Yeah, well, I guess I have a self-esteem issue.  So sue me

75 responses WOOT! 

1. How do you feel about extending beta and pushing the release date back to August 2010?
	answered question		74
	skipped question		1
		Response Percent	Response Count
Push it back		44.6%	33
Stick with February		5.4%	4
Decide after a few months of beta		50.0%	37

DownloadCreate Chart2. As a beta tester, what will be your top priority?
	answered question		74
	skipped question		1
		Response Percent	Response Count
Play and report problems		63.5%	47
Try to break the game		4.1%	3
Modding		6.8%	5
Suggest gameplay changes		23.0%	17
Other		2.7%	2

DownloadCreate Chart3. As a beta tester, what will be your secondary priority?
	answered question		75
	skipped question		0
		Response Percent	Response Count
Play and report problems		33.3%	25
Try to break the game		2.7%	2
Modding		9.3%	7
Suggest gameplay changes		49.3%	37
Other		5.3%	4

DownloadCreate Chart4. Recently it was announced that for now, the simplified economic model will be used. Bearing in mind that this is an anonymous survey (as opposed to the forums) how do you feel about this decision?
	answered question		72
	skipped question		3
		Response Percent	Response Count
Good call. I always wanted the simple and fun option.		19.4%	14
I preferred another option, but let's see how it goes.		56.9%	41
Bad call. Most people wanted a more complex option.		23.6%	17

DownloadCreate Chart5. How important is it to you that features that you want are included in the "canon" game?
	answered question		74
	skipped question		1
		Response Percent	Response Count
Very important. I will likely only play the canon version		18.9%	14
Somewhat important. I may mod or apply some mods.		77.0%	57
Unimportant. I look forward to modding my perfect game.		4.1%	3

DownloadCreate Chart6. StarDock has announced that for alpha, two dozen or so people will be pre-selected, with the rest randomly selected from pre-orders who have bought other SD games. Remembering that this is an anonymous poll, how likely do you think you will be to be one of the pre-selected?
	answered question		74
	skipped question		1
		Response Percent	Response Count
I am 100% certain I will be selected.		4.1%	3
75-99% confident.		6.8%	5
50-74% confident.		4.1%	3
25-49% confident.		10.8%	8
1-24% confident.		32.4%	24
I am 100% certain I will NOT be selected.		41.9%	31

DownloadCreate Chart7. From what I have heard of Elemental so far, I think it is shaping up to be:
	answered question		74
	skipped question		1
		Response Percent	Response Count
The perfect game		16.2%	12
A great game		60.8%	45
A good game		5.4%	4
A poor game		0.0%	0
Insufficient data to judge		17.6%	13

Dang I just missed it. :p

I really do hope the release date gets pushed back... I don't see how anyone here can be against it, especially when they can play the game whenever they want even before release =/ 

I am not against it being pushed back, but I think they should wait to make the decision if it is necessary.

Pushing it back simply because they have the luxury of being able to, that I would be against.

Nice... glad I did the poll this time and didnt miss it!

Sure it is, for certain definitions of 'fun'

The shudder quotes are terribly apt there. My affection for software testing has been about as close as I've come to BDSM. Your spec, my expectations, the tools we have to use for discussing the conflicts, how it all ends up at the mercy of the folks who can close a bug as By Design...

Ah yes I didn't think about the fact that some people might take the survey who had not pre-ordered. I pre-ordered so long ago that I just started thinking that was a given for anyone on the forum.

wouldn't taking the survey now change that question about being selected for the alpha?  (I mean most people know if they have an e-mail in their inbox from yarlen or not)

I know I won't be selected. I haven't preordered yet due to finances, and I haven't been participating in the community much lately due to being busy with work, other games, trying to get off my butt and start a writing career, etc.

As much as I would love to help this game be successful, I already have enough motivation issues right now without having a new strategy game stealing all my free time. 

Interesting responses, though. They match my own almost perfectly.

Getting first hand, *high impact* (your feedback *will* matter, not lost in a sea of voices) input into shaping and refining the foundation of a rare game while it's still malleable, that you're going to be playing a lot of, for years...

... is very "fun".

Come on, we are two people short of having 100 people that took the survey - and we are up to 9 hours since the last survey was taken!

Either it was a popular survey (the highest total responses on any previous survey is 71) or we are just starting to get a lot more people on the forum.

At any rate, when a couple of more people have taken it, I will post "final" results.

Taken

Yay! 100!

DownloadCreate Chart1. How do you feel about extending beta and pushing the release date back to August 2010?
	answered question		99
	skipped question		1
		Response Percent	Response Count
Push it back		45.5%	45
Stick with February		7.1%	7
Decide after a few months of beta		47.5%	47

DownloadCreate Chart2. As a beta tester, what will be your top priority?
	answered question		99
	skipped question		1
		Response Percent	Response Count
Play and report problems		58.6%	58
Try to break the game		8.1%	8
Modding		8.1%	8
Suggest gameplay changes		23.2%	23
Other		2.0%	2

DownloadCreate Chart3. As a beta tester, what will be your secondary priority?
	answered question		100
	skipped question		0
		Response Percent	Response Count
Play and report problems		33.0%	33
Try to break the game		6.0%	6
Modding		10.0%	10
Suggest gameplay changes		46.0%	46
Other		5.0%	5

DownloadCreate Chart4. Recently it was announced that for now, the simplified economic model will be used. Bearing in mind that this is an anonymous survey (as opposed to the forums) how do you feel about this decision?
	answered question		97
	skipped question		3
		Response Percent	Response Count
Good call. I always wanted the simple and fun option.		21.6%	21
I preferred another option, but let's see how it goes.		53.6%	52
Bad call. Most people wanted a more complex option.		24.7%	24

DownloadCreate Chart5. How important is it to you that features that you want are included in the "canon" game?
	answered question		99
	skipped question		1
		Response Percent	Response Count
Very important. I will likely only play the canon version		22.2%	22
Somewhat important. I may mod or apply some mods.		72.7%	72
Unimportant. I look forward to modding my perfect game.		5.1%	5

DownloadCreate Chart6. StarDock has announced that for alpha, two dozen or so people will be pre-selected, with the rest randomly selected from pre-orders who have bought other SD games. Remembering that this is an anonymous poll, how likely do you think you will be to be one of the pre-selected?
	answered question		99
	skipped question		1
		Response Percent	Response Count
I am 100% certain I will be selected.		4.0%	4
75-99% confident.		5.1%	5
50-74% confident.		5.1%	5
25-49% confident.		11.1%	11
1-24% confident.		30.3%	30
I am 100% certain I will NOT be selected.		44.4%	44

DownloadCreate Chart7. From what I have heard of Elemental so far, I think it is shaping up to be:
	answered question		99
	skipped question		1
		Response Percent	Response Count
The perfect game		14.1%	14
A great game		56.6%	56
A good game		10.1%	10
A poor game		0.0%	0
Insufficient data to judge

With people watching for updates based on the alpha, it makes sense that more people stuck their head into the forums, even if they did not post anything, just to see if their pre-orders resulted in an alpha invite.

This is just me dropping my unsolicited 2 cents here, but for future polls, I'm not sure if it's the best policy to post results as you go when the polling is still in effect, if you want people's honest, initial reactions to the questions.  Seeing results have a way of influencing the results of subsequent votes, either from bandwagon or contrarian mindsets.

Nice work on the poll though!

Yep I am well aware of the concern of tainting the result. However, if you look above I had people "chomping at the bit" to see some results.

On this particular poll, I felt pretty safe doing it as the options were pretty cut and dried and showing results really should not have had much effect. Other polls I have done that was definitely not the case. If you look at the percentages on the first results and the last ones, I don't think you are going to see any significant change in the result. Usually I wait for a good number of responses (this time it was 50 ish) OR I wait until responses have tapered off to a few hours between surveys or just a few per day.

Good concern though. Thanks!

edit: The far bigger concern I ahve is trying to word things in a neutral way and not "push poll".  A good example is question 4, I can't help but wonder if my wording didn't nudge people to choose the second option over the third. I wanted a more complex economy but think it is only fair to see the implementation of the simpler model before being too committed. I truly do try to get an unbiased result, but sometimes when I see a large number select the option that I am personally supportive of, I can;t help but wonder if I didn't influence the outcome thru subtle word choice. I think stuff like that usually has a bigger but less visible impact than sharing results. Usually.

Another good example is question 1. Reading the responses to Brad's post about beta being an experience unto itself - by the posts it is clearly 90% + in favor of pushing the release back to August. My personal feeling was to take a wait and see approach and almost no one spoke up for sticking with February - did anyone?

So again, did my word choice change the outcome, or did the poll provide the anonymity for people to express what they REALLY felt, rather than jumping on the bandwagon in a thread? Like the number of licks to get to the center of a tootsie pop, the world may never know. It is kind of interesting to me to look at data like that and contrast it to the views posted on the forum and contemplate what makes us tick.

Lol, how would they find the survey if not thru the boards?

No one for a poor game. I wonder why... No, I don't.