Hello everyone, I am currently preparing an academical paper as part of my PhD courses concerning Agile Project Management and Open Innovation, which I am hoping to present at one of upcoming conferences. Ai War and AVWW, in my opinion, represent both of these concepts exceptionally well. First let me roughly define these terms for those, who haven't encountered them yet:
Agile Project Management basically means, that instead of providing the customer with the finished product at a specified date, you have them take a look and try new versions as you develop them. This allows you to get feedback and incorporate it into your project. It also allows for things like user interface to be agreed upon early.
Open Innovation is a concept, that looks for innovation outside of a company. Often the users of a product have great ideas on how to improve it. Open Innovation tries to get those ideas from these leading edge consumers and utilize them to innovate the product for everyone.
In AI War and AVWW, Agile PM is manifested in the patch schedule (lots of little patches allowing for steady feedback and prompt corrections). Open Innovation happens every time one of your ideas gets implemented - be it new ships, new features, balance changes, anything that originates in the community basically.
I would like to show that these two concepts greatly enhance customer experience and are the way of doing things the industry in general should adopt. To do that, I would like to ask players of AI War or AVWW the following questions:
1) How long have you been playing AI War? (optional)
2) How long have you been playing AVWW (optional)
3) Do you prefer a few big patches with large variety of content or a lot of small patches that add content incrementally but can also contain new bugs?
4) Do you feel more inclined to spend money on expansions or future games by the same developer after a patch with desirable features comes out?
5a) Do you have ideas that would, in your opinion, benefit AI War or AVWW?
5b) If so, have you suggested them?
6a) Have any of your suggestions (or suggestions where you positively voiced your opinion) been adopted?
6b) If so, do you afterwards feel more inclined to spend money on expansions or future games by the same developer?
7) Do you feel communication between the developer and the community is important?
Does adequate communication between the developer and the community make you feel more inclined to buy expansions or future games by the same developer?
9) If you bought both games at different times, did you buy the second one because you liked its features (gameplay/graphics/longetivity/etc.) or because you liked its background (patch support, communication, listening to feedback) or both?
If you could please reply with your answers to at least questions 3-9, it would help me, and I hope Arcen Games in general, greatly. Feel free to discuss your answers too, of course! Thank you and have fun both in game and out!
P.S. I am posting a similar survey in other game forums to accurately judge people's opinions, since results from just one game are bound to be skewed. Also excuse my English, as it is not at an academical level =)
