When building surveys, we may design new questions for the current survey, or use question sets that we or others have created through extensive research.
It can be useful to source questions or take inspiration from survey questions that have worked well in the past. Here are some that we have seen used to good effect in other surveys.
General survey questions for all types of games
First some general questions that could be applied to the widest possible set of games.
Did you ever feel frustrated while playing?
Multiple choice (single selection)
1 – Never
2 – Rarely
3 – Sometimes
4 – Often
5 – Always
Did you ever feel bored while playing?
Multiple choice (single selection)
1 – Never
2 – Rarely
3 – Sometimes
4 – Often
5 – Always
Did you ever feel bored while playing while playing?
Multiple choice (single selection)
1 – Never
2 – Rarely
3 – Sometimes
4 – Often
5 – Always
Did you ever feel that you wanted to stop playing?
Multiple choice (single selection)
1 – Never
2 – Rarely
3 – Sometimes
4 – Often
5 – Always
Overall, did you find the game enjoyable or unenjoyable?
Multiple choice (single selection)
1 – Very unenjoyable
2 – Unenjoyable
3 – Somewhat unenjoyable
4 – Neither enjoyable or unenjoyable
5 – Somewhat enjoyable
6 – Enjoyable
7 – Very enjoyable
Is this a game that seems made 'for you'?
Multiple choice (single selection)
1 – Not at all for me
2 – Not for me
3 – Slightly not for me
4 – Neither 'for me' or 'not for me'
5 – Slightly for me
6 – For me
7 – Essential for me
If you were not in a playtest, would you have chosen to play this game?
Multiple choice (single selection)
1 – Very unlikely
2 – Unlikely
3 – Slightly unlikely
4 – Neither likely nor unlikely
5 – Slightly likely
6 – Likely
7 – Very likely
If you were not in a playtest, would you continue to play this game after today's session?
Multiple choice (single selection)
1 – Very unlikely
2 – Unlikely
3 – Slightly unlikely
4 – Neither likely nor unlikely
5 – Slightly likely
6 – Likely
7 – Very likely
If you had to review the game you played today with a score out of 10, what score would you give it?
Rating scale
1 [low] to 10 [high]
If you need to get more detail on a particular area, you can ask players to both rate, and then explain their answer. This an example for a question looking into player enjoyment of a specific game mode might look something like this:
Did you find the racing (example) game mode enjoyable?
Multiple choice (single selection)
1 – Very unenjoyable
2 – Unenjoyable
3 – Slightly unenjoyable
4 – Neither enjoyable nor unenjoyable
5 – Slightly enjoyable
6 – Enjoyable
7 – Very enjoyable
Please explain your answer (conjoined open text entry).
Note
Where possible, we try to provide survey response option scales that include:
Seven response points, in order to provide a good trade off between granularity and ease of response, and for the reasons below.
A central neutral option,
A bipolar scale, with negative and positive responses on either side of the neutral.
This structure allows us to assign positive, negative or neutral scores to responses (from -3 to +3) which can be helpful in visualising and communicating outcomes later on.
Some of the questions shown are reverse-coded: that is, where a higher response/rating implies a less desirable outcome. If you need to directly compare these questions with others that are not reverse coded, then scores will need to be flipped in analysis.