No.

I am willing to be paid to be a Guinea Pig.

They can find out that stuff my monitoring the forums.

I fail to see how DA2, a game developed by a different company, and published by EA of all things, remains relevant.

I'd say DA2 is a proof of how EA corrupts everything it touches, I would even say that is their modus operandi.

I don't think bethesda would take that same path of reducing the game based on what the majority of gamers want. I think if they actually made tangible research on how people played their game they could scientifically prove to marketing that the opposite of their assumptions is possible. They could hypothesize that if they further expand on gameplay that is being ignored they can reach a more diverse playerbase. That by catering equally to everyone, instead of the majority, that would be more appealing overall.

The forums do not represent everyone.

That's why they are a perfect source for this kind of "information".

It's absolutely relevant. We're already seeing elements getting cut from TES in the interest of "streamlining". All that Beth will take from data on under-utilized elements is what to cut in the name of cost-effectiveness.

BioWare didn't cut them because of player data or because they didn't want to improve them.

The other races were cut so they could have a voiced protagonist like Mass Effect.

I feel like they would read too much into what the raw statistics mean and could end up making terrible changes.

But, I wouldn't care if it was an optional thing + we actually got significant balance changes based on that info and community feedback within the first six months or so of a release instead of leaving things in a broken state.

And neither would internet "monitoring."

Hell no.

I do as others here do and play any game offline to avoid it.

This.

I'm against surveillance, I don't care how low it is, or for what reasons. Though, I have no problem filling out surveys or giving them my feedback directly.

Bethesda isn't the NSA

Lol, surprised by the poll results. I said yes, I don't search for dodgey porm via skyrim, all I do is play skyrim and I think it would be good for them to see what I avoid and what I favour, and everybody, because I'm sure there's a lot of [censored] they put in that none of us want, and a lot of areas we'd love more of but they neglect.

I voted no, however if it was an opt-in only schema, there isn't much of an issue. Perhaps the poll should reflect that middle ground?

I do wonder about the usefulness of said data, in any event, though. TES attracts a very diverse range of players and raw data lacks the context needed to represent what is going on properly. Raw data might show person X has five characters with 50 hours invested in each, but only one of those characters has progressed/completed the main quest. With the raw data, we can only assume that 1) The person hasn't gotten around to doing it on those other characters or 2) They don't like that content. Because there is no context, people who roleplay aren't accurately represented; not everyone comes up with a character concept that involves the main quest, they may never use it and they may or may not like it.

That is just one example, but you get the picture.

Collecting raw data has its uses for developers, but I feel it's more suitable for the online arena, particularly competitive multi-player games. Participating in the community would be putting the best foot forward, but that isn't likely to happen much/at all.

Scientifically speaking, the larger a test is the more valid it is.

I think that bethesda's development team, if given the chance, would use this not to simplify their game but rather to expand it. Proving the success of the series so far as being due to it's all-encompassing complexity and catering to such a varied audience.

I am too. I'm surprised it's gotten three "Yes" votes.

We are not test subjects. We are not guinea pigs.

I had never intended for the poll to inquire about forcibly monitoring people.

I implied in my OP that it was supposed to be optional, but for the sake of clarity I've changed the poll options.

As such I have obviously changed my vote to "yes, only if optional"

I love my freedom, and that's why I'd rather play Pumbaa in my garden than member of big brother's control group on the Internet.

It would still be a larger pool of users to test from, further validating the research.

As opposed to a far smaller pool of users from the forums (which only servers to invalidate the research) and there isn't really any metadata relevant to the game that can be obtained from the forums anyway.

they don't need to monitor anything, steam, XBL and PSN do it for them (and any other company)

have a look:

http://steamcommunity.com/stats/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim/achievements/

and on top of that they get sales numbers and hours played. that's alot of player information already.

you can clearly see why they didn't bother with another DLC for example

welcome to the 21st century

So I guess you will be first in line for the xbox one.

I would much rather Bethesda make another game than monitor how I play a game they already made.

In any case, why would you want them to have access to these data? I don't see any benefits for the players other than satisfying our curiousity and comparing our achievements to those of other players, neither of which are of much interest to me.

The general attitude in this thread is remarkably similar to that in Community Discussion, isn't it? But Xbox One can collect much more personal information than what was suggested here. Bethesda wouldn't be able to see what's going on in your living room 24/7.

Well my main interest would be progress, having the information readily available.. seeing all this info could justify positive alterations to the game, or positive iterations of their future games.

Your role as a user could define the future of the game and shape the future mod community, and in turn does that not benefit the player in the end?

Imagine if you were working on a mod for Skyrim.

You filter the users by their use of "YourMod" and you can then check their primary cause of death, what area most deaths occur, what character builds most commonly die and where those deaths occur. Which is fairly interesting to mod developers I'm sure.