Linguistic survey for FFXIV/MMO players

[kyuven]

This survey needs more questions to be a proper linguistic survey.
For example, "terms specific to this game" is too broad. Instead you should have a few questions asking about specific facets of the game that commonly have different usages.
As an example of this, in FFXI classes that deal damage as their primary role as called "DD," meaning "damage dealer."
In EQ1, "DD" means "direct damage," referring to a type of spells that does a flat amount of damage rather than a debuff or damage over time.
In FFXIV and many other games, classes that deal damage as their primary role are instead called "DPS" or "Damage per second (classes)"
The reasoning behind this difference in terminology is that FFXI's pace is much, much slower but the damage output of individual hits is about the same between XIV and XI currently (it's off a little, but a 2.5k hit is a strong hit in both games right now) thus calculating "DPS" in FFXI isn't even worth doing, while faster paced games like WoW, EQ2, and FFXIV pretty much require it (the former two having ridiculously high damage per second numbers)

Also your questions make reference to "your game" but you can select multiple options for #1, making the questions misleading as to which you're talking about.

If you're limited to how many questions you can use, you can always create more than one survey.
You could make a whole survey on basic terminology:
1) Which game do you play primarily?
2) What does your game call the location where the most buying and selling takes place?
3) What does your game call the class role that deals damage?
4) What does your game call the most common means of quick transportation?
5) What is the name of the (current) highest tier "raid"?
6) What constitutes a "raid" in your game? (e.g. how many players)
7) What do you call your avatar?
8) How does your game refer to progression after maxing out your level?
9) What does "BiS" mean to you?
10) What roles does your game contain?

It might also be interesting in targeting "carry over" terms.
For example, many FFXIV players come from FFXI, and thus use terms from that game (DD, Raise, etc.)
Other players come from WoW, EQ, etc. and thus use other terms such as "DPS" and "Rez" to refer to the same thing.
The applicants age and # of years spent playing MMOs might also have an effect on their answers. I find older, more "veteran" players such as myself have different vocabularies than those that started later.
Someone who started in, say, 2003 is less likely to use the term "toon" than someone who started in 2009, for example.

[Canadane]

Someone who started in, say, 2003 is less likely to use the term "toon" than someone who started in 2009, for example.

I wanna say that it's more likely someone playing an MMO in 2003 was likely not someone who started with WoW (which came out in 2004, iirc). While WoW garnered a whole new interest in the MMO genre, specifically from western audiences. Because of WoW's size and popularity, a lot of terms could be derived specifically from it's playerbase and not just a general 'era' of gaming. I wouldn't be surprised at all if this or another survey indicated some, if not many, WoW-only terms that some may have thought were more widespread among many MMOs.

[kyuven]

I wanna say that it's more likely someone playing an MMO in 2003 was likely not someone who started with WoW (which came out in 2004, iirc). While WoW garnered a whole new interest in the MMO genre, specifically from western audiences. Because of WoW's size and popularity, a lot of terms could be derived specifically from it's playerbase and not just a general 'era' of gaming. I wouldn't be surprised at all if this or another survey indicated some, if not many, WoW-only terms that some may have thought were more widespread among many MMOs.

That's pretty much what I was getting at, but I'm fairly certain "toon" predates WoW by quite a margin (as Toontown Online used "toon" as an actual gameplay term and predates WoW) so it didn't fit my example.

[Kallera]

That's pretty much what I was getting at, but I'm fairly certain "toon" predates WoW by quite a margin (as Toontown Online used "toon" as an actual gameplay term and predates WoW) so it didn't fit my example.

Iirc, "toon" is from Dungeons and Dragons, Everquest used the term too.

[tsunderehatter]

Snip

Yes, I know I could have done much better, but this isn't for anything serious, so I'm kind of half-assing it and putting more focus in work for other classes of mine. The questions are stupidly general on purpose and are fulfilling what I need. We were just required to do a survey and I really didn't want to, I prefer observing the speech behaviors myself. If I had more time, I would take your suggestions for sure and have done a better job, but I actually rather dislike the subject of linguistics and definitely not continue with it.

[Niwashi]

I wanna say that it's more likely someone playing an MMO in 2003 was likely not someone who started with WoW (which came out in 2004, iirc). While WoW garnered a whole new interest in the MMO genre, specifically from western audiences. Because of WoW's size and popularity, a lot of terms could be derived specifically from it's playerbase and not just a general 'era' of gaming. I wouldn't be surprised at all if this or another survey indicated some, if not many, WoW-only terms that some may have thought were more widespread among many MMOs.

Many terms that WoW uses have become widespread. I've never played WoW directly and the two games I have extensively played called organizations of players "Kinships" and "Free Companies", and they both have different in-game meanings for the word "guild". Yet I still recognize "guild" as the common industry-wide term for the concept. Now, it's true that WoW didn't originate that, but I'm pretty sure WoW's use of it influenced it becoming so widespread, used even while playing games that have a different game-specific term for it.

[SlyTribal]

I use "Aggro" to denote the initial detection by the mob to the player/party.
I use "hate" to denote the priority value a mob has from player actions, when a person "has hate", at the very least, the mob is targeting that person with auto attacks, usually they are the target of far more, but hate 's value can also extend to other party members, who can be the target of secondary attacks based on how much hate they have.

Whenever I'm in a party for whatever, and someone comments that tank should "Control Aggro/Take Aggro back", it really really bugs the hell out of me, because for so many years I have used the terms as you have, the FFXI way. Annoys me just as much as the term 'toon' which others have already shared their disgust of.

[Zplinter]

"Bacon is Salty" Right?

Drats I said Bacon is Supreme

[Ashkendor]

"Bacon is Salty" Right?

Drats I said Bacon is Supreme

My guess was "Bacon is Scrumptious". :c

[kyuven]

guild

Actually it was probably EverQuest (and maybe UO) that started the popularity of the word "guild," and WoW actually latched on to that for their own systems.
See, WoW is actually the first blizzard property to really make use of the term in such a way. Equivalent organizations in older Blizzard games were usually called "clans." Calling them "guilds" was something that cropped up in the early MMOs, and has kinda stuck since then. In fact FFXI was the EXCEPTION back then in that it called its system "linkshells"

Yes, I know I could have done much better, but this isn't for anything serious, so I'm kind of half-assing it and putting more focus in work for other classes of mine. The questions are stupidly general on purpose and are fulfilling what I need. We were just required to do a survey and I really didn't want to, I prefer observing the speech behaviors myself. If I had more time, I would take your suggestions for sure and have done a better job, but I actually rather dislike the subject of linguistics and definitely not continue with it.

If you want, you can take the questions I posted and use those for your assignment.
Personally I like linguistics (I've got a minor in it as of next month and would've majored in it had I not found Japanese) but I can understand why people hate it.
"It's like this, except when it's not" as applied to a scientific field