Braid results

[juldea]

Remember that poll I did on the video game Braid? It was here: http://juldea.livejournal.com/1248166.html. I compiled my results.

I did that poll because I noticed a trend when talking to friends that females* almost entirely told me that they watched someone else play Braid rather than play it themselves because they'd never be able to play a game like that/solve its puzzles, whereas males almost entirely said that the game was worth playing and knocking your head against to solve it rather than use guides.

Poll results:

9 women responded. Almost entirely split: 3 (33%) didn't finish due to time or attention, 2 (22%) didn't finish because it was too hard/they didn't like it, 2 (22%) finished and used guides, and 2 (22%) finished and didn't use guides.

22 men responded. The numbers are drastically different here. 3 (14%) didn't finish due to time or attention, 1 (5%) didn't finish because it was too hard/they didn't like it, 5 (34%) finished and used guides, and 13 (60%) finished and didn't use guides.

Visualized data below:



Does this mean anything? I have no clue. It satisfies my curiosity, though.

* My definitions here are based on what pronouns they use. If I've got those wrong, let me know. For this purpose, there was one responder who I didn't count because I couldn't tell from their journal how they identified - anidanny.

Comments

[testing4l.livejournal.com]

In my experiences (gleaned from various numbers in my past), women who didn't finish something because it was "too hard", or they "don't do well on that type of game", or they "lost interest" normally have an underlying reason. It is a good bet that stretches to something else.

A good one is that they're hypersensitive to being watched and the perception that they are being judged.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

That certainly resonates with me. One of the reasons I wanted to play the game was to "prove" I was "smart enough" to play it. This just made me more upset when I had troubles, and more likely to consider a block to be permanent rather than incidental. Eventually I decided I just wanted to see the story of the game and used a walkthrough. Maybe sometime in a year or so when I've forgotten what the solutions were I'll go back through and try it for the puzzle aspect again.

[bronzite.livejournal.com]

Your text and your charts don't align. You say in your text 60% of men who finished used guides, but the pie chart says they didn't use guides.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Oh thank you, I'll fix that.

[siderea]

I would be counted in the "Female, never interested in starting because it sounded way too hard to be fun" if that had been a choice.

[adalius.livejournal.com]

Turns out I got that game like 2 months ago and didn't even know it. Guess I'll have to try it out now...

[pokedigimaniac.livejournal.com]

anidanny is my college roommate Danny, male.

[hermitgeecko.livejournal.com]

One note here:

I watched someone else play Braid because that is how I get exposed to new video games. It has nothing to do with my opinions of my intelligence. I am typically opposed to trying new games that I don't know - if I don't like the game, it's a waste of my time. But if I watch someone play through enough of the game, then I don't want to play it myself. (It's a balancing act.)

My game-playing male friends, by contrast, get their own games and don't consider it a horrible waste of their time if the games they try suck. To this, I can only say: more power to them.

[rustycoon.livejournal.com]

Sadly, your sample size is too small to be terribly useful, especially for women.

Still, the difficulty of finding a representative sample of women who played Braid is its own important datum.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Hence "this doesn't really mean anything." I'm aware that there's absolutely no statistical validity in the above. It was just a little thing to do for curiosity's sake.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :)

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Yep! Even if these results had shown any kind of crazy bias among women, and even if they were statistically significant and had shown some kind of crazy bias against women, every person is different. No assumptions made on MY part, at least. :)

[rustycoon.livejournal.com]

Ah, I read a question mark on that sentence. :P

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Ah, my writing style is unclear. Sorry about that! That sentence was supposed to come in a bundle with the next. More like, "Does this mean anything: I have no clue."

[rustycoon.livejournal.com]

Which is false! You do have a clue! :)

[juldea.livejournal.com]

There could be some underlying thing going on! I just don't have enough data to prove it in any direction. :P

[leahseraph.livejournal.com]

It may also be the case that you're less likely to finish the game if you don't have exclusive use of the gaming system, and women are more likely to be sharing a console or whatever. My not losing interest was definitely related to not getting to play the game for a while due to other demands on the system.

[goldbug.livejournal.com]

Again I was momentarily excited because I thought this was a hair post. :P

I've never heard of this video game before, but I like puzzle games. I will check it out.

[ultimatepsi.livejournal.com]

Not me. I just have way too much stuff to do.