Hello everyone. I was wondering if people on this subforum would be willing to help me with a short questionnaire. It's about medieval video games and specifically the game you all know and love, Skyrim.

For those people who are wondering, it's prep-work for a research paper I am currently considering. So yeah, possible academic research about Skyrim . I've posted it on several other forums and I would be very much interested in reading the answers of people here.

Naturally, I do not require personal information and your answers (if I end up using them) will be strictly anonymous . You are free not to leave any question unanswered. There are no right and wrong answers. If you want, you can pm me your answers instead of posting them here.

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Gender:

Age:

Nationality:

Highest level of Education: (High school, college, graduate, etc)

1) Are you interested in History or have you studied History beyond high school levels?

2) What do you think of when you hear the term “Medieval”?

3) What do you think of when you hear the term “Fantasy”?

4) What do you think of when you hear the term “Vikings”?

5) Would you call Skyrim "Medieval", "Viking","Fantasy" or a mix between all three?

6) Do you think you have learned something about Vikings, the Middle Ages or anything else by playing Skyrim? Please be specific.

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Any and all responses would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Gender: Male

Age: 63

Nationality: American

Highest level of Education: (High school, college, graduate, etc) associates degrees in computer hardware support and repair, networking, and programming (C++, Visual Basic, VB.Net)

1) Are you interested in History or have you studied History beyond high school levels?

Yes, I'm interested, and yes I've done some study, though not a great deal of it.

2) What do you think of when you hear the term “Medieval”?

(among other things) Peasants with pitchforks, the Crusades, and silverware that kills you if you eat tomatoes

3) What do you think of when you hear the term “Fantasy”?

Unicorns, dragons, magic, and honest politicians

4) What do you think of when you hear the term “Vikings”?

Leif Ericson, Erik the Red, Beowulf, Angelina Jolie, and longboats

5) Would you call Skyrim "Medieval", "Viking","Fantasy" or a mix between all three?

A mix of all three as seen through in modern perception.

6) Do you think you have learned something about Vikings, the Middle Ages or anything else by playing Skyrim? Please be specific.

Not really, although the more technical aspects of modding (as in creating mods rather than just adding mods to one's game) requires a good deal of learning or a technical background regarding the use of tools like Blender, Nifskope, Photoshop or the GIMP, scripting and 3D graphics manipulation.

to much knowledge, on 30 Aug 2015 - 06:22 AM, said:

Gender: Male

Age: 52

Nationality: American

Highest level of Education: (High school, college, graduate, etc): Some (lots of) College (No Degree)

1) Are you interested in History or have you studied History beyond high school levels?

Yes. I have studied it somewhat.

2) What do you think of when you hear the term “Medieval”?

Castles, Knights, serfs, armor and swords.

3) What do you think of when you hear the term “Fantasy”?

Another world, not this one.

4) What do you think of when you hear the term “Vikings”?

American Football (Minnesota Vikings). No, really, I think of the stereotypical coastal raiders.

5) Would you call Skyrim "Medieval", "Viking","Fantasy" or a mix between all three?

Fantasy. I do not think of "magic" as medieval and Skyrim has almost no boats the player can use.

6) Do you think you have learned something about Vikings, the Middle Ages or anything else by playing Skyrim? Please be specific.

Nothing as "actual historical", no.

Gender: Male
Age: NaN
Nationality: American
Highest level of Education: NaN


1) Are you interested in History or have you studied History beyond high school levels?
Yes, I love History
2) What do you think of when you hear the term “Medieval”?
Crusades, knights, castle sieges, city-states, and flat, religious art.
3) What do you think of when you hear the term “Fantasy”?
Dragons, elves, fairy-tales, and wizards
4) What do you think of when you hear the term “Vikings”?
Scandinavia, beards, pillaging, amazing sailors, and longboat.
5) Would you call Skyrim "Medieval", "Viking","Fantasy" or a mix between all three?
Vikings were around during the Medieval ages, and there are fantastical creatures, so a mix of all three.
6) Do you think you have learned something about Vikings, the Middle Ages or anything else by playing Skyrim? Please be specific.

No, I havent learned anything new.

Gender: M

Age: 68

Nationality: American

Highest level of Education: (High school, college, graduate, etc) Not answered. Enough to know better.

1) Are you interested in History or have you studied History beyond high school levels? Yes, both.

2) What do you think of when you hear the term “Medieval”? Heretics burned at the stake, a Feudal society, poverty, plague, abysmal illiteracy, dirt, soot, and chamber pots dumped from upstairs windows into the street.

3) What do you think of when you hear the term “Fantasy”? Fantasy is that which isn't, but "ought to be." It's the wonderful playground of the imaginative mind, and a blend of childhood fear and outright wonder. And it's a genre of fiction that has attracted some of the best writers.

4) What do you think of when you hear the term “Vikings”? I think of a term paper I did many years ago, when I learned that most of what we think we know about Norse civilization is Fantasy (see above.) I think of a complex society that had advanced metal-craft, ship-building, mail-armored military, and were not at all barbarians in horned helmets.

5) Would you call Skyrim "Medieval", "Viking","Fantasy" or a mix between all three? I think it touches on all three, but does justice to none of them. It's closest to Fantasy, if the writing were better.

6) Do you think you have learned something about Vikings, the Middle Ages or anything else by playing Skyrim? Please be specific. I've certainly learned things other than Vikings and Middle Ages. I've learned a great deal of Elder Scrolls lore, and I've gained a bit of eye-hand coordination by playing this game, and its predecessors. But I have no illusions that I've been greatly edified by the experience. We do this for fun. It's a game.

Gender: Male

Age: 30

Nationality: Danish

Highest level of Education: College.

1) Are you interested in History or have you studied History beyond high school levels?

I have some interest in a number of historical topics but it isn't something I've studied.

2) What do you think of when you hear the term “Medieval”?

The middle ages, castles, religious oppression, witch-burnings, crusades, poverty, black death.

3) What do you think of when you hear the term “Fantasy”?

Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, Baldur's Gate, Drizzt, dragons, Dragon Lance, dwarves, elves, orcs, magic, wizards, paladins, fireballs...

4) What do you think of when you hear the term “Vikings”?

Scandinavia, raid, smelly people in longboats, brutality, violence...

Obviously this is a rather one-sided depiction of vikings at best but you asked what I think of, not what I happen to believe I know.

5) Would you call Skyrim "Medieval", "Viking","Fantasy" or a mix between all three?

TES, to me, is standard fantasy with a whole bunch of different influences. Obviously there's a touch of "medieval" in it, but you have to base your fantasy setting on something. Reinventing everything would make everything completely alien. As for "viking", I'm really not seeing it in Skyrim. Not the popular modern-day interpretation of vikings, anyway. Jarls, housecarls, and the guard armor are arguably inspired by viking culture but hardly enough that I'd say Skyrim is a game of vikings any more than it is a steampunk game because of the Dwemer or a feminist game because of certain plot details.

6) Do you think you have learned something about Vikings, the Middle Ages or anything else by playing Skyrim? Please be specific.

Well, I've learned that if you shout Fus Roh Dah loud enough, you can push people around. If you hit a dragon enough times in the face with a metal object, it will eventually die. All boats are completely impervious to the effects of fire. Walking around in your underwear in a snowstorm after swimming around in very cold water is perfectly healthy. Wolves attack on sight, every time, and no amount of noise or non-lethal violence will scare them off. Horses are fantastic mountain climbers that can scale near-vertical cliff walls easily. And ancient bards could go places and eke out a good living just by knowing two songs and singing them over and over and over and over and over again.

Spoiler

No, I did not learn anything by playing Skyrim.

Gender: M

Gender: Male

Age: 52

Nationality: United States

Highest level of Education: (High school, college, graduate, etc) MA philosophy, with lots of other things before and since, including minor in Classics (Latin & Greek).

1) Are you interested in History or have you studied History beyond high school levels? Yes to both.

2) What do you think of when you hear the term “Medieval”? Feudal society. Serfdom. Lots of bloody practices in war, in day to day life with animals, in religion. Lots of religious superstition, prejudice, and weird practices. Poor sanitation and health. Idealized popularly as knights in shining armor and Arthurian legend and such, but that tends more toward the next question...

3) What do you think of when you hear the term “Fantasy”? A free play of the imagination into realms other than our own, but which give us insight into our own thoughts and desires and issues. A way to explore desires to have powers greater or other than usual human powers, and the implications and consequences that would accompany those powers. Generally having an idealized version of a loosely Medieval setting in which the Fantasy occurs, though not necessarily.

4) What do you think of when you hear the term “Vikings”? Beowulf, Thor, Valhalla, Nordic raiders in boats...mostly the idealized version of the word. I have read up on some of the actual historical information and seen historical documentaries and read a bit about the mythology, enough to know that the idealized version is very idealized. But what first comes to mind is the ideal.

5) Would you call Skyrim "Medieval", "Viking","Fantasy" or a mix between all three? I would call it a Fantasy RPG set in the fictional TES world, which has drawn on Nordic mythology and names and themes as a resource for its inspiration in designing the Skyrim portion of the TES world. It draws on all three of these elements, as well as others.

6) Do you think you have learned something about Vikings, the Middle Ages or anything else by playing Skyrim? Please be specific. No, not really. It is a game, an escape, and its own world. I have learned about game lore, and how to install and manage game mods, and had some fun role playing and chatting with folks on these boards. But it is a game, not an educational venture.

Gender: Male

Age: 48

Nationality: United States

Education: B.EE, Certs from Microsoft, Novell, and Cisco

Midieval is the period before the Renaissnace. Fuedal kingdoms fighting for power. My relative were from Isle of Sky and Ireland. You have Romans fighting Celts and other tribes in England. Romans could not conquer Ireland. Vikings were raiders and master of the seas around Western Europe and UK. Skyrim is none of them. It is set in fantasy with dragons, wizards, supernatural characters. Stronghold series was about castle building and fighting. Skyrim is about building a character and completing quests.

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Gender: Male

Age: 25

Nationality: American

Highest level of Education: (High school, college, graduate, etc) High School, College

1) Are you interested in History or have you studied History beyond high school levels?

Interested, but only as a hobby

2) What do you think of when you hear the term “Medieval”?

Knights, castles, plague, chivalry.

3) What do you think of when you hear the term “Fantasy”?

Imagination, dragons, not real, Tolkien, Eddings.

4) What do you think of when you hear the term “Vikings”?

Sailors, plunderers, war.

5) Would you call Skyrim "Medieval", "Viking","Fantasy" or a mix between all three?

Medieval and Fantasy, but not Viking. Norse is closer.

6) Do you think you have learned something about Vikings, the Middle Ages or anything else by playing Skyrim? Please be specific.

Not really. Some things like saw mills are probably realistic, but it's a game heavily rooted in fantasy.

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