Hi guys, can you help me with a research paper?

1. Are you male or female?
Female

2. What ATs do you mostly play, and for what reason(s)?
Mostly damage types (Blasters, Brutes, Scrappers) with some control and support. When I started the game I was strictly ranged ATs, now I'm more willing to go to melee even with blasters as I've gotten to understand the mechanics better (and gotten braver). I simply don't remember that I have buffs/debuffs to use without being reminded to stop attacking and use my buffs/debuffs so I tend to avoid the support ATs unless I'm on a team that understands that I don't dislike buffing/debuffing I simply get locked into my mindset of ATTACK!!! and they're willing to remind me of debuffs and buffs as needed.

3. Redside, blueside, purpleside, or any combination of the above?
All of the above really.

4. What are your favorite story arcs?
The AV heavy ones in general, until GR and Praetoria I had stopped reading the story text years ago after having seen it all dozens of times. So the AV heavy arcs became my favorites as they offered more challenge without the chaos of "raid" style encounters. Right now I think my favorite redside arc though is Kelly Uqua's arc where failing nets one result and succeeding another - and I'm not as fond of the success result story wise for my characters so I intentionally fail the final mission.

5. What makes you like this game?
That I can solo almost all of it. I come from a background of heavy casual gaming and solo console gaming. I also like that the configuration options allow for my to use a gamepad for movement and attacking. It is more limited than keyboard/mouse only play but I've learned to juggle all three devices very well over the years.

6. What other games do you play?
Casual games - no other MMOs. Plants vs Zombies, Portal, otherwise I'm currently on a time management game kick, but also play match 3, marble popper, word, puzzle, hidden object, etc.

7. How long have you been playing?
69-70 months (2 accounts)

8. How many alts do you have, what is the average level range, and how many are level 50?
60+ alts across all servers, most on Protector (the non-protector ones don't get played as much and are much lower level by comparison) so for a more accurate assessment call it about 36 characters played regularly on Protector. Most of my characters are level 50 on protector, about 30 are over level 45, about 27 of those are 50. The lower level characters average in the teens but are almost exclusively on servers I don't visit as often.

9. Do you bother with softcaps, set bonuses, and all that numerical stuff? What difficulty settings to you normally use?
Some. I don't softcap unless I'm already going to be close with my regular slotting - then I might push it a little by choosing different sets to get the best bonuses to softcap but it isn't required for me. I utilize some set bonuses and the others don't factor into my thinking when setting up builds. I do some number crunching when up for it, but truthfully my husband and I work out most of my builds together - of the two of us he's simply better at the numbers side of it so I tell him what I want the toon to be built strong for and he helps make it happen within my budget for the toon as best he can. Difficulty depends very heavily on the toon - I have some at default and others maxed out on difficulty - I don't tend to try pushing beyond the capabilities for fast defeat rates. For me when playing regular missions - I go for speed instead of difficulty, so I try to find a balance of the two that gets the best return on speed for the difficulty.

1. Are you male or female?
Female

2. What ATs do you mostly play, and for what reason(s)?
Tanks/Brutes/Scrappers/Stalkers (for solo play); Blasters (for solo/team play); Defenders/Controllers/Dominators (for team play)

3. Redside, blueside, purpleside, or any combination of the above?
mainly blueside

4. What are your favorite story arcs?
I love the ITF, honestly. It's a good arc and a good time.

5. What makes you like this game?
The community and the involvement of the devs.

6. What other games do you play?
Table Top: D & D, Shadowrun, Rifts, Call of Cthulu, Vampire: the Masquerade, Changling: the Dreaming, Werewolf: the Apocolypse
PC/Video: WoW, Guild Wars, Diablo II, Age of Mythology... that's all, for now, until I can get my hands on some other gaming platforms.

7. How long have you been playing?
CoX = 4 years; Gaming in general = 10+ years

8. How many alts do you have, what is the average level range, and how many are level 50?
I think I have 20 alts? Most of them are in the 20-30 range, or the 40-50 range.

9. Do you bother with softcaps, set bonuses, and all that numerical stuff? What difficulty settings to you normally use?
I have other people do my number crunching. And, when I remember that I can change my difficulty settings, depending on the type of character I'm running, it'll be anywhere from +2x2 to the max.

Also, something you may be interested in is the Daedalus Project. Ten years worth of gamer research. Good luck!!

1. Are you male or female?

Male.

2. What ATs do you mostly play, and for what reason(s)?

Masterminds for the "Wow that was cool" factor, Defenders because I love force multipliers (I'm in several Defender-only SGs that are a lot of fun), and Scrappers for their straightforward balance of power and defense. I play nearly every other AT as well, but those are my top three.

3. Redside, blueside, purpleside, or any combination of the above?

I play all factions roughly equally -- blue, red, and now Praetorian yellow/gray.

4. What are your favorite story arcs?

The "Television" arc in CoV is fun for sheer goofy pop-culture weirdness. Gaussian's arc in the RWZ is fun for the challenge (renegade Vanguard seem to be the nastiest critters in the game in my mind), and I never get tired of the four arcs in Faultline from 15-25, because of the interesting NPCs you encounter and fight there, Fusionette aside.

5. What makes you like this game?

It's fun, and I enjoy leveling characters up and see them grow in strength.

6. What other games do you play?

Currently? Civilization V, Shadow Hearts: Covenant, Modnation Racers, and Defense Grid: The Awakening. There are others, but those draw me in first. No other MMO's currently, but I've played Aion (pretty, but didn't like the gameplay), Star Trek Online (love the ship combat, but the game needs polish overall), and World of Warcraft (I'm not just not into raiding or PVP). I'm definitely going to play Star Wars: The Old Republic when that hits.

7. How long have you been playing?

I've been playing City of Heroes for... (checks vet rewards) 69+ months now.

8. How many alts do you have, what is the average level range, and how many are level 50?

Too many alts to count, at least half the servers are nearly full, and Virtue and Freedom have a fair number of extra slots bought and filled. I'd say most of them are in the 15-30 range. I only have three fifties... the first was an MA/SR scrapper, the second was a Bots/Traps mastermind, and the third was a DarkMiasma/Radblast defender. I've got a couple other defenders and a Peacebringer in the 40's, though.

9. Do you bother with softcaps, set bonuses, and all that numerical stuff? What difficulty settings to you normally use?

I can never keep the numbers straight, honestly, and don't really try. I'm practiced enough with the game that by the time I get SO's, I usually crank up the difficulty to at least +1 level, and a couple of notches on spawn numbers as well, and am surviving fairly well. I usually keep the lower level content at base difficulty, especially the new Praetorian arcs.

Sure thing!

1. I am male

2. I tend to play melee-oriented ATs (although my main character is a Crab Spider). I like being in the thick of things, and since my D&D days, I've always gravitated toward the "immovable object"/"can take harder hits than anyone else" classes.

3. These days, I'm fairly well spread out. For a while I was predominantly red-side, because I found the design of CoV to be much smoother than that of CoH.

4. Tough one. I really like Dean MacArthur's "Me, Myself, and My Other Selves" arc. I also like Praetorian Penelope Yin's "My Best Friend Rusty" arc.

5. Creation, customization, and exploration. Although I play combat-oriented ATs, I'm much more of a creator and explorer.

6. As far as other MMOs go, none. although I do usually check out most major MMOs that hit the North American market. I'm a PC gamer who doesn't care for first-person shooters, so I don't usually have any sort of "regular" game series. I am currently playing Dead Rising 2.

7. I've been playing since the City of Heroes open beta, back in 2004.

8. I don't have many alts, as I tend to focus on one character at a time (behavior left over from my pen-and-paper RPG days). I have maybe a dozen alts altogether, most usually under level 20. I don't mind deleting characters, so I currently only have 1 active level 50 character aside from my main character.

9. Yes, I do work toward "high-end" builds. This is usually only done at or around 50, however. Until then, I'm content with using Dual-Origin and Single-Origin enhancers up to level 32. From there to 50, I use generic level 35 IOs.

My difficulty range varies based on specific character, level, and current goal. I'll stay on x1/+0 for a good chunk of a character's progression, until I'm fairly confident in what I can do with said character. My level 50 Crab Spider usually runs x8/-1 for the purpose of getting purple recipes. But I'll absolutely turn it down if I need to.

1. Are you male or female?

Female

2. What ATs do you mostly play, and for what reason(s)?

Def, Con, Corr, Masterminds -- Cause I like more aggressive (clicks) rather than passive (toggles) powers. (I tend to take /Poison with my MMs

3. Redside, blueside, purpleside, or any combination of the above?

Yes

4. What are your favorite story arcs?

Haven't really found one yet. I haven't gone through all of them, or slowed down enough to pay attention to everything. So far GR is looking nice with the story arcs.

5. What makes you like this game?

Well first is my RO mates they make the game awesome! Second, is the character creator and the ability it gives me to flesh out my characters with minimal limitation. Third are the powers and stories.

6. What other games do you play?

My gaming time is extremely limited lately. In the past I would play FPS mostly but this game ruined my twitch skills and I haven't gotten them back. So I think the last major game I've played was Plants vs Zombies.

7. How long have you been playing?

5 years in CoH

8. How many alts do you have, what is the average level range, and how many are level 50?

Alts: I have at least 10 alts on 3 servers so 30-40. The average is somewhere in the 30s. 50's at last count I have about 16.

9. Do you bother with softcaps, set bonuses, and all that numerical stuff? What difficulty settings to you normally use?

I have a couple of alts that IO'd out but typically since that's very time consuming I tend to build with common IOs and call it a day. My difficulty settings vary by the team or alt I'm on...I'm not a "set it and forget it" type of player. I adjust based on the team make up.

1. Are you male or female?
Male

2. What ATs do you mostly play, and for what reason(s)?
Tanks because I like to be in the thick of the action, I like to help protect my teammates, and I really, really HATE dying.

3. Redside, blueside, purpleside, or any combination of the above?
Blueside

4. What are your favorite story arcs?
The Freak ones like Freaklympics, and the long Nemesis arc. The new Tip missions are really fun too, I like the sequencing and addition of named characters.

5. What makes you like this game?
I'm a super hero geek, and I like the heroic sense of action and power it gives me. The variety in power sets and costumes is also a big draw for me.

6. What other games do you play?
Animal Crossing (Game Cube) a long time ago, and Red Dead Redemption (PS3) very recently. No other MMOs.

7. How long have you been playing?
6+ years

8. How many alts do you have, what is the average level range, and how many are level 50?
40 alts. I try to keep some at every level but avg is probably the low 30s.
I have 11 50s - 8 tanks, 2 scrappers, 1 brute

9. Do you bother with softcaps, set bonuses, and all that numerical stuff? What difficulty settings to you normally use?
Softcaps & numbers no, but I have set bonuses on 2 of my 50s. No idea if they are the best choices though. Diff settings are usually 0/0 until the mid 30s, then I crank it up to 0/+2 for most of them.

My answers may come off a bit wishy-washy, but hopefully, they'll be helpful to you:

1. Are you male or female?

(checks) Male... no wait... yes, definitely male

2. What ATs do you mostly play, and for what reason(s)?

All ATs. My tournament rules more or less require it. I love challenging myself and playing every AT while rating said performance is one way to do that.

3. Redside, blueside, purpleside, or any combination of the above?

Both, evenly spread.

4. What are your favorite story arcs?

Strangely enough, the Billie Heck mafia arc is one of my favorites, although I almost NEVER imagine the story line in my head the way it actually goes. In my head my characters are taking out the family leaders to advance their own agendas.

Hero side my favorite is likely the entire Faultline (all four contacts) arcs. Mostly because I get a kick out of fighting Lost and Arachnos. That and the Sky Raiders boss is a kick, not to mention Arbiter Elvis.

5. What makes you like this game?

Nothing MAKES me like this game. It's not like Posi is standing behind me with a gun. (checks just to make sure) Nah, I like this game because I have always geeked out on superheroes and this is the perfect place to express that.

6. What other games do you play?

There are other games?

7. How long have you been playing?

Playing with what? Oh! Er, sorry, mind wandered a bit. I've been playing for around 3 years now.

8. How many alts do you have, what is the average level range, and how many are level 50?

Not the question to ask me since I delete and re-create so often. As of right now I have 11 characters between 15th and 23rd level. No 50s... but thanks for rubbing that in.

9. Do you bother with softcaps, set bonuses, and all that numerical stuff? What difficulty settings to you normally use?

Oh yes... I bother with numbers... lots and lots of numbers. Enough to fill about a bajillion spreadsheets.

Difficulty settings are set on a character by character basis. For my stronger characters it starts at 2 man team with bosses at 12th level and adds challenges as the character gets more powerful.

1. Male

2. Scrappers, it seems. Guess I just like their great mix of survivability and damage. I do like the other ATs, too, but I guess it tells something about me when a third of my characters are Scrappers!

3. Mostly blueside. It's where I started and had my SGs, friends, etc. so I really had no incentive to go redside other than the ATs. Now with that gone, I'm mostly playing blueside with a few characters going redside to pick up PPPs and then coming back.

4. I really liked the new Praetorian arcs.

5. It's simple. Even if I only spend an hour a day at it, I can have very effective characters. One of the reasons I quickly left WoW was that it required more time than I had.

6. Currently Civilization V, Halo: Reach and Battlefield Bad Company 2.

7. This game? Just over 5 years.

8. Not sure about the number of alts. Probably about 30-35 if placeholders and such are counted, average level should be in the 30-40 range because I have mostly 50s and then a few lvl 1s and one character I'm actually leveling. I usually only play one character at a time. I have 21 lvl 50s IIRC.

9. I actually like the numerical stuff... I always try to build my characters to be the most effective at what they do. I usually play at the highest difficulty setting that lets me win more than 90% of the time so it changes a lot depending on what I'm playing, but I rarely bother going above +2 enemies because they take too long to defeat so it'll be boring solo.

1. male
2. melee; front-line fighter and meat shield are the roles I find myself most empathetic with
3. blueside
4. The Praetorian War, A Hero's Hero, the Lady Grey Task Force, Statesman's Task Force
5. customizability of both powers and costumes
6. action-adventure, hack-and-slash
7. almost five years
8. 20+ alts; levels 1-20; only 5 are lv50
9. no I do not bother with softcaps, inventions, or much number crunching; anywhere from default difficulty to x8 people (large, easy mobs)

1. Are you male or female? Male

2. What ATs do you mostly play, and for what reason(s)? Mostly support, I like the challenge.

3. Redside, blueside, purpleside, or any combination of the above? Blue/Vig

4. What are your favorite story arcs? To be honest IDC, I like speed TF teams.

5. What makes you like this game? The fun you have trying to mesh on teams

6. What other games do you play? None since I started playing this

7. How long have you been playing? Just about to hit 69 months.

8. How many alts do you have, what is the average level range, and how many are level 50? About 30, average 50, 22 are 50. I tend to play my alts to 50.

9. Do you bother with softcaps, set bonuses, and all that numerical stuff? What difficulty settings to you normally use? When inventions first came out, not so much, the more time goes by, as much as I can.

I hope you post your findings

Sure!

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Originally Posted by flashrains 1. Are you male or female?

Male. I think... I'm pretty sure!

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2. What ATs do you mostly play, and for what reason(s)?

Scrappers, Brutes, Masterminds, Blasters, maybe Stalkers, in no particular order after Scrappers. As for reasons why, those are pretty simple. I pick the ATs that get things done in the most direct way possible, with the most direct means available. If I want to kill something I... Kill it. I don't beat about the bush by slowing it down, tricking it or anything of this nature. If I want to survive, I tough it out, or outright kill stuff before it has a chance to endanger me.

I'm not a tough guy in real life. In fact, I'm pretty much a wimp. However, I enjoy simple, direct solutions, preferably involving large tools and much showmanship.

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3. Redside, blueside, purpleside, or any combination of the above?

Any side whatsoever. My heroes all have a reason to want to do the right thing and my villains all chose to be evil. I'm not quite sure what overall definition I can give to Praetorian Earth, other than that all of my characters there need to be politically minded, which is why I've had fewer made so far. Haven't done any rogues or vigilantes yet, so no definition about them.

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4. What are your favorite story arcs?

Let's see... Division: Line, The Eternal Nemesis, World Wide Red, Time After Time and the remake of a Hero's Hero, I forget what that's called. All of these arcs are grand in their scale, epic in their consequences, deep in their revelations and they all put my characters on an even keel with enemies and friends hitherto considered main players.

In a sense, these arcs are more than just "Go there, do that and I will pay you." They feel like they mattered when all is said and done, and they feel like an accomplishment, lore-wise.

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5. What makes you like this game?

In no particular order: the vast amount of costume customization, the fact that this is different from most other MMOs in how it approaches gameplay, the fairly simpler build system, the fact that the game does not devolve into grind and there are precious few "you are not awesome enough to have this" achievements that are actually required. Basically, it's exactly the right kind of game for me - one where I can be awesome without having to try too hard, meaning I can play it again and again and again and... Really, never burn out, because I only ever burn out when I'm not having fun.

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6. What other games do you play?

Everything under the sun... As long as it's on the PC. As of right now, primarily this game, Darksiders and Alien Swarm, with a helping of Half-Life 2 and its episodes. Black Mesa: Source and Operation: Black Mesa if I'm lucky. I mostly stick to action games, however. The breadth of my attention isn't nearly enough to play strategy games of any kind - I can't split my focus and it bothers me, and racing games rarely thrill me unless the presentation is good, which after Need for Speed: Most Wanted, it has not. Simulations don't thrill me. Arcade style games (or actual arcade games) are what I like the most at heart.

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7. How long have you been playing?

I'd have to check the exact months, but since May of 2004, and pretty much uninterrupted. I did skip a couple of months around September of 2004 before I learned what burned me out (turn out it's the MMO aspects of the game), but beyond that, I ought to be looking at some 70 months or so.

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8. How many alts do you have, what is the average level range, and how many are level 50?

Around 23+26 split between Victory and Pinnacle, respectively, so call it 49. They've added up over the years, but I rarely make many at a time.

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9. Do you bother with softcaps, set bonuses, and all that numerical stuff? What difficulty settings to you normally use?

I don't bother with Set Inventions at all. I firmly believe in "good enough" when it comes to character performance. As long as I'm good enough to do well and easy enough on my chosen difficulty, I'm happy.

As for what that difficulty that is, it's either +0x2 with no bosses or -1x3 with no bosses. With the Incarnate system not dropping shards for 49s (50 at -1), I'm trying to play at +0x2. -1x3 is also actually harder and rewards AoEs far too much, making Blasters without many a bit too hard to play.

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Originally Posted by Arcanaville Samuel_Tow is the only poster that makes me want to punch him in the head more often when I'm agreeing with him than when I'm disagreeing with him.

Sure, why not?

1. Are you male or female?

Male.

2. What ATs do you mostly play, and for what reason(s)?

Controllers, blasters, tankers and, with the advent of Going Rogue, Corruptors. I'm interested by "busy" powersets, which require me to keep track of multiple events at once to play effectively. Or if not require, then at least reward doing so. I'm also partial to builds that excel in a field, especially if it is offset by a crippling disadvantage in another.

3. Redside, blueside, purpleside, or any combination of the above?

Blueside and purpleside. I could never get into playing the badguy.

4. What are your favorite story arcs?

Indigo's "rescuing Melvin" arc, and generally anything involving Malta. The narrative is generally suspenseful and differs strongly from the more straightforward and, let's be honest, usually predictable flow of most other arcs.

5. What makes you like this game?

I tried it out because it was original at the time - with "it's been done" being a large turnoff for me, a MMO that didn't revolve around elves and orcs with magic swords warranted testing on that alone. The tendency of the game to adjust itself to my playstyle {or telling the game to adjust itself}, the non-hostile player environment, the focus on short-term tactics rather than long-term strategy, minimal time commitment needed, personal uniqueness {which dovetails with aversion to "it's been done"} and after this much time spent, a reassuring sense of familiarity with the game.

6. What other games do you play?

Offline, few that last. Online, Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead - however, I have recently played them less and less, not due to the quality of the games themselves, but the fact that my geographical placement severely limits my interaction with other players.

7. How long have you been playing?

Not in a position to check my badges at the moment - I believe my first foray into Paragon was during the first Christmas event.

8. How many alts do you have, what is the average level range, and how many are level 50?

Roughly a dozen - however, approximately five or six saw much gameplay, while the rest are concept characters or name squatters I'm keeping until I can think of a good powerset for them. I've also deleted and/or rerolled quite a few. In general, I stick to running the content on one character until I start to burn out, at which point I switch to another character.

9. Do you bother with softcaps, set bonuses, and all that numerical stuff? What difficulty settings to you normally use?

I don't minimax much, generally sticking to starting to frankenslot a build around Lv25 and not replacing IOs until Lv47-50. As for difficulty, I generally run at 0x8 for enjoyment's sake as well as stability of opposition regarding of any ongoing variations in team size.

An open letter to NCsoft

1. Are you male or female?
Female.

2. What ATs do you mostly play, and for what reason(s)?
Controllers and corruptors.

3. Redside, blueside, purpleside, or any combination of the above?
Redside mostly, with a bit of blueside.

4. What are your favorite story arcs?
Croatoa arcs.

5. What makes you like this game?
Customization options, and the people I play with.

6. What other games do you play?
The only other MMO I play is STO.
7. How long have you been playing?
4 or so years, on 3 different accounts.

8. How many alts do you have, what is the average level range, and how many are level 50?
I currently 37 alts, spread across 2 accounts, majority on Justice, with all but 6 at level 50. The rest are high 30s, to low 40s.

9. Do you bother with softcaps, set bonuses, and all that numerical stuff? What difficulty settings to you normally use?
I always bother with softcaps or other set bonuses on toons I like, and will be playing a lot. Generally I speed most content, but when I am soloing, I tend to solo at around +2 x8 on most of my toons.

1. Are you male or female?
- Female

2. What ATs do you mostly play, and for what reason(s)?
- Blasters, corruptors and scrappers, because I like the damage and the fireballs. I like some of the debuffing defenders, and masterminds. I've never really got on well with tanks and controllers -- maybe the generally lower damage puts me off. (I'm going to try an Ill/Rad controller next, I think.)

3. Redside, blueside, purpleside, or any combination of the above?
- All. (Also, why purpleside? Surely it ought to be yellowside?)

4. What are your favorite story arcs?
- The Faultline stories, Vernon von Grun's arcs, the Radio and Television arcs, Seer Marino, the Croatoa arcs.

5. What makes you like this game?
- It's really easy to play, doesn't require a lot of commitment, and can be soloed most of the time.

6. What other games do you play?
- Neopets.

7. How long have you been playing?
- Just over two years.

8. How many alts do you have, what is the average level range, and how many are level 50?
- A couple of dozen. I have...about half a dozen level 50s, I think. The others cover the full range. A lot of the 'stuck' ones are half of level-pacted duos.

9. Do you bother with softcaps, set bonuses, and all that numerical stuff? What difficulty settings to you normally use?
- I love sets, and pre-planning builds in Mids. The difficulty setting depends on the toon and the goal. E.g. right now I'm badging redside, then I'll turn the difficulty down and stealth as much as possible.



p.s. Considering sources of bias is always an important part of social sciences surveys. F'rex, might the stated goal of looking at differences in male and female gamers make someone more or less likely to leave a reply if they don't consider themselves a typical male/female gamer?

1. Male

2. Controllers and Dominators: I like the safety that control sets grant primarily. Which I play depends on what I feel would contribute more: Debuffs/Buffs or Damage. I typically play Dominators solo and Controllers in teams.

3. I play them all for different reasons. Redside for the story arcs, "Purpleside" for the novelty and Blueside because that's where most people are on my server.

4. The clone arcs (red and blue), Reese, Westin Phipps and Television.

5. Primarily the fact that I can be a super hero or a super villain. I also like the relatively friendly community.

6. No other MMOs but I like some JRPGs (Tales of, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest), I like Pokemon, Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Mario, Castlevania... I could go on forever.

7. 15 months

8. I have 14 alts, average level is probably around level 30. I have five level 50s.

9. I use IOs but I don't softcap Resistance or Defence, instead I usually go for Recharge so I can get my controls, debuffs and attacks up quicker. Difficulty-wise, I use what I feel I can handle, taking in time it takes to defeat mobs into consideration.

1. Are you male or female?
Male.

2. What ATs do you mostly play, and for what reason(s)?
Defenders are #1 by far, closely followed by Scrappers, Brutes, and Dominators. Playing team defense on a proactive Defender or Dominator is just the closest this game gets to unpredictable for me. The Scrappers and Brutes... well, sometimes you need to blow off stress.

3. Redside, blueside, purpleside, or any combination of the above?
Despite having more Defenders than villain ATs, I spend the majority of my time redside.

4. What are your favorite story arcs?
Dean MacArthur, the Television and Radio arcs, Faultline.

5. What makes you like this game?
It's fun? And the fights look cool, which is something very few games actually have going for them. Being able to make darn near any character concept I can think up certainly helps.

6. What other games do you play?
No other MMOs. Baldur's Gate, Deus Ex, Civilization IV, Oni, Ocarina of Time, and Total Annihilation are all high on the list of games I try to play every couple of years.

7. How long have you been playing?
Uhhh... Not sure, actually. Whatever the max playtime minus about four months is.

8. How many alts do you have, what is the average level range, and how many are level 50?
I have 29 alts that 'count' (are on Virtue, not weird test characters elsewhere.) Average level is 36.17. 12 of them are level 50.

9. Do you bother with softcaps, set bonuses, and all that numerical stuff? What difficulty settings to you normally use?
Depends on the character, but almost all of mine have some set bonuses. I rarely put much effort into IO'ing unless it's toward a specific goal--only two of my characters really have particularly powerful or expensive IO builds, my (softcapped) Fire/Shield Scrapper and my Earth/Fire (deep perma)Dom. Difficulty settings vary, but I tend to get bored with any character who can't run +0/x3/bosses with minimal effort, and the upper end is currently at +2/x8/bosses.

1. Are you male or female?
Female.

2. What ATs do you mostly play, and for what reason(s)?
Brutes are my favorite! Non-stop action! After that it's a toss-up between Masterminds and Controllers....I like minions, and controlling the combat.

3. Redside, blueside, purpleside, or any combination of the above?
Redside predominantly.

4. What are your favorite story arcs?
For me, it's more favorite contacts than favorite arcs, since I play mostly redside, so: TELEVISION! Slot Machine. Golden Roller. Diviner Maros. Doc Buzzsaw. Blueside arcs: Ubelmann the Unknown (though I never cared for the retcon to Council instead of 5th Column), Freaklympics, Revenant Hero Project. I'd also like to check out the Praetorian stuff in more detail, but I don't like the cranked up difficulty setting enough to put up with all the deaths.

5. What makes you like this game?
I can make 5 Brutes and each Brute plays differently than the other 4. The customization that stretches from the looks of my characters to the little details of how I play my characters. The obvious interest the devs have in keeping this game growing and moving forward. How the game segues so well between solo play, to (most common for me) duo, to full size groups.

6. What other games do you play?
I've got a lifetime sub in Lord of the Rings Online, and the majority of the time my game time is roughly balanced between this and LotRO. I also tend to dabble in other MMOs and get completely sucked into single player games now and then.

7. How long have you been playing?
Since CoH's closed beta, but not continuously. My last veteran badge is the 63 month one.

8. How many alts do you have, what is the average level range, and how many are level 50?
I really don't know how many I have....they're spread out all over and plenty of them have been abandoned for a long time...and my gaming partner and I are altaholics. We haven't reached 50 with most of them, we play a new duo like crazy and then get a wild hair to do something different and suddenly we've played another duo like crazy and are getting a wild hair to do something different. Vicious cycle, that. I have 2 50s and about a dozen in their 40s, and a horde in their 30s and below. Average level range would probably be mid to late 30s.

9. Do you bother with softcaps, set bonuses, and all that numerical stuff? What difficulty settings do you normally use?
Set bonuses interest me, softcaps not so much since I don't tend to play max level characters actively- I'm constantly playing new alts. I tend to Frankenslot vigorously. Difficulty settings vary by character, I don't have a favorite setting.

1. Are you male or female?

Male

2. What ATs do you mostly play, and for what reason(s)?

Scrappers, and Blasters. I like being in the fight and doing a lot of damage. I also like taking an AT that isn't normally known for survivability and making this god like.

3. Redside, blueside, purpleside, or any combination of the above?

Purple side? I mostly play blueside

4. What are your favorite story arcs?

All of RWZ, all of faultline, revanent hero arc just to name a few

5. What makes you like this game?

Its easy and I like comic book super heroes

6. What other games do you play?

I don't play any other games

7. How long have you been playing?

6 years

8. How many alts do you have, what is the average level range, and how many are level 50?

I have 6 alts and they're all at L50

9. Do you bother with softcaps, set bonuses, and all that numerical stuff? What difficulty settings to you normally use?

Yes, yes, and yes. I normally play at +4x8


No I will not do your homework for you!!!

1. Are you male or female?

Male

2. What ATs do you mostly play, and for what reason(s)?

I play almost all ATs, but I tend to play defenders, controllers, tanks, and dominators most. What I like most about combat in this sort of game is the tactical possibilities. These ATs give me the most scope for interesting tactical minigames in every combat.

3. Redside, blueside, purpleside, or any combination of the above?

All of the above. Some of the character concepts I come up with are villains, some of them are heroes. Some of them make sense with the default ATs for their side, some need to go through praetoria or go rogue.

4. What are your favorite story arcs?

The issue 17 story arcs are, of course, awesome. Aside from those, I'm fond of ghost widow's patron arcs, and indeed a lot of the CoV content in general (at least when you're not running around being a lackey). The striga isle task force (whatever it's called) is also a favorite of mine, purely for that last mission. Finally, while I'm sure this wasn't exactly what you were looking for, the best arcs I've played in this game yet are Turgenev's 'Ghost in the Machine' arcs in the AE.

5. What makes you like this game?

Mechanically, the combination of reasonably deep and engaging gameplay with an extremely casual-friendly system. While I spend lots of time thinking about games, I've never really been interested in actually putting forth the effort to become 'elite' at any of them - and that would definitely include the sort of commitment expected in most MMOs. Here I can play for a few hours every now and then, still accomplish something, and not feel like I'm missing anything.

On an emotional level, while I've never been a comics reader, the superhero mythos is deeply satisfying to me. The concept of having the power to actually change the world for the better keeps me coming back every time. No fantasy MMO's setting has ever come close to inspiring me that way.

6. What other games do you play?

I'm a fan of the original Starcraft, and I've played that and diablo 2 for a long time. I also play counter-strike source, though not competitively. More recently, I've been playing borderlands. I don't own a console.

7. How long have you been playing?

I've been playing CoH/V since september 07. In terms of playing video games in general, it's been more than a decade - since before 2000.

8. How many alts do you have, what is the average level range, and how many are level 50?

Number of alts is somewhat undefined, as I have a fair number of them but some aren't likely to be played again. The number tends to hover somewhere around 20-30, however I only have three 50s (two heroes and one villain).

9. Do you bother with softcaps, set bonuses, and all that numerical stuff? What difficulty settings to you normally use?

Yes, yes, and yes. I don't bother making tons of inf to buy the most expensive IOs, but I am definitely a numbers person. I'm the sort of person who just absorbs the details of a system practically by osmosis, I can't *not* think about all that numerical stuff. I have easily three times as many mids builds as actual characters, and while I don't have the resources to softcap a non-defense based character, I did spend the inf to softcap my shield tank (and she's awesome now because of it ).

Difficulty settings vary wildly based on the character, especially since I spend so much time playing at lower levels. Most of my level 35+ characters tend to run at somewhere around +0 to +1, x1 to x4 depending on their soloing proficiency. I could probably push a lot of them higher, but I'm not really interested.

1. Are you male or female?
Male

2. What ATs do you mostly play, and for what reason(s)?
Controllers, mostly. I guess I am controlling! I also like to handle stuff without getting hit myself, and I like using strategies. Controllers offer a wider variety of strategies than other ATs. I like coming up with creative ways to do things that others may not have considered. I like Tanks, Warshades, Scrappers, then Blasters. I haven't really found a Red-side AT I prefer, but my only red-side 50 is a MM.


3. Redside, blueside, purpleside, or any combination of the above?
Blueside by a far margin. I'm just not a villainous person. Even when I'm Redside, I think of the foes as "bad guys." There is a LOT of stuff Redside I have never done.



4. What are your favorite story arcs?

Oddly enough, my favorite one I have seen so far is the Wretch arc in the 20's Red side. It has some great complexities to it. The Praetorian stuff is generally well written and has fun issues. I like both the ITF and the STF.


5. What makes you like this game?

I was a big superhero fan growing up. I like the fantasy of being a superhero. Plus, I found a great group of guys to team with and talk with, and we have been teaming (and talking on ventrilo) for years. I also like the community and these boards.


6. What other games do you play?

None. This was my first MMO -- the only other one I have tried for any significant time was Champ-O, and that was only for 60 days. I got into CoH after enjoying Freedom Force and its sequel.

7. How long have you been playing?

My account has been active since Christmas 2004. No "breaks," but there have been times when I was too busy to play much. My wife played for a while so we jave had a second account since March 2005, and I have kept that account. Two of my kids play (Daughter and son), so most of their characters are on the second account.

8. How many alts do you have, what is the average level range, and how many are level 50?

Probably over 100 alts, but a lot of them are characters the kids made and then abandoned. Between the two accounts, I have 17 level 50s -- one of them was the wife's. Of the characters that I play, most of them are in the 30's and 40s, but I also play about 7-8 of my 50's regularly.

9. Do you bother with softcaps, set bonuses, and all that numerical stuff? What difficulty settings to you normally use?

My most important "set bonus" character is my "signature" Ill/Rad. I have a few characters who are softcapped -- 2 Scrappers, a tank and a Mastermind. I don't really focus on that stuff until late in the the character's build . . . depending on the character. I mostly like to level up characters to get new stuff and develop strategies on how to effectively use them. The numbers are a means to an end for me. Some people want to be the "best of the best" for the sake of being the best. I prefer to making what I have better. I have focused more on getting set bonuses lately.

Most of the time, I don't use high difficulty settings, unless I'm testing something out or have a particular purpose in mind. I tend to do a lot of TFs and missions with a goal in mind (like tip missions or story arcs to get merits), where I want more to get the goal accomplished than have a challenge. I don't like faceplanting, so I tend to go on lower diff settings -- but enjoy the challenge every now and then on the right teams. If things are too easy, I'll bump up the diff.

1. Are you male or female?

Male

2. What ATs do you mostly play, and for what reason(s)?

Corruptors, dominators, brutes. All for their versatility. They're not stuck to a single team role.

3. Redside, blueside, purpleside, or any combination of the above?

All sides with a preference to redside, mostly because of the better story telling and consistency of the content. I'm a big fan of Praetoria as well.

4. What are your favorite story arcs?

Faultline, Seer Marino, the ITF, Rikti War Zone (especially the Dark Watcher), Vernon von Grun, Viridian, Statesman TF. And of course Praetoria.

5. What makes you like this game?

It's casual. You don't need to spend a lot of time to accomplish anything. There's no need to follow uber build plans to have a character that's functional. And the relatively laid back mindset of the playerbase that imo comes forth from this.

6. What other games do you play?

Mostly single player RPG's (Baldur's Gate, Mass Effect, The Witcher,... and some RTS (Starcraft, Total War)

7. How long have you been playing?

Just over 4 years.

8. How many alts do you have, what is the average level range, and how many are level 50?

Around 30 characters averaging around lvl 30, 6 level 50's.

9. Do you bother with softcaps, set bonuses, and all that numerical stuff? What difficulty settings to you normally use?

To an extent. I build my characters primeraly for a concept that I have in mind and then within that concept I try to make them as powerfull as I can. I don't bother with purples or pvp recipes though.

Solo I play usually on a simple +0x0 difficulty, except for my 50 brute who plays everything from +0x4 (for quick missions) to +2x8 (for extra carnage). On teams that I lead +1 above lvl 30, +2 above 40.

1. Male

2. Though I enjoy a lot of AT's equally, I would say that I lean more towards the Tanker. Being able to jump into a large group of enemies and laugh as they try to hurt me is so much fun. "Oh, I'm sorry, were you shooting me? I didn't notice..."

3. Redside, definitely. Blueside contacts are so outdated it becomes un-fun. Just a bunch of random "Go here and kill this guy" or "Go and arrest 100 of X." Praetoria is fun, but a lot of the enemy groups seem a bit tougher than average, and there are some downright frustrating missions where multiple deaths occur.

I like redside because a lot of the content is more story driven. It's all about your mad quest to become the destined one. I know a lot of people don't like playing second fiddle to Recluse, but I personally don't care. The whole story is just way better than boring "Go and save the world for the umpteenth time."

4. I love all of the RWZ arcs, and basically anything involving Nemesis. Automatic Villainy from Technician Naylor is just plain awesome, since is pretty much has you questioning if you are really you, or if you're just some kind of robot copy... Then there's the Television. Every single mission. If you don't enjoy the Television's contact dialog, there is something wrong with you.

5. Just the sheer amount of combinations and customization. There's so many different powersets, builds, playstyles, that the game has infinite possibilities. Don't like your Broadsword/Regen scrapper? Try swapping out Regen for Electric Armor, or maybe try Claws instead of Broadsword. Instead of Super strength for your brute, why not try Dual Blades? Or Stone Melee? There's just so many different combinations of characters and costumes it keeps everything fresh for me.

6. I like to play music games a lot like Guitar Hero and Rockband. Most of my free-time with video games is spent with either this game, or Guitar Hero. I occasionally dabble in some FPS action from time to time, games like Modern Warfare 2, even though I suck at them. I've played a few RPG's, like KotOR 1 & 2, though I don't usually like those kind of games becuase of the whole "Skills" idea. I hate skills. I hate having to put points to my Treat Injury skill, or my hacking skill, or my whatever skill. I always feel like if I don't pick the right one I'm gimping my character, and I always end up thinking "I should have put points in my X skill instead of my Y."

That's another reason why I love this game, no retarded "skills" or "attributes" to constantly worry about.

7. I subbed in June of last year, so a little over a year now.

8. Too many. Right now Freedom is full until I get more slots, and Guardian and Pinnacle are starting to reach the 12 character limit. Without having a list to look at, I would estimate that the average level would be around 15 or so. I only have one level 50 so far, my DB/EnA Stalker, but my Tanker is soon going to become my second. He's sitting at 43 right now.

9. Pff, I wish. I'm not mathematically gifted enough to bother with all that. I just throw in SO's and call it a day. When I hit 50, I'll slot some invention sets, but I'm not into hitting the soft-cap or maxing out my recharge. I just slot sets that are reasonably affordable. Not the real cheapo stuff, but any recipe that goes over 20 million INF is too rich for my blood. As for difficulty, I usually expect my characters to be able to solo at +0/x3 post level 30. So far, I've been able to do it with most of my characters using just Single-Origin Enhancements.

I think I wrote too much for a simple questionnaire... xD

Good luck with your paper!