The results are in...

**rhuala** · July 7th, 2005, 02:34 PM

I posted a small test that I was performing as a school project to ask the SAME intellectual question with no right or wrong answer to a group of "technical" people, "gaming" people and "artsie" people. There was enought posts from each group to form a basis for a conclusion.

You may be interested to see how you all responded with respect to each other (same question at top of each post):

Technical Forum

Gaming Forum

Art Forum

We graded each as follows:

Gaming = A- (Good suggestions, logical, deepest thought process)
Technical = B+ (Good suggestions, logical, some silliness)
Artsie = D (Very poor suggestions, nitpicking, little to no thought process)

Agree/Disagree?

Thanks for participating, the gamers win...

Vanz

**ArtbyWard** · July 7th, 2005, 02:44 PM

Wrong question

You should've asked:"who are cooler, Ninja's or Pirates"

Dude seriously an internet forum is'nt the place to do research like that. Now you're just labeling people.

**John** · July 7th, 2005, 02:57 PM

Yes.

We artsy people are artsy people because we don't introduce new technology, we draw it. We're years ahead of you.

Decades really.

Edited - really, how stupid is this? How about i come to your school and ask you, out of the blue, "Well, what do you think a new propulsion engine could look like?" while you're goofing off with your friends? And if you don't take a piece of paper, sit down and figure out how this "Propulsion" engine i wanted from you works, but some other kid said "Eh, it could look like this, i saw something about it on Star Trek" i'm going to give you a piece of paper to take home to your parents! It says "Propulsion engine test: D Student did not come up with a satisfying answer to my stupid ass question". How very scientific of you!

Here's a piece of paper. You are an idiot.

**jetpack42** · July 7th, 2005, 03:01 PM

I'm appealing to the International Olympics Committee.

**Denart** · July 7th, 2005, 03:02 PM

wow, gamers rule...

**rhuala** · July 7th, 2005, 03:03 PM

I didn't label anybody...

If you disagree with the results please specify why?

Also, an internet forum is one of the best places because of the anonymity. No one feels pressured, no forced biasing and anyone can answer honestly and at their own pace...

Vanz

**Fozzybar** · July 7th, 2005, 03:14 PM

Originally Posted by rhuala

There was enought posts from each group to form a basis for a conclusion.

Haha, you're cool, man...i counted 8 (different) members for this forum and 4 (different) members for the gamers forum replying to your "test"-threads (haha)...not many to form a basis for a conclusion regarding that there are thousands of members on each forum

I don't say this, because i am wondering about the results or whatever, it's just funny how you try to appear like a scientist

**John** · July 7th, 2005, 03:23 PM

Ok.

There was enought posts from each group to form a basis for a conclusion.

There was not. 200 would be a minimum to form a basis for a somewhat precise conclusion.

Also, an internet forum is one of the best places because of the anonymity. No one feels pressured, no forced biasing and anyone can answer honestly and at their own pace...

Not exactly. If you have some idea of communication theory, to communication three parts are vital: a sender of information, a recipient of information, and a canal of information. To ensure good communication, the three should work together.

Sender: Same message to three different recipients. Expects a best case of a scientific explanation to a speculative question.

Canal: The internet. People expect any kind of message from the internet, 99% of which are not to be taken seriously.

Recipients: Anybody, anyone at all! And what's more, these people expect different things from the forum they go to. So they will all recieve a different message in the end. To us, the question was "Someone we don't know (we know usernames around here and come to these forums often)" wants to ask us a question we don't care about (we're artists, not technicians).

So there's another factor in communications theory about distortion of the original message and stuff like that, but i think i'll leave it at that because i already cared waaay to much.

But, if you look at this you see that there is theoretically no link between the question you asked and the answers you got. The connection is arbitrary. Chances are, if you did a scientific test, it might prove that most answer's you'd get are random. The original intention of the question is lost in translation and the reaction is entirely up to the person who is supposed to answer, his perception of the forum, his general mood, the time he has on his hands ... it might as well be up to the weather astrology and sacks of rice in china.

**rhuala** · July 7th, 2005, 04:17 PM

I don't say this, because i am wondering about the results or whatever, it's just funny how you try to appear like a scientist

Sorry to confuse you, I stated I was a student.

As for the amount of samples, yes the more samples the more accurate the results but this wasn't a scientific study and was time dependant not sample dependant. I basicaly left it open for close to a day...

The forum shows a grouping of people with a common specific interest...

I'm sorry if you feel the test was not completely fair as I did not try to trick anyone in any way...

Vanz

ps. no statistical analysis or study can be 100% correct, it's just a study - it is what it is...

**NoUseFrAName** · July 7th, 2005, 04:44 PM

what's the basis for your grading system?

other than that...it's a mixed bag...I know artists who are great at technical stuff, technicians who are great at games, gamers who are great at art, and every other combination.
Who's to say that your results aren't totally cross contaminated?

..also, there are way too many factors to consider here. The ages of the posters who responded; the social concern of those who responded; the seriousness of those that responded.
...and then the forums themselves.
I've been a member of a decent number of forums here on the interweb, and if there's any glaring factor that's worth noting, it's that different forums all have different attitudes....the flavour of the forum has a huge effect on the favourability of the responses.

-Rob

**MoP** · July 7th, 2005, 05:16 PM

I think you'll find that all this proves is that gamers have more time on their hands to waste it typing out long and fairly pointless replies to hypothetical questions...

**USER777** · July 7th, 2005, 07:53 PM

i guess those people from the technical forum look like this:

**bumskee** · July 7th, 2005, 08:06 PM

rhuala, I read that topic in OCAU as I am a member there also.. and anything in the pub goes silly.

So I am still dummer than the gamers?

Lim, LOL

**endregan** · July 7th, 2005, 08:14 PM

how about this for a response

**madster** · July 7th, 2005, 08:40 PM

You are also assuming (incorrectly, at that) that the participants in the various forums were of a like age group/intelligence level for the length of time (oooh, almost a full day!) this "test" was available for participation...

You also incorrectly assume that there is NO crossover between groups, like say, for instance an artiste who just so happens to have degrees in Computers, Networking, and Laser Technology...and occasionally tests games. Gee, depending on the time of day and the forum, that individual could "skew" your hypothesis all to hell and back...

Stupid hypothetical situation, simply because if you had the marvelous vehicle to escape Earth's atmosphere, all you would then have to do would be broadcast radio, tv, or broadband wireless signals "introducing" the technology. By utilizing your orbit to broadcast world-wide, you eliminate being cheated out of anything, and since you are outside Earth's atmosphere, your chances of being killed are kind of minimized...

I mean Hitler's televised speech to the German Masses was the first video broadcast from this planet, and it is still travelling outwards into space as we speak...
~M

**TheMAILMAN** · July 7th, 2005, 09:34 PM

On the interweb correcting someones spelling isnt nitpicking its called being a smartarse inorder to make u the poster look like a retarted noob.

**dogfood** · July 8th, 2005, 08:07 AM

Now, being a techie, gamer, and and artist, I can say that the most important conclusion was in favor of us here at CA: we were funnier.

And there are a lot of valid remarks above which explain why your conclusions aren't based on good scientific principles, sampling size being the main drawback. Being a student is no excuse for poor science when you tout your findings as some sort of revelation.