2012 05:37

Avatar Eshamyy
 
Posts: 4
Is this open to anyone or just the members of paragon?

Re: Grad research project on WoW players...Need your help!

Post 15 Feb 2012 06:49

Avatar WishIWasAWarlock
 
Posts: 25
Eshamyy wrote:Is this open to anyone or just the members of paragon?


Based on this question..

Are you in a guild?


I'd imagine it's open to everyone.

Re: Grad research project on WoW players...Need your help!

Post 15 Feb 2012 17:50

Avatar Eshamyy
 
Posts: 4
It was just unclear if it was for paragon Only, it is on there forums.

Re: Grad research project on WoW players...Need your help!

Post 15 Feb 2012 22:35

Avatar bluejade
 
Posts: 5
Yes it is open to anyone. The more information I am able to get from a diverse group the better. I tried to come up with a basic survey for this particular research project. Just in case anyone is wondering how legit this may be or if it is an issue: I am a graduate student at Northern Arizona University and this is part of my research project for my ENG 689(Graduate Research) class . If you feel that you would be more comfortable e-mailing me at my school e-mail just let me know and ill e-mail/message it to you. I just wanted to use a yahoo account because it is easier for me.

Thank you
Blue

Re: Grad research project on WoW players...Need your help!

Post 17 Feb 2012 04:43

Avatar Ryuusenshi
 
Posts: 82
Location: Canada, BC
I'm probably an idiot, but I read the questions and some of them I feel have no real relation to what you want to write about on WoW, and how it can be a platform for teaching students/people how to work/function in a team environment. Just my 2 cents anyways.

Re: Grad research project on WoW players...Need your help!

Post 17 Feb 2012 22:40

Avatar bluejade
 
Posts: 5
The role a person chooses to play says a lot about that person. For example if you are a tank you have leadership qualities, if you are a healer you like to have more of a challenge and so on. Guilds can be seen as a classroom or workplace depending on how you play. Raiding especially forces a team to work together utilizing skills, knowledge and so on to down a boss. It sounds a lot easier when you are playing a game but when you look at it from a technical standpoint there is a great deal of dynamics involved that add to the functioning of the team. For example when you have a tank that cant keep aggro do u help him, see if his talent points are in the right items, do you check and see if he has the right gear or if he has a fishing pole equipped and so on. Then there is the mathematics side of things where you need to know what percentages you need to attain to have the best block ability and so on.

The survey I am using is a very simple survey to see how much people like to raid and their roles and if they like to contribute to the raid because that is what the majority of my paper will be able. The raiding experience turned into a a teaching platform to help others to work with a team, as a team and to build confidence in working within a team environment.

In grade school through high school I hated when we had to do team projects because there was the straight A student who would take over the entire thing, or there was the class clown who wouldn't do anything and everyone else had to take up their slack and so on. These feelings towards teams can persist through adulthood and that is where WoW comes in as a way to show that it can be a great deal of fun to work as a team to accomplish something. There are other places I can go with the research but for now I am on a tight schedule and trying to keep things as simple as I can for now. Once this class is over I will most likely work on another paper with a great deal more depth.

I hope that answers you question.
Thank you
Blue

Re: Grad research project on WoW players...Need your help!

Post 17 Feb 2012 22:58

Avatar Ryuusenshi
 
Posts: 82
Location: Canada, BC
The role doesn't say too much except that they perhaps like to play that class/spec, being a tank does not at all mean you have leadership qualities. Actually, all the tanks I've known have never been raid leaders or guild leaders and never talked much unless they needed to and only logged on for raids. Same goes for the healers I've known. Maybe that is just me, but I've been playing for 7 years since Vanilla, had a long raiding career across multiple toons and across many, many guilds and servers, and for the majority of the time, that is how it's been. People always see tanks as those who lead, where anyone can, it doesn't matter your class or spec. I've known more dps guild/raid leaders than anything.

The top raiding guilds I've ended up in on servers usually didn't help each other out that much in the terms you are talking about, they want people who know their stuff first hand when joining, they don't want to have to teach someone. So if a tank wasn't keeping aggro or using cooldowns properly, they looked for another one to replace that tank with, same goes for a weak dps player or healer, so that has been the case for my career in WoW anyways. They would maybe say, hey, you need to pick it up or you might not pass trial, but that was the extent of helping.

Re: Grad research project on WoW players...Need your help!

Post 18 Feb 2012 03:08

Avatar bluejade
 
Posts: 5
Well this is why I am investigating. :) I have been playing for several years now and have also been in several guilds but I am not a hard core raider which is why I asked for help in several of the higher ranked guilds. With my inexperience with hardcore raiding I thought asking would be beneficial. I have found that only a few so far have been very receptive to my survey. But over all it is a learning experience for me.

I understand that anyone can lead a raid and that a role doesn't define a person but the way a raid team is set up creates the team dynamic. Each role has a responsibility and that is really where I am going with it. I think raiding is a way to help in developing those understandings as well as hone certain skills and leadership as well as instilling a sense of accomplishment. I think it is really rewarding to be able to down a boss after working hard together to bring a boss down.

I have known several people who play nothing but tanks and only like leading raids. I play dps, heals and tank but I shy away from tanking as I don't like having to deal with the responsibility as much but I like being versatile and being able to fill any spot my guild may need to get a raid going. However I am developing my DK tank spec so I may end up liking it.

I really appreciate your feedback it is really helping me in flushing out my ideas on where to take this as well as what to look out for.

Re: Grad research project on WoW players...Need your help!

Post 18 Feb 2012 12:10

Avatar Taiphon
 
Posts: 19
bluejade wrote:The role a person chooses to play says a lot about that person. For example if you are a tank you have leadership qualities, if you are a healer you like to have more of a challenge and so on.

There is some relation between a person't personality and his role, but it's not nearly as simple as that.

There are different reasons why someone might enjoy tanking. Likewise for dps and healing.

For example, a person might choose to dps because he loves the competition for top spot, or because he doesn't like carrying the responsibility for others that comes with healing and tanking.
Smiliarly, a person could become a healer because he has a caring nature, because he enjoys filling a valuable role, or because he likes the challenge of responding with mathematical precision to different situations.
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