By Angelo Baute
If you ever wondered if who you are as a person reflects how you play a game, you might be interested in what you’re about to read. A research project called “PsyOps: Battlefield 3 CLASSIFIED” is trying to find if there’s a link between personality and play style. Check out the video outlining the study’s premise.
Aside from the intense music and dramatic readings of The Art of War, I was really intrigued about this study. I think Battlefield 3 is a great choice to a conduct research project based on gameplay. First, it is a very popular game, meaning there’s a great pool of subjects from a variety of geographical locations on whom to conduct research. While I assume most of the people playing Battlefield 3 are your typical 18-34 male demographic, it is possible to get a sizable group to represent the female gamer from 6 million active gamers (right…?).
Second, there are tons of tracked statistics for the game, like weapon statistics, k/d ratios, and SPM, that provide a great foundation for baseline data. Personally for me, this has been one of the most appealing aspect of the Battlefield series. I love statistics, turning those stats into charts and graphs, noticing trends and comparing myself to other players. I often visit bf3stats.com, which is basically a stat-obsessed BF3 player’s wet dream, and it was actually from their website that I heard about this research project. In fact, they’re collaborating with PsyOps by providing the gameplay data for the study.
Lastly, among the numerous military FPS’s out there, Battlefield 3 is the one game where one’s personality could shine through. It’s a fast-paced game of rock-paper-scissors and a very thoughtful game of chess in really competitive matches. There are different classes, vehicles, and weapons with many different possible loadouts and it is this level of customization that can allow for people to find their own play style.
The test, which was basically the Meyer-Briggs Personality Test, consists of 100 questions and scored you on the strengths of five categories: Intellect/Imagination, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Emotional Stability. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to contribute to science so I took the test and here were my results:
No huge surprises really, especially regarding my introversion (I am a nerd so….). The report also gave a more detailed description of each trait, as well as what the researchers hope to find. For example, they predict snipers tend to posses less intellect/imagination (true) and people who play the objective more tend to be more conscientious (debatable).
The researchers will start analyzing the date next month, and will publicly announce the results (which means the “CLASSIFIED” part of their research name means nothing). If you would like to learn more about the project, the details of each trait, or even participate by taking the test, visit the website at psyopsresearch.com.
Possibly Related Posts:
- Xbox Dun: Why Microsoft’s New Console Reveal Nearly Put Me to Sleep
- Retro Revisits: Quattro Adventure
- ChronoBlade Could Be the Best Facebook Game to Date
- Sneak, Stab, It’s All in the Mind!
- Unfortunately Underrated Games: Condemned: Criminal Origins
