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Research Games Pass Go, Collect $200

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Ray Poynter of The Future Place ran the virtual conference, “Gaming and NewMR”, last Thursday. Some highlights from each speaker:

• “Play for a high score” - Erica Ruyle discussed the rise of electronic games: 67% of U.S. households play video games, and 42% of the U.S. population play games on a mobile device. With implications for research, games provide an interesting blend of work and fun, with enough work to create a sense of achievement and to get gamers into a state of flow.
• “Game On!” - Stefania Gogna of Head for Brand discussed 10 principles that make video games so interesting, concluding that “players produce a lot of output, for very little stimulus, because while playing they learn not only about the context but about themselves and their current and potential capabilities.” One challenge for MR: good games give players some control over the game and environment, where most research exercises control the experience for the respondent.
• “Research through Gaming” - Betty Adamou of Nebu defines research through gaming as the process “where a company gains data from the actions a respondent takes while playing a computer game and the way they play the game itself.” Betty believes that research games will find a ready audience in mobile users seeking diversions while waiting or traveling. Such games will take a range of forms, from social media research games inspired by Farmville to questions as mini-games and immersive environments complete with player avatars.
• “Game Theory” - Jon Puleston of GMI discussed many of his experiments to bring the experience of games to online surveys: “Making questions more game-like improves response levels and the quality of data—in fact, integrating any level of fun or playfulness into a survey can help encourage more active participation.” While online surveys can benefit from custom game elements, even simple changes to wording can help, making questions more fun and less formal. Rather than a staid question about brand awareness, ask “Can you guess the top 5 most popular brands of deodorant?” At the end of the survey, give people a score or a rating. Challenging people to come up with answers also led to greater engagement.
• “Let’s all play the game” - Arthur Fletcher of Blauw Research discussed his firm’s use of custom board games in focus group settings. Participants are invited to participate in a research exercise and the game is only revealed when they arrive. Cards and tracks on the board embody the discussion guide. The use of games leads to 75% more content by topic than a traditional focus group, producing deeper insights and greater participation.
• “Trust, Identity, Reach and Reward” - Nigel Legg of Trevanian Legg discussed the implications of social media applications, which must be founded on trust and leverage real-world identities in social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn. As participation in social networks continues to grow, they provide sufficient reach for research exercises. Gaming itself can be the reward for participation, with the reward emphasized via scores and leaderboards.
• “Mobile social games for market research” - Leonard Murphy of Brandscan 360 predicted that the installed base of smart phones will exceed the installed base of traditional “feature phones” in the U.S. by 2012, creating a “new frontier” for MR. In fact, Leonard projects that by 2014 mobile devices will be the primary web interface, supplanting personal computers. Research games do not have to be transient, play-once activities, but can be social games similar to Farmville or Foursquare, rewarding users for regularly returning and spending a few minutes with the application.
• “Prediction markets for fun and prophet” – As a concrete example of one type of serious game used for research purposes, I provided a gentle introduction to prediction markets. Hollywood Stock Exchange is played for free but the results are used to make money, guiding betting positions made by its owner, Cantor Fitzgerald. I recapped the Combe/Infosurv case study I saw at the AMA MRC and referenced the extensive research on research that BrainJuicer has conducted.

Research games have definitely passed Go, but with lots of experimentation and play in the future, no one methodology will create a monopoly.

See also:

• Tom Ewing – Five Reasons Gaming Has a Future in Market Research
• ResearchTalk - Gaming and MR Conference Notes