Quote Originally Posted by Canadane View Post
People can lie in real life too.
I'd like to think the majority do not.

Any chance of an email Q&A Dovaeques?
Or if everyone will be asked the same things, why not a google form survey?
Google form survey would definitely be a very convenient method. Unfortunately a survey is usually used for getting simple information in a quick way. I'm more interested in what people think and how they describe various aspects of the game and in such cases an interview is recommended by the literature. But I can ask my thesis advisor and let you know if such a thing would be possible/accepted.

Quote Originally Posted by Crevan View Post
I imagine you're going to do some sort of thematic analysis and it would be a type semi-structured interview?
I am curious as to what the aims your thesis are, and what perspectives in particular are you looking at and why? Is this specific to Final Fantasy XIV, or are you looking at MMORPGs in general or just MMOGs?

Also if people are lying you would be generally able to tell as there has been a large amount of work done on the gaming motivations. If they are so absurdly outside the norm it will be easy to tell, or if someone has something that is generally believable but fake, then that would be a limitation of the data collection method.

Sounds like an interesting project though. I can recommend reading Nick Yee's 'Proteus Paradox' and Jamie Madigan's 'Getting Gamers' for some really digestible information. Though I am sure that you have read up on a number of things in your literature review.
Good Luck!
Precisely. This would be a semi-structured interview - the questions themselves are planned, but there is no script or other additional rules/forms etc.

I wish to find out how gamers (of Final Fantasy XIV) describe the act of playing the game and various aspects associated with it. In other words, the aim of my thesis is to present the social world of Final Fantasy XIV, including the gamers' motivations and opinions.

Thank you for the recommendations and I can confirm that I have already included some things in my literature review (maybe too many ).