Participate in Research on Roleplaying!

Don't want to read? Click here for the survey link.
Want to read more than what's on this page? Click here for more details than this announcement.

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I am part of an independent research study on autism, Asperger's, and roleplaying that began in July 2011 with an exploratory survey. The exploratory survey, which received about 200 responses, was intended to help us determine where we should be focusing our examination. The exploratory survey asked participants questions about some of their habits and behaviors related to roleplaying with an extremely heavy bias toward text-based roleplaying. Based on the responses and feedback for the first exploratory survey, we have been developing a second, more focused survey, which is intended to further explore the habits, attitudes, experiences, and behavior of Autistic roleplayers compared to the habits, attitudes, experiences, and behavior of non-Autistic roleplayers.

In order to be eligible to participate in this study, which consists of completing a survey in the form of an online questionnaire, you must have roleplayed in at least one of the following forms at least once within the last twelve months:

• Text-based roleplaying forum, message boards, or chat server
  
• Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game (MMORPG) or MUD (Multi-User Dungeon)
  
• Virtual reality or simulated reality, such as Second Life
  
• Pen and paper or tabletop roleplaying game, such as Dungeons and Dragons
  
• Text-based roleplay or collaborative writing over email or real-time text editor, such as etherpad or Google docs
  
• Roleplay over social media, such as Facebook or Tumblr
  
• Live Action Roleplaying (LARP) or cosplay
  
• Informal, improvised "pretend" or imaginary games
  
• Roleplaying video games

You must also either be 18 or older in order to consent to participate in this study, or you may be between 13 and 18 with parental or guardian consent. The survey contains questions that may ask about sensitive information or topics (consider this a general trigger warning) per the questions listed above. Absolutely no personally identifiable information will be collected from you at any time during this survey, including your IP address, location more specific than country, address, identifying numbers, name, or contact information. We will not be able to connect your answers with any personally identifying information. The raw data will never be published or released in such a way that isolates each individual's responses.

The second, more focused survey that explores these nine investigation questions in detail was released on 20 August 2012. We would love to have responses from both Autistic people and non-Autistic people. In the second survey, we will be asking more focused questions to elicit information about all types of roleplayers, though we have maintained a focus toward text-based types of roleplaying and collaborative writing. We need any and all roleplayers to participate, whether they have disabilities or not. Here is the link to the survey. If that link doesn't work, try copying and pasting this URL into your browser instead—http://goo.gl/plVdu. The survey may take around an hour to complete if uninterrupted, but you may pause the survey for as long as you want or need and for as many times as you want or need, provided that you do not close the tab or window or shut down your computer.

If you have any questions or concerns about the survey, please don't hesitate to contact us at autismandroleplaying@gmail.com.

Thank you!