Questionnaire vs e-mail responses for mod feedback

[Puddy]

A little project I've been making is just around the corner. I want your input on one thing before release though!

At the end of the game I want to encourage people to submit feedback and tell me what they liked and what they didn't etc. Now, I have two options:

1. I provide an e-mail which they can send feedback to and let them write whatever they want

Seems more personal and pleasant but since they are writing whatever they like and not answering questions, it's hard to quantify the data and get answers to questions we'd personally like to know. It's more about feeling the general vibe and reception with this one.

2. I provide a URL to a brief questionnaire (like modname.com/feedback)

The form will include 5-6 yes/no or "1-10 scale" questions and then a final, optional "free writing" box. More bleak and corporate but more quantifiable data and allows for personality in the final question.

Which one would you prefer and which one will provide the best feedback do you think?

If you have ideas for a third way or ideas for questions for option 2, I'd love to hear them!

[e-freak]

Since your project probably will be used through Steam:

Provide a link which people can (and should) access through the Steam Browser (Shift+Tab) directly after finishing the project (black screen with the URL on it and the advise to go to the Steam Browser and "Press Space to proceed") and have the survey with 1 to 10 answers and options to chose from, provide a final text field for the personal mail thing.

[Jetsetlemming]

An email link is going to get infinitely fewer responses than a url, because it takes more impulse on their part to respond to you. Even if you want that freeform response, have it as a comment box at a url or something.

[Puddy]

Thanks for the suggestion e-freak, seems like the best solution.

Jetsetlemming: Yes, very true and a bonus I forgot to take into consideration. It's a lot easier answering direct questions then staring at a blank e-mail and trying to write something.

Now, my planning for the questions was just to ask the players how they would rate the mod as a whole, ask what they thought about gameplay, the environments, difficulty, story.

Are there any other questions you think we should ask? Please enlighten me if so!

[Skjalg]

When releasing the ponh prototype we opted for a questionnaire at the end with a few questions and then a free form comment box at the end like you suggested. Right now theres over 1400 replies.

I doubt we'd get that many emails. And I seriously doubt we'd be able to use the emails in a similar manner to get the answers to the questions we had.

http://www.exitstrategyentertainment.com/ponh/?p=284

But think of it in games design terms. You need to streamline the process so the player does what you want him to do.

If you provide an email the player would have to

1. copy the email

2. fire up his local email program (or go to his email account in his browser)

3. paste your email

4. then start typing about his personal experience. Where would he start?

5. send it in.

Whereas having a questionnaire pop up at the end:

1. fill our the parts he wants

2. send it in

and it would be anonymous.

The problem is also that you'd actually rather hear from the people that hated your game, and more specifically what they hated about the game. If you make it to hard for them to do that they probably wont.