ZEUS: LOVABLE (GRAND)FATHER FIGURE, OR DERANGED HAS-BEEN?
A preliminary analysis of player sentiment
Reccyls - 13 February, 2018
The College of Extreme Bullshittery
__________
Abstract
People like Zeus. Except when they don't.
__________
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank (and curse) Curved Swords, without whom this analysis would not exist.
I would also like to dedicate this to Thanarosa, whose advice and contributions to this paper have been invaluable. As he always says, "You gotta commit."
__________
Table of Contents
It's literally just one post.
__________
List of Figures
Figure 1 - Players' Opinions of Zeus
Figure 2 - Players' Opinions of Zeus, modified
__________
I. Introduction
The world in which Terrasphere takes place in is home to dozens of uniquely memorable and lovable (or, in certain cases, entirely despicable) non-player characters (NPCs). They range from the proud and steadfast D'vangelline de Falder, to the enigmatic and slightly sinister Narth, to the inexplicably foul-mouthed rainbow rabbit that periodically appears just to harass players. The most recent NPC to capture the attentions of the players of Terrasphere is none other than Zeus, the bombastic leader of the down-on-its-luck Lion's Pride faction.
Such a strong personality is sure to incite polarizing reactions. But just how do people view Zeus? Is he a role model, a true hero to emulate? Or is he simply someone with too much flair and too little sense? This brief analysis attempts to find out how Zeus is viewed in the eyes of the playerbase.
__________
II. Literature Review
That people form attachment and have genuinely strong emotional responses to NPCs is a documented phenomenon. Multiple factors contribute to people's emotional attachment to NPCs, including task attractiveness (how useful an NPC is to the player), social attractiveness (personality traits that the player finds attractive), and physical attractiveness as well. (Coulson, Barnett, Ferguson, & Gould, 2012).
To many players of Terrasphere, Zeus fits at least two of the criteria: being the leader of one of the 3 largest player factions, he certainly has task attractiveness down in spades. Many people enjoy his boisterous personality, and many are determined to prevent his possible assassination after even just a few impressions. And though anecdotal, there is at least one example of physical attractiveness being among the primary factors in Zeus's likability. (All you nutters in the Discord. You know who you are, 2017-2018).
__________
III. Methodology
The methodology is simple. As this is a thread dedicated to the Reclamation of Pride site event, the sample has been restricted to players who have posted in either
(Pre-event) Reclamation of Pride or
(Event) Reclamation of Pride.
I have studied the posts of the players who posted in the pre-event and in the first phase of Cycle 0, searching for any distinctly positive or negative impressions of Zeus. In addition, Thanarosa has also helped by being a second rater in order to ensure reliability.
__________
IV. Analysis and Results
Here is the preliminary result showing the opinions of all players who have posted in the sampled threads and intervals:
![[IMG]](https://i.imgur.com/rC3UfHi.png)
Fig 1: Players' Opinions of Zeus
However, this basic analysis is misleading. There were many players who not only did not have a positive or negative impression of Zeus, but did not even mention him at all. The base analysis considered these players to have a 'Neutral' opinion. Removing these players from the pool of considered posts leaves the following:
![[IMG]](https://i.imgur.com/y5ZpJdu.png)
Fig 2: Players' Opinions of Zeus, modified
As can be seen from the modified analysis, opinions of people who considered Zeus important enough to mention in his posts is significantly higher in general.
Intercoder reliability, as measured by Cohen's Kappa, is 0.867, which is considered to be 'very good'. Therefore, it is a point in favor of the suggestion that Zeus is generally regarded favorably.
__________
V. Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research
First of all, the analysis only considered the pre-event and Phase 1 of the first cycle of the Reclamation of Pride event. It did not consider players' reactions to Zeus when he appeared at the
Lion's Pride HQ, his appearance during the Dark Harvest festival of the prior year, or any other possible appearances.
In addition, the sample is not representative of the population as a whole. There is a selection bias as people who signed up for this particular portion of the event are also highly likely to be members of the Lion's Pride themselves. Therefore, they may have a bias towards Zeus.
Also I did this in like an hour and a half and this is totally worthless.
__________
VI. Conclusion
There is no conclusion. I'm tired.
__________
VII. Works Cited
Coulson, Mark & Barnett, Janey & Ferguson, Christopher & Gould, Rebecca. (2012). Real Feelings for Virtual People: Emotional Attachments and Interpersonal Attraction in Video Games. Psychology of Popular Media Culture. 1. . 10.1037/a0028192.
The Terrasphere Players. (2017-2018). Discord.
