Hey Escapists. I have a final project for statistics that involves me writing my own analysis and gathering my own data. So my question is what is your favorite gaming genre? I tried to list online the popular ones...Tried is the key word. In case any is left off, there's an other option.

Edit: Just because this does need discussion, go ahead and explain why. I didn't really think that needed to be mentioned, lol.

As for myself I prefer RPGs over anything. I like roleplaying and they have been close to me for a while now. My first computer game was Fable: The Lost Chapters, and I had a lot of fun with it.

Edit 2: For those worried for my sample being to biased or something along those lines, it's all good. The whole point of the project is not to run a successful test, but just to run one. I talked it over with my instructor, and she states this form of surveying is fine for this project but if I was going to be a real statistician, yeah it's a bad idea for the over all gaming community.

Edit 3: I turned in my project. Whether my sampling was poor or not, the fact I could point it out got my bonus points. As well as the fact I chose to do video games. Apparently no one does their project on video games. And apparently everyone does skittles.

I'd hate to do this but bump? I'd really like to pass this course, so...And I'd rather not purchase fifty packages of skittles and color categorize them.

RTS.

It was hard to choose (my favourite series are Assasin's Creed [action adventure] and Fallout [cRPG/mwRPG]), but my gaming career is built on strategy games of many forms. I play them a lot. So I choose that.

Karutomaru:
Help out a student? Absolutely! Should I explain my reasoning as well?

Go right ahead, no problem with that. The grade really only counts towards the poll, but this is the escapist. We have a right to explain why we like something.

Well, voted in the poll, but I'll post here as well. I voted for RPGs. As a writer, I like story-driven games and characters that actually mean something, and while video games are often imperfect for both of those categories, RPGs have the most common occurrences of both "characters I like" and "stories I'm interested in."

Plus... magic. I get a kick out of mages. You're not going to see many those in, say... a first person shooter.

LiberalSquirrel:
Well, voted in the poll, but I'll post here as well. I voted for RPGs. As a writer, I like story-driven games and characters that actually mean something, and while video games are often imperfect for both of those categories, RPGs have the most common occurrences of both "characters I like" and "stories I'm interested in."

Plus... magic. I get a kick out of mages. You're not going to see many those in, say... a first person shooter.

AHA! I SHALL PROVE YOU WRONG!

Savage 2. It's an RTS/FPS/HNS game. With a priest that shoots balls of energy as an attack in first person. Basic idea is two teams attempt to destroy each other, one member is the leader that can build structures and buff units but the actual units are other players on the team. Real fun, big maps and pretty epic battles.

I voted RPG. Heavier party based RPGs with turn based combat more specifically, but I also like more actiony RPGs. It's a shame so few new games go for the turn based combat. There's quite a few for the DS (which is also part of the reason why I think it's the best console in a long time), but "bigger" games tend to be the hacky-slashy type, even on the PC.

I want to say RPG, but I also want to say FPS. It seems most of my favourite games blend the two together.

Deus Ex, System Shock 2, Fallout: New Vegas, Stalker...

RPGs followed closely by RTS games.

Why RPGs? Because i like building up a character and getting to make choices and expressing myself. I also mainly enjoy story driven games, so for the most part i can put up with less than spectacular gameplay if i enjoy the story or the setting enough.

I also like RTS games for similar reasons. I mainly play empire building games or 4X games which generally give you a degree of freedom in how you play.

RPG, seeing as how I like my games to have a well-told story, which they tend to do best. Also, I like that kind of gameplay, so that's a contributing factor. But yea, the story is the real reason I like them more. I mean, what would you rather do, read through the yellow pages, or read that new super-exiting novel by that author everyone loves? Because comparing *modern brown shooter X* with the yellow pages totally makes sense, right? ^.^

I went action and adventure, I like the stories that the likes of metal gear and uncharted has, and the misses doesn't mind watching either

LiberalSquirrel:
Well, voted in the poll, but I'll post here as well. I voted for RPGs. As a writer, I like story-driven games and characters that actually mean something, and while video games are often imperfect for both of those categories, RPGs have the most common occurrences of both "characters I like" and "stories I'm interested in."

Absolutely. I like that some other genres have started to get deeper into character development, but I think RPGs have always been the best for that. I can even forgive bad gameplay if the characters and story are interesting enough.

So yeah, I voted for RPGs.

Voting shooter because they simple and I'm ok with that.
Step 1: Find target
Step 2: Place cross-hair over target
Step 3: ????????
Step 4: Call in an airstrike

I voted RPG.

I'm majoring in Economics at the moment and do a lot of statistical analysis, what exactly are you trying to do here btw?

RPG for me. moreso to JRPGs than WRPGs as there's just more story with characters with their own personalities rather than the mute. it just makes the game more immersible for me. but after the two RPGs FPS is a close 2nd.

It's a toss up between RTS and RPG for me. I'd imagine around here you're much more likely to get a more RPG heavy poll than some other gaming sites.

Indecipherable:
I voted RPG.

I'm majoring in Economics at the moment and do a lot of statistical analysis, what exactly are you trying to do here btw?

Most likely I'll be doing a Chi-Squared Analysis of the "Goodness of Fit." I wanted to see if my original hypothesis of Shooters being the public favorite with RPG close behind was true. Clearly it isn't so far.

i voted RPG. but tbh my favorite changes sometimes. i go through phases of rly wanting an RPG to play. then i'll suddenly be bored of RPGs and want an FPS.

DrgoFx:

Indecipherable:
I voted RPG.

I'm majoring in Economics at the moment and do a lot of statistical analysis, what exactly are you trying to do here btw?

Most likely I'll be doing a Chi-Squared Analysis of the "Goodness of Fit." I wanted to see if my original hypothesis of Shooters being the public favorite with RPG close behind was true. Clearly it isn't so far.

I can't answer the question for you, but there's something obviously wrong about your results...

Right now RPG is at ~64% and clearly dominates all the rest. I'm going to predict right now that this is not representative of the population so there is a problem in your sampling. The evidence of something going wrong is fairly straightforward:

-Games such as COD & Counter Strike are juggernauts in the industry yet have <10% of the vote here. COD recently smashed sales and was the highest selling entertainment item ever of all time, I believe.

-Games such as The Sims were for a long time the highest selling computer game series of all time. The Sim and all casual games are not represented at all in the polls.

Put simply your sample is not a representation of the population as a whole. Even just visiting a site and participating probably puts you in a different place to most other gamers, so this is not random selection. There's a suggestion of something similar to "Enclave Effects", which may not directly translate to the situation but explains it roughly. People visit sites that roughly match their interest, and so are probably going to participate on message boards that do this. As a more extreme example, you come here for games, you go elsewhere for body building. But I would hazard a guess and say it can be narrowed down further. If you came here and only wanted to talk about Counter Strike, how welcome do you think you would feel? I don't think this is the crowd for it. You'll get some chatter but considering all the topics are about RPGs, you're probably going to leave to find a place where all the topics are about your interest - FPS. Hence, you won't post, hence, you aren't capturing the a true sample of the population.

RPGs, I'm a roleplayer, and I like my games to have a bit more plot to them then "The russians are attacking!" or anything like that.

Indecipherable:
*Snip*

I know. It's a clear a factor with the sampling. But a sample is a sample, and this is a voluntary sample which means biased opinions and outliers are bound to occur. I'm aware the data is going to be faltered, but that's part of statistics. Statistics never lie, only how they are presented.

arr pee gees!
I take a break from the relatively slower-paced RPGs and play some FPSs and puzzle/platform/whatever sometimes.
Action/Adventure is fun too.
Of course, there are genre-straddling games, which are fun as well.
Also, I'm not sure if horror is its own genre.
It's usually part of a shooter or adventure or RPG game.

DrgoFx:

Indecipherable:
*Snip*

I know. It's a clear a factor with the sampling. But a sample is a sample, and this is a voluntary sample which means biased opinions and outliers are bound to occur. I'm aware the data is going to be faltered, but that's part of statistics. Statistics never lie, only how they are presented.

Would a more worthwhile sample be Steam stats? You'd have to put each game into a category by yourself, but is pretty realistic representation of what's happening on the PC platform. --> http://store.steampowered.com/stats/

I'd assume that PSN/Xbox Live would have the same sort of stats floating around somewhere, as does Xfre (or it used to anyway).

I think that if you do this sort of thing on different sites, you'll get differing answers that will be dependent on the website, i.e it's no surprise at all that RPG is leading here.

DrgoFx:

Indecipherable:
*Snip*

I know. It's a clear a factor with the sampling. But a sample is a sample, and this is a voluntary sample which means biased opinions and outliers are bound to occur. I'm aware the data is going to be faltered, but that's part of statistics. Statistics never lie, only how they are presented.

I hate to break it to you, but what you have is unfortunately meaningless. Well, not quite - it is an estimation of the preferences by those who visit the escapist forums.

distortedreality:
Would a more worthwhile sample be Steam stats? You'd have to put each game into a category by yourself, but is pretty realistic representation of what's happening on the PC platform. --> http://store.steampowered.com/stats/

I'd assume that PSN/Xbox Live would have the same sort of stats floating around somewhere, as does Xfre (or it used to anyway).

I think that if you do this sort of thing on different sites, you'll get differing answers that will be dependent on the website, i.e it's no surprise at all that RPG is leading here.

Steam stats aren't going to be accurate because they miss out on a very serious major genre - app games. Angry Birds springs to mind. Plus, you just can't play all possible games on steam so it doesn't represent all possibilities. How many stay at home mums are playing Farmville on steam? Zilch. Are there even sports games on Steam? Hell, I don't know.

Steam also captures the data in a short moment of time, so if you pick a time where there's a huge game out (Skyrim) this will dominate the results even if it isn't a persons actual favourite genre. Or what if there's a huge game out (ME3) that isn't even on steam (which it isn't...).

Further complications could be the audience/customer penetration of steam vs location. Is there a difference in preference between eastern and western cultures for their games? Do eastern cultures prefer RPGs, Rhythm Games, etc., while western audiences prefer shooters? Who knows, but if Steam doesn't penetrate these cultures equally, the results are biased.

I'm not saying this to make you feel bad, I think you could score an incredible result by approaching your teacher with some of these difficulties & talk about what you can do to fix them. Then write about it, do your best, and run the test. That's all they can ask for and you will show a great deal of depth of understanding, and maybe realise just how little you can trust statistics and even less you can trust the conclusions they are meant to draw you to.

I love most genres but RPGs are my favourite....though I guess the term is debatable because I'm talking about JRPGs, they are my favourite.

Why? I love stories in games, dunno why I just do. Hence why I can't play many WRPGs without clawing my eyes out due to boredom (I do love some though so sh).

Maybe I'm just an anime freak (which is odd because I don't watch much anime) or maybe I just like my stories on the more emotional and personal side...yeah I'm going with that...or comedy like the Phoenix Wright and Sam and Max games yeahhh I like Point and Click too

Indecipherable:

DrgoFx:

Indecipherable:
I voted RPG.

I'm majoring in Economics at the moment and do a lot of statistical analysis, what exactly are you trying to do here btw?

Most likely I'll be doing a Chi-Squared Analysis of the "Goodness of Fit." I wanted to see if my original hypothesis of Shooters being the public favorite with RPG close behind was true. Clearly it isn't so far.

I can't answer the question for you, but there's something obviously wrong about your results...

Right now RPG is at ~64% and clearly dominates all the rest. I'm going to predict right now that this is not representative of the population so there is a problem in your sampling. The evidence of something going wrong is fairly straightforward:

-Games such as COD & Counter Strike are juggernauts in the industry yet have <10% of the vote here. COD recently smashed sales and was the highest selling entertainment item ever of all time, I believe.

-Games such as The Sims were for a long time the highest selling computer game series of all time. The Sim and all casual games are not represented at all in the polls.

Put simply your sample is not a representation of the population as a whole. Even just visiting a site and participating probably puts you in a different place to most other gamers, so this is not random selection. There's a suggestion of something similar to "Enclave Effects", which may not directly translate to the situation but explains it roughly. People visit sites that roughly match their interest, and so are probably going to participate on message boards that do this. As a more extreme example, you come here for games, you go elsewhere for body building. But I would hazard a guess and say it can be narrowed down further. If you came here and only wanted to talk about Counter Strike, how welcome do you think you would feel? I don't think this is the crowd for it. You'll get some chatter but considering all the topics are about RPGs, you're probably going to leave to find a place where all the topics are about your interest - FPS. Hence, you won't post, hence, you aren't capturing the a true sample of the population.

while i understand and agree (in the statistical sample pooling sense) , comparing rpg's to sims/COD isn't necessarily good in terms of sales, unless you do a collective rpg sale total. I don't know about you, but out of all the people i know who play rpg's, they buy em for the single player and not for multiplayer, and beat em all multiple times, while with COD and sims and such, they buy that one game, and just keep playing the multiplayer (or in sims case) sandbox of it forever, and there isn't exactly much competition in those fields (cod does have battlefield and CS and such, i'll say that.) but honestly, what else besides sims sells to that specific market?

and just because someone buys a game, doesn't mean they don't prefer another. I bought tf2/cod4/bf2, but is it my favorite genre? by far a big fat no, but that doesn't mean i won't play the games in my off time in between rpg's.

and also, as usual, define "rpg", as some people would consider mass effect to be more of a shooter than rpg, while others not so much...so there is that.

OT: while i play all those genres, rpg's have been and always will be my favorite, they are the one thing that make me truly sink my teeth into a game and love it

Western RPGs. I like the immersion and I like to be able to play out different characters. When I come across surveys asking which my favorite video game protagonist is or which ones I'd want with me in a bar fight, I never fill them out because my answers will be the RPG characters I've made.

I chose the horror option if could have chosen two i would have went with puzzle as well because my favorite series of all times is Silent Hill which is Horror and Puzzle.

I voted RPG's,because I simply love them.Being in control of a character that you mold however you please is just satisfying to me(story and gameplay being key here as well).The games that impede me from doing that can break of my immersion very fast(there are some few exceptions like Mass Effect of course).

Other than that,I enjoy the occasional Action/Adventures,FPS's now and then when I get bored.

Give me a good platformer (see: Mega Man Zero [1, 2, 3, 4] and Super Mario World) and I'll be in a game-playing coma for a week. So yes, I voted other for platformer.

Teh arpeegees! Even if Sturgeon's Law has been particularly unkind to that genre, the top 5%-10% still shines.

DrgoFx:

Indecipherable:
I voted RPG.

I'm majoring in Economics at the moment and do a lot of statistical analysis, what exactly are you trying to do here btw?

Most likely I'll be doing a Chi-Squared Analysis of the "Goodness of Fit." I wanted to see if my original hypothesis of Shooters being the public favorite with RPG close behind was true. Clearly it isn't so far.

Just some warning, using survey data from a small and rather biased sample aint gonna get you very far in a stats project mate, particularly if its a university level stats class. friend of mine did something similar last year in an econometrics project, similar to this one and he failed spectacularly (small and biased sample... although it was a very simple topic choice, that probably had more to do with it in the end).

If your looking to just pass though keep on going, P's get degrees,
but think about changing your topic if you want a better mark