researchblogblog

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un-edited. raw footage.

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brainstorming.

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TIPS - To do more of:

Continue researching, keep in mind the gender, and competitive to casual comfy gamers. try to find certain types and question specifically to them.

Make more references to a reading within my writing. find a reading and implement it into my further writings.

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class presentation

I Interviewed people who are playing borderlands across many different platforms and in different countries

Started chatting publicly within general chat on their servers, but after the first interview, the second interviewee suggested moving to private dm. this proved to be more secure and people were more relaxed about talking at length.

Results;

Borderland is an action role-playing first-person looter shooter video game franchise set in a space Western science fantasy setting, it can be described as located in  rough almost post apocalyptic landscapes with bandits who have malicious psychotic intent which can appear quite comedic.

it was interesting to note that everyone played for the same reasons

everyone feels that the game is basically a good game, the majority of the game was the same experience, but what a player could do was to individualize the game in a minor way to suit their style, but the core of the game remained the same.

It was a good game because:

Well crafted

Content was interesting

Fun

Graphics were good

Good writing

Complexity that continues to be a challenge and can be taken from many angles

There was consensus in the quality of the game and why people played it but what was interesting was the differences in the servers and the communities on which the game was played. It was interesting to notice the differences between the servers that I was sourcing for interviews, it ranged from

veterans server, who had very clear precise strict rules

corporately owned official server that was very safe and kid friendly, very moderated, but sterile, appears to cater towards the public audience rather than the most dedicated of fans.

Community made server, which was the oldest server, and the most dedicated to playing the borderland games, having server roles and rooms specific to the type of hardware and specific game you owned

The pond server, generalist to games and dedicated to weed, this server is catered for gamers who played extensively long duration of hours, the rules were unspecified and exceptionally relaxed.

Roleplay servers (many), I played around with the idea of playing a character as the interviewer in-world so as to not impose, but felt that even if I did my best the information obtained might not be honest.

Borderlands

Observation of the servers communities in relation to the game

The veteran server was very populated a lot of the time, having most of their server people online. I never ended up posting in this as I felt it not my place to do so, I was not the target audience.

The official server was fast paced with every person chatting 1-3 words at a time in fast succession, not as welcoming feeling as the others, but this was the only place I explicitly had someone tell me “cos bad” to shut down any conversation. The few people I saw here felt younger than those I interacted with on other servers.

Oldest community made server, here there was a well structured system organizing the players with the most active people playing the game and pinging for questions.

Smaller community made server, much more laid back, this one had a complicated rule procedure that many didn’t ever seem to figure out, and if the person didn’t go through that procedure everyone could tell that they hadn’t read the rules yet, if the person didn’t complete it within a certain timeframe then they would be kicked from the server, this lead people to be more hostile to anyone yet to go through with said procedure but welcoming to those who did bother to figure it out.

The pond, a weed server filled with very free individuals

Roleplay servers that I never entered

a helping server that someone else had asked for an interview prior in, this one I got no reply from, but the owner seemed very welcoming however dead the small server was, I did get an immediate message welcoming me but they seemed to be a single person server.

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INTERVIEWEE 6

INTERVIEWEE 6 — Yesterday at 23:07 yooooo gotta have aboout 1500hrs in the series [23:07] gimee thems questions 16 April 2024

apon — Today at 00:04 How long have you been playing the game and how regularly?

Is it a familiarity, the experience or something else that keeps you coming back? or the story, maybe the good mechanics?

On a scale of 1 – 5 how much do you enjoy this game compared to your other games?

What is your playstyle?

and lastly what do you think of borderlands 3?

INTERVIEWEE 6 — Today at 03:25 How long have you been playing the game and how regularly? Borderlands 1 was my first taste of a shooter so since I was about 10 or so, although I absolutely fell in love with 2 after playing it. I find myself revisiting the series a couple of times a year, its always fun for me to pick up and play here and there Is it a familiarity, the experience or something else that keeps you coming back? or the story, maybe the good mechanics? For me its the gameplay, weapons systems, rng, and most importantly to me the feeling of powerscaling, I love the grind of feeling my character get stronger as I play, I'll grind to the ends of the earth of a perfect DPUH and barely use the damn thing aside from a little because yeah sweet now im strong but its the journey I enjoy there. I tend to play more borderlands 3 than 2 these days as ive literally 100% 2 oh so many times at this point. I tend to play 2 with people im introducing to the series however On a scale of 1 – 5 how much do you enjoy this game compared to your other games? Absolutely a 5, for me it brings a sense of nostalgia as well as theres always something in front of you to shoot at What is your playstyle? Mordecai, Zer0, Fl4K hmmm starting to see a pattern, Love a good jakobs weapon, crits and sniping has always felt so satisfying in the series. and lastly what do you think of borderlands 3? It has its quirks and the writing definitively doesn't stand up to 2 but god the movement and gunplay scratches an itch for me absolutely. Id say my personal ranking of the games would be 2, ttw, 3, tps, 1. It does feel wrong putting 1 that low but it just doesnt stand up these days, I think tiny tinas wonderlands is really quite fun and fresh. [03:25] sorry if thats alot butt fuckinnnn hyperfixation thanks for the q's hope it goes well

apon — Today at 08:15 thanks, and no it's perfect

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INTERVIEWEE 5

INTERVIEWEE 5 — Today at 22:54 I’ll do it

apon — Today at 22:56 hi [22:56] How long have you been playing the game and how regularly?

Is it a familiarity, the experience or something else that keeps you coming back? or the story, maybe the good mechanics?

On a scale of 1 – 5 how much do you enjoy this game compared to your other games?

What is your playstyle?

and lastly what do you think of borderlands 3?

INTERVIEWEE 5 — Today at 00:56 I played the game when it came out and then played it again fully this past year, meaning the whole story, side quests, DLCs and got every trophy ( which involves multiple partial play throughs and online co-op gaming). Now I’d say I play it very minimally 1/2 times a month to help other players with bosses or co-op challenges. The next time I play it in full will be after I play the newer games again. Just played bl3 again, now I’m playing TPS so after that bl2 and then bL1 again [00:57] I would say what keeps me coming back is the story and familiarity. The game play mechanics are fun in juxtaposition to the newer games cause it feels like a raw or bare bones version. [00:59] Out of a scale of 5 I would say all the BL games are a 5 to me, I love the universes stories and game mechanics. Compared to the other BL games I’d say bL1 is a 3/4 [01:02] My play style is focused in 2 ways, either I try to make a very balanced build that is focused on survivablity or a build that is focused on using a certain aspects of the skill trees or certain type of damage. I also love the art style of I like to look at every part of a map and even take screenshots of different elements and post them on a instagram account named REDACTED

INTERVIEWEE 5 — Today at 01:06 I absolutely love bl3, the graphics are amazing and the after game play style is super fun. I think compared to some of the other stories part of bl3s narrative can feel like flat line with less twists and variety until later in the story. I think a lot of the hate bl3 gets is more cause people have a sense of nostalgia from bl2 that keeps them focused on their expectations from that game. I do think bl3 is setting up some bigger plot with eridian lore and is more of a middle story kinda like TPS was.

apon — Today at 01:16 thankyou for answering my questions so diligently

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refined introduction

Hey, I'm doing research for an assignment in my game design course, on borderlands 1 and 2 and was wondering if anyone would be willing to answer a few questions? anonymously of course. the topic is "Why do people continue to go back and play decade old games?" dm me if you'd be willing to answer my 6 short questions.

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meh, really bland this one..

person 5

Top 3 Answers will be: Because new games are expensive Because I have nostalgia for these old games from my childhood Because some youtuber told me that this old game is better than the new one so I gotta listen to them or their comment section and Twitch chat will crucify me for existing

apon — Today at 22:21 could i dm you six short questions?

person 5 — Today at 22:22 just jot me down for the first one

apon — Today at 22:24 just to clarify, does that mean no more? or you want to see the first of the six lol

Today at 22:27

i'll take that as a no then.

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INTERVIEWEE 4

INTERVIEWEE 4 — Yesterday at 23:55 Hi I’d answer questions (: 14 April 2024

apon — Today at 10:28 How long have you been playing the game and how regularly?

Is it a familiarity, the experience or something else that keeps you coming back? or the story, maybe the good mechanics?

On a scale of 1 – 5 how much do you enjoy this game compared to your other games?

What is your playstyle?

and lastly what do you think of borderlands 3?

INTERVIEWEE 4 — Today at 14:59 I’ve been playing the game around 6 years and I still play it regularly when I have the chance to

I wouldn’t say its the familiarity that keeps me coming back but rather that I love the first two games, I love the mechanics of borderlands and the looting I think the game has infinite replay value because of the how each character and play style is unique while almost every gun is unique there are so many interesting builds and combinations to grind for and the games are just packed with content like 6 years later and there’s still new stuff I do in bl1 and 2 there’s just no other game like that I know of.Also I absolutely love the story in 2 the story in 1 isn’t as good imo but still good.

I’d say 5 bl2 is one of my favorite games ever

It varies depending on what character I play as but I always love making high crit damage builds or sniper builds so I love to play as zero or mordecai

I liked borderlands 3 and had fun with it I think the gameplay is good but the story kinda sucked and the villains are annoying, also I don’t like how easy it is to get legendaries it makes the grind feel less rewarding and less fun tbh so I like bl3 but not as much as the other 2 games (edited)

apon — Today at 16:31 thanks for your time

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INTERVIEWEE 3

INTERVIEWEE 3 — Yesterday at 23:58 I’ll answer your question 14 April 2024

INTERVIEWEE 3 — Today at 00:08 People come back to these games because they’ve had them as part of their childhood often times these games hold nostalgia outside of nostalgic factors these are said to be the best in the series to a fair majority of the community more so in borderlands 2’s case opposed to the first one I’ll break them down individually the first one was what started it all off it’s not polished and the story is not just amazing nostalgia carries the first borderlands pretty handily but that being said it’s not bad in any way it had no super defining gameplay mechanics or things to speak on but in that case it has very little you can say that’s bad about it as for borderlands 2 fantastic story design wonderful pace amazingly fun guns this has mountains and mountains of positives to state but it’s not perfect it does have its flaws such as it’s OP mechanic which by all means is its weakest attribute to an added difficulty system and to take something on the newer side of the borderlands franchise borderlands 3 while it’s not bad by any means and in fact it adds quite a bit to improve the flow of movement throughout the game but the story has some major pacing issues and that’s quite a hard negative to have as a game that saps replay ability the story isn’t half bad bosses are cool even if they are a bit easy it has a lot of positives here and honestly not many negatives but it falters in ways that really hit it hard opposed to these older games that at face value play a bit worse or look worse or maybe not even have as much content but the content that does stand there speaks for itself as to why the community comes back

apon — Today at 10:30 thanks for the in-depth answers, if you'd still be up for some questions:

How long have you been playing the game and how regularly?

Is it a familiarity, the experience or something else that keeps you coming back? or the story, maybe the good mechanics?

On a scale of 1 – 5 how much do you enjoy this game compared to your other games?

What is your playstyle?

and lastly what do you think of borderlands 3?

INTERVIEWEE 3 — Today at 18:25 How long have I played: I played every since the first borderlands came out and I religiously played it until the second came out then religiously played that for years the pre sequel I come back to every once in a while to mess about I spent around 400 hours on borderlands 3 don’t really come back to it these days but maybe sometime in the future I might and tiny Tina’s wonderlands was a big flop for my personal preference I played it maybe 100 hours and don’t plan to go back to it [18:28] What keeps me coming back to these games is great story fun mechanics and grindy game in nature of which I love familiarity definitely plays a role in why it’s so easy to come back to them [18:30] How much do I love borderlands 2 over other games on the scale of 1-5 it’s definitely a 4 over every game franchise apart from fallout of which I hold in just as high of a regard as borderlands [18:30] My play style varies with playing the same franchise for so many years you sort of adapt to all play styles to keep things interesting

apon — Today at 18:31 great replies, thanks for your time and i hope i wasn't too much of a bother

INTERVIEWEE 3 — Today at 18:32 What do I think of borderlands 3? I do believe it’s actually a good game taking everything together at face value it improves movement gunplay is fun story is decent difficulty is on the easier side but that’s not a horrible thing it allows for newer players into the franchise to enjoy it though the flaws it does have it makes the game way worse than if it where to have different flaws such as the story pacing its paced so poorly it makes it draining and hard to do further play throughs I don’t fancy the vault hunters in the game though that being said that’s fully personal to me

INTERVIEWEE 3 — Today at 18:33 Nah not at all I enjoy borderlands

apon — Today at 18:33 same

INTERVIEWEE 3 — Today at 18:35 Did you need anything else on the matter?

apon — Today at 18:35 no, that should be all

INTERVIEWEE 3 — Today at 19:00 Wonderful glad to be of service

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quick format questions

How long have you been playing the game and how regularly?

Is it a familiarity, the experience or something else that keeps you coming back? or the story, maybe the good mechanics?

On a scale of 1 – 5 how much do you enjoy this game compared to your other games?

What is your playstyle?

and lastly what do you think of borderlands 3?

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INTERVEWEE 2

Hey, I'm doing research for an assignment in my game design course, on borderlands 1 and 2 and was wondering if anyone would be willing to answer a few questions? anonymously of course. the topic is "Why do people continue to go back and play decade old games?" dm me if you'd be willing.

INTERVIEWEE 2 — Today at 23:03 cause they’re good [23:03] the end

apon — Today at 23:04 would you be up to answering some more on this?

INTERVIEWEE 2 — Today at 23:04 yea [23:04] Sure y not I’m bored

apon — Today at 23:05 How long have you been playing the game and how regularly?

INTERVIEWEE 2 — Today at 23:05 I thought this was meant to be in dms!!!!!!

apon — Today at 23:06 sure

INTERVIEWEE 2 — Today at 23:04 questions are fun I love questions

apon — Today at 23:06 my bad, how long have you been playing the game, and how regularly

INTERVIEWEE 2 — Today at 23:07 ermm I think I started playing them like 4 ish years ago and I play them maybe for like uhhh a few hours a week idk (edited)

apon — Today at 23:07 cool [23:08] is it a familiarity, the experience or something else that keeps you coming back? or the story, maybe the good mechanics?

INTERVIEWEE 2 — Today at 23:09 Probably familiarity & more simple mechanics [23:09] My ass is stupid

apon — Today at 23:09 On a scale of 1 – 5 how much do you enjoy this game compared to your other games?

INTERVIEWEE 2 — Today at 23:10 4

apon — Today at 23:10 what is your playstyle? and lastly what do you think of borderlands 3?

INTERVIEWEE 2 — Today at 23:11 Ermmm I like using stuff like the characters with turrets and elemental damage I guess [23:11] and borderlands 3 is alright [23:11] not as good though [23:11] better gameplay but the graphics seem weird [23:11] And the story.

apon — Today at 23:11 cool, thanks for answering my questions [23:11] that'l be all

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INTERVEWEE 1

apon — Today at 22:04 Hey, I'm doing research for an assignment in my game design course, on borderlands 1 and 2 and was wondering if anyone would be willing to answer a few questions? anonymously of course. the topic is "Why do people continue to go back and play decade old games?"

INTERVEWEE 1 — Today at 22:05 Because some are great and age doesn’t take away from how good they are.. I’ve 100% Borderlands 1 3 times

apon — Today at 22:06 i have more questions if you'd be willing INTERVEWEE 1, only like five or six

INTERVEWEE 1 — Today at 22:06 Feel free to message me..

apon — Today at 22:07 How long have you been playing the game for?

INTERVEWEE 1 — Today at 22:07 I’ve got a question myself - I never 100% BL2 and picked it up after like 8 years since I first played it and I’m stunned at how hard it is.. is it just me lol?

INTERVEWEE 1 — Today at 22:07 First picked up Borderlands in 2012 I think..

apon — Today at 22:08 no, it can really get hard at times, i myself have never 100%ed it. do you come back regularly?

INTERVEWEE 1 — Today at 22:09 Back to games? No, generally I’m a completionist.. [22:09] But some games, they have to be played again when they are that good..

apon — Today at 22:09 so does that mean you never put it down? or never return to it once youve finished it?

SERVER MOD — Today at 22:09 read the rules

INTERVEWEE 1 — Today at 22:11 Depends on the game.

apon — Today at 22:12 is it a familiarity, the experience or something else that keeps you coming back? or the story, maybe the good mechanics?

apon — Today at 22:14 On a scale of 1 – 5 how much do you enjoy this game compared to your other games? (edited)

INTERVEWEE 1 — Today at 22:17 4.5

apon — Today at 22:17 damn, same score i gave it [22:18] what is your playstyle? and lastly what do you think of borderlands 3? (edited)

apon — Today at 22:22 last questions and im outta your hair ^^

INTERVEWEE 1 — Today at 22:23 Not played BL3 in a long time, I need to get back to it at some point but it was a good game..

Play-style changes really depending on my mood..

apon — Today at 22:25 cool, thanks for answering my questions, now i only need to interview 9 more.. rip me lol

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13th April,

Refinement of question

"Why do people continue to go back and play decade old games?"

Is it due to the experience, familiarity or sense of community

This topic will be explored using borderlands 1 (2009), and 2 (2012)

Speak to at least 10 players on discord about their experience with borderlands 1 and 2, after having stated my purpose and obtained their consent for me to use their conversation in my assignment.

Potentially play the game with one of the discord people using my existing account.

Upload this stuff to a blog page, dating the entries.

what semi-structured interview (week 2 topic) questions you might ask 10 players on their experience that will speak to the significance of this game/world/experience on them.

How long have you been playing the game

How regularly do you play the game

Why do you come back to playing the game

Is it because you feel familiar to the game

Is it the experience

Is it because it is a well rounded game

Is it the storyline

Is it the style

Or is it the community

Other reasons

Is it the storyline

On a scale of 1 – 5 how much do you enjoy this game compared to your other games?

What is your playstyle

Parkour

Trophy hunter 100%

Hardmode

General

Speedrun

Roleplay

Other

What do you think of borderlands 3

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28th-ish,

ASSIGNMENT 2 – Synopsis over research blog & project analysis thus far

[fill in each section below] Your project

Student name & S#:

Tutorial day/time:

Link to research blog:

 Ewan Gray s3931139

Thursday 9:30

www.

1. Major project topic and project description: 

•              Title & Cleary state what you are studying & what you have set out to achieve/understand.

 Borderlands: comparison of games 1-2 with Borderlands 3

To explore why there is a very distinct difference between Borderlands 1 (2009), 2 (2012) with Borderlands 3  (2019)

2. Main research questions? 

•              What are the main questions you are asking & addressing in your study

 What are the basic underlying characteristics and themes of borderlands 1-2.

 how and why was this changed in 3.

What was the impact on players interest.

3. Where has this research take place (field sites) & what methods have you used (observations? Interviews?

System analysis? etc.)  

Where & how have you done (or are still doing) your study thus far?

Why are these methods suitable to draw insights about your topic from these field sites/participants?

 Discord chat group

Reviews

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21st of march, week 3 first inquiry notes.

“Follow the controversy”

what do I want to get from this?

Playing games that don't want you to play

games that need tutorials without them

games in other languages not understood

games with unstable mechanics

mute games

and versus given experience “tutorials”

what games could I play?

Strategy / army games

card games

moba games

can I get what I need in a month?

Age of mythong

company of heroes

northguard

day Z*

rust*

Titanfall 2

star craft

path of exile

Diablo 3

Monster Hunter

among us***

Final Fantasy online

arma 3**

Microsoft flight SIM

Dota 2**

Wow

Runescape

Hearthstone

Guild wars 2

"Earned versus given experience" or "continuing to play games beyond their desired means."