Having people play video game remotely

[snow14]

I am a grad student getting ready to do my dissertation research, and I have been struggling for a solution to my problem.

I would like to have participants fill out some questionnaires, play a video game, and complete a computerized task. I would like the study to be fairly self contained and able to be done remotely, i.e. I don't want to have each participant come in personally.

The main issue is how they could play the video game. They would be playing a mod of DOOM II, and I would like them to be able to use their keyboard and mouse, and have half decent graphics (full screen preferably). Also, I would like to have control over the game settings on my side and have some way of recording some of the game data (not the gameplay, e.g. video, but things like kills, deaths, etc.). Ideally, I would post this on Mechanical Turk and have multiple people participating at any one time.

I am not too concerned with cost (I am fairly certain I could get a sizable grant to conduct the research), so don't hold back just because your suggestion might be very expensive.

Also, I posted this before and got an email telling me to follow the rules regarding posting. However, I can not figure out why it was removed. Can anyone tell me why this might be breaking the rules or tell me how to contact the people who remove these posts so I can figure it out?

 

[ssddx]

dont
6. Ask for help on completing homework assignments. We are happy to help you learn something new, but we won’t do your work for you!

likely one of the other mods flagged it for removal since it appears to be homework related. i have to agree that it sounds like some sort of IT related thesis and you're looking for an easy answer. now, this could certainly be wrong but that is how it appears. given that you left out key points such as the purpose of the research, topic being researched and other such information its questionable. a grant for people to play d2? that part also sounds sketchy.

if you feel that is in error, feel free to provide some more information.

 

[snow14]

Ohh I see.

This is a technical issue I have run into while in the planning stages of the dissertation research for a Ph.D. in Social Psychology. I would like to collect the data over the internet and would prefer to not explain the entire design; however, I can give some more information.

Generally, I am studying the effects of playing video games on emotions. The university I am at pretty much guarantees grants for dissertation research, and it would actually just be to cover expenses of the research, although the participants would be paid for taking part which would include playing the game.

The mod of the game I am using has 2 factors, each with 2 levels, for example one factor is general difficulty one level being easier than the other. Again, I would prefer not to go into it in a public forum. If a moderator would like more information, I would be happy to provide it, just not in a public forum.

I have spoken with the IT help people at my university, but they were not very helpful and, I think, not as knowledgeable as they could be.

If no solution can be found, then I will end up bringing in participants one or two at a time and have them play it in a lab setting. I would much prefer to be able to have people all over the US take part from what ever computer they are at.

Hopefully, that was sufficient enough to keep this thread from being removed.